Walgreens Announces Joint Venture with Vanderbilt Medical Center

Walgreens (NYSE, NASDAQ: WAG), whose home care division is a national leader in providing home infusion and respiratory services, has entered into a joint venture with Vanderbilt Medical Center, a Nashville-based comprehensive healthcare facility and a major patient referral center for the mid-South. The joint venture will operate under the name Vanderbilt Home Care, affiliated with Walgreens Infusion and Respiratory Services, and will be located in Brentwood, Tenn.

"The opportunity to join with a leading regional medical center in the provision of home infusion and respiratory services provides us with the opportunity to strengthen the services we offer our patients,” said Paul Mastrapa, president of Walgreens-OptionCare. "Vanderbilt’s commitment to clinical excellence and to delivering positive patient experiences mirrors our own. Together we will continue to focus on providing care and service in the best way possible for our patients.”

"Vanderbilt Medical Center has a long heritage in the values of continuum of care. For the past 24 years, Vanderbilt has provided home health services to the community, and we are particularly interested in enhancing and improving the services we have to offer. A joint venture with a company like Walgreens allows us to enhance the way we meet our mission by providing home infusion, respiratory services and durable medical equipment for all patients in the community. The value of this partnership allows patients to receive care in their homes and promotes independence and wellness in the community,” said Laura Beth Brown, president of Vanderbilt Home Health Care Services.

Vanderbilt also operates a traditional home health agency in addition to the Walgreens joint venture. The agency provides nursing, physical, speech and occupational therapies, social work and private duty services and will support the infusion nursing needs required for home infusion therapies.

This is the fourth joint venture of this type Walgreens has established. It has similar agreements with organizations in Idaho, Ohio and Oregon. These joint ventures assist in expanding Walgreens service area and in providing access to home infusion and respiratory therapies to greater numbers of patients.

Home infusion therapy is a cost-effective alternative to receiving intravenous drug therapy in the hospital. Patients receive treatment in the comfort of their homes, in convenient alternate treatment sites or other non-hospital settings. Home infusion can be used for many therapies including: anti-infectives, inotropics, parenteral nutrition, factor (for the treatment of bleeding disorders) and pain management.

"While the initial service provided by our joint venture is home infusion therapy,” Mastrapa said, "plans call for the addition of home respiratory services later this year.”

Walgreens delivers quality, compassionate, patient-focused home infusion, respiratory/oxygen and medical equipment services through more than 100 accredited home care facilities in 36 states. The company’s clinical programs provide the expert care coordination expected by patients, physicians and insurance plans for successful outcomes. A national leader in the provision of home care services with 30 years of experience, Walgreens sets itself apart with more than 90 Centers of Clinical Excellence in the areas of nutrition, heart failure, hemophilia, immune globulin, COPD, sleep apnea, and ALS/neuromuscular disease.

Walgreens (www.walgreens.com) is the nation's largest drugstore chain with fiscal 2008 sales of $59 billion. The company operates 6,902 drugstores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Walgreens provides the most convenient access to consumer goods and services and cost-effective pharmacy, health and wellness services in America through its retail drugstores, Walgreens Health Services division and Walgreens Health and Wellness division. Walgreens Health Services assists pharmacy patients and prescription drug and medical plans through Walgreens Health Initiatives Inc. (a pharmacy benefit manager), Walgreens Mail Service Inc., Walgreens Home Care Inc., Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy LLC and SeniorMed LLC (a pharmacy provider to long-term care facilities). Walgreens Health and Wellness division includes Take Care Health Systems, the largest and most comprehensive manager of worksite health and wellness centers and in-store convenient care clinics, with more than 700 locations throughout the country.