Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. and VillageMD to Open 29 Full-Service Primary Care Practices in Texas This Year and VillageMD announced plans to open 29 new Village Medical at Walgreens practices in Houston, Austin and El Paso this year. The strategic partnership is on track to meet its overall goal of opening at least 600 Village Medical at Walgreens in more than 30 U.S. markets over the next four years, with the intent to build hundreds more thereafter. The expansion is part of the $1 billion accelerated investment effort announced in January 2021 to deliver high-quality healthcare to patients, with Village Medical primary care physicians and Walgreens pharmacy services through an integrated care delivery model. By leveraging the physician and pharmacist under one roof, patients benefit from improved health outcomes and lowered cost of care. These benefits help patients take the right medication and the right doses at the right time, removing the barriers to accessing primary care and pharmacy by having it all in one place. In Austin, El Paso and Houston, there are more than 825,000 patients within five miles of a new or planned Village Medical at Walgreens who are over 65 years old, which further underscores the need for quality, accessible healthcare. Additionally, the companies have expanded their coordinated care model to allow Village Medical patients to access the same type of pharmacy services—including between-visit refills, medication substitutions, and comprehensive consultations—from select Walgreens sites that do not have a collocated Village Medical. This program has launched at all collocations and is launching at nine non-collocations in the Houston and Phoenix areas. With Walgreens being able to digitally access information from Village Medical, patients can receive the same type of coordinated care as they would at collocations, including saving time on prescription refills, navigating insurance coverage, finding less expensive medication alternatives and managing co-pay costs. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted numerous barriers to accessing care, including the various difficulties patients face when navigating an already complex healthcare environment. The care offered by the Village Medical at Walgreens integrated model is now more important than ever, especially for patients with chronic conditions. Six in ten Americans live with at least one chronic condition, with many needing multiple daily medications.2 In Texas, chronic diseases continue to make up the top three causes of death, emphasizing the importance of this streamlined approach for patients to receive coordinated, cost-effective and convenient healthcare. Village Medical at Walgreens locations accept a wide range of health insurance options, offering cost-effective and comprehensive primary care and coordinated pharmacy services to meet the full continuum of healthcare needs. Patients may access care and support through in-person, at-home and telehealth visits.