LabCorp deal brings blood testing to Walgreens’ pharmacies
Customers handling their medical concerns might soon be visiting Walgreens for more than just picking up prescriptions or using the self-serve blood pressure cuff.
The pharmacy chain announced that it will be opening medical testing facilities in 600 of its stores in conjunction with LabCorp, according to Bloomberg. The decision comes as Walgreens’ rival, CVS, is also adding more medical services to its stores following its acquisition of the health insurance company Aetna.
This is not the first move that Walgreens has made indicating that it plans to establish itself as a leader in healthcare services. The chain announced earlier this year that it will roll out a store format that combines its full range of healthcare services now offered in disparate locations.
Walgreens and CVS have also been trying to outdo each other in spaces far afield of the pharmacy. Earlier this year, CVS announced the expansion and enhancement of its beauty department into a Millennial-targeted store-within-a-store in four test locations. The pilot is taking place in partnership with in-home beauty service GlamSquad. Shortly after that, Walgreens announced that it had invested in subscription-based beauty startup BirchBox and would be piloting in-store BirchBox shops in 11 test locations.
Other brick-and-mortar retail chains outside of the drug channel also begun pursuing a piece of the healthcare pie.
Popular regional grocer Publix, for instance, launched a pilot of "telehealth" kiosks in 12 Florida store locations last December. The kiosks allow shoppers with non-urgent medical issues to conduct live video chats with healthcare professionals, who guide them through the use of in-kiosk self-examination tools and then offer a diagnosis based on the data gathered. Publix intends to launch 13 more kiosks in response to the pilot's success.