Walgreen buys Whole Health Management of Cleveland

The Walgreen Company has agreed to buy Whole Health Management of Cleveland. (Source: "Walgreen to buy Whole Health Management," Crain's Business Cleveland, March 17, 2008.) The drugstore giant will create a Health & Wellness division with this purchase and that of I-trax Inc. of Pennsylvania. Both I-trax and Whole Health Management run on-site health care clinics for large companies. Though the details of the purchase have not been finalized, James Hummer, president and CEO of Whole Health Management, said the company will stay in Cleveland. According to the article, "there are more than 7,600 corporate campuses with more than 1,000 employees each in the United States, so there is a lot of potential for on-site health clinics" such as those currently run by Whole Health Management.

In the last year, Walgreen--along with rivals like Wal-Mart and CVS--have also made a strong effort to establish in-store health clinics, which the retailers claim will provide more convenient and faster health care services for minor illnesses and injuries.