Sutter Health and Rite Aid stores on Thursday announced an agreement to open Sutter Express Care retail clinics inside six Rite Aid stores in the Sacramento area, the Sacramento Bee reports.
Sutter is the first health system to open a retail clinic in California, according to a news release (Sacramento Bee, 4/5).
While the number of retail clinics continues to rise significantly nationwide, some experts say the clinics have emerged more slowly in California partly because of relatively high real estate costs and salaries for physicians, nurse practitioners and other medical personnel (California Healthline, 1/8).
The clinics, set to open this year, will offer medical services from nurse practitioners and physician assistants seven days per week. Patients can seek care for common illnesses such as strep throat, earaches and the flu, according to the news release.
Services are available for everyone older than 18 months regardless of a patient's primary provider (Sacramento Bee, 4/5).