MinuteClinic is a chain of walk-in clinics owned and operated by CVS Pharmacy that tests, treats, and prescribes remedies for common ailments at flat-rate fees. MinuteClinics are staffed by either a physician assistant or a nurse practitioner. There were about 1,100 locations as of 2021. History MinuteClinic began as a private venture called QuickMedx, which […]
MinuteClinic is a chain of walk-in clinics owned and operated by CVS Pharmacy that tests, treats, and prescribes remedies for common ailments at flat-rate fees. MinuteClinics are staffed by either a physician assistant or a nurse practitioner. There were about 1,100 locations as of 2021.
History
MinuteClinic began as a private venture called QuickMedx, which was founded in May 2000 by Rick Krieger and partners Douglas Smith, Steve Pontius, and Kevin Smith.
The idea for what became MinuteClinic came after two business partners compared similar stories of the difficulty to seek quick treatment for their son’s common ailments, strep throat and an ear infection. The men realized an opportunity and immediately outlined the concept.
In the beginning, these clinics were cash-only and charged a $35 flat rate for the testing and treatment of 11 common medical conditions. Its cash-only policy greatly limited its potential and profits were slim. Within two years, three of the original partners departed and newly-appointed CEO Linda Hall Whitman took over management. Whitman dropped the cash-only policy and encouraged payment through insurance and large employers.
This paid off. By 2003, MinuteClinic reported revenue of $2.5 million; then almost $4 million in 2004 when it treated more than 70,000 patients. 2005 witnessed the company’s initial surge.
Expansion
The first clinics opened inside eight Supervalu’s Cub Food stores located in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, as well clinics inside the Best Buy corporate campus in Richfield, Minnesota and in the Medical Arts Building in downtown Minneapolis. Soon after, MinuteClinic began opening clinics inside Target stores, another major company headquartered in the Twin Cities.
Baltimore, Maryland was the first market outside of the Twin Cities that MinuteClinic expanded to, beginning in 2004, followed by Nashville, Tennessee in 2005.
In June 2005, MinuteClinic hired former Arby’s CEO Michael Howe to lead. There were 22 MinuteClinics across Minneapolis and Baltimore. Later that year, the first MinuteClinics to open inside a CVS were located in the Twin City suburbs of Plymouth and Eagan, in addition to Baltimore. Clinics were added to Bartell Drugs, based in Washington state, about this time too. By the end of that year, there were MinuteClinics in 7 states with expansion into 3 more states planned for first quarter 2006.
CVS first invested into MinuteClinic in 2005 before fully acquiring the company in 2006.