Patients at CVS Caremark’s MinuteClinic walk-in medical centers will have access to programs provided by Alere, an Atlanta, Ga.-based subsidiary of Inverness Medical Innovations Inc., as part of a new strategic agreement announced by both companies.
Alere was created by Inverness in 2008 after the the Waltham-based diagnostics company purchased Alere Medical, ParadigmHealth and Matria Healthcare and merged them under one umbrella. The company provides a suite of services to assist patients with in-home monitoring and case management of complex conditions using phone consultations with nurses, e-healthcare records and other tools.
As part of the strategic partnership, patients of both CVS MinuteClinics and Alere will have access to services offered by both companies, including face-to-face counseling at 500 walk-in clinics at CVS locations around the country. The goal is to improve communication and monitoring between chronically ill patients and their caregivers.
Financial terms of the deal were not announced, but Inverness has been able to boost its coffers nicely through the Alere brand. In 2008, its health management business segment, which is primarily made up of the Alere conglomerate, accounted for $374 million of the company’s total $1.6 billion in sales, according to regulatory filings.
