Wal-Mart welcomes new-clinic services

Heritage Valley will staff the clinic, which offers services seven days a week.

STAFF REPORT

NEW CASTLE, Pa. — The Clinic at Walmart, operated by Heritage Valley ConvenientCare, has opened in the Wal-Mart store at 2501 W. State St.

The clinic provides basic health-care services such as checkups, immunizations, screenings and treatment of minor injuries. The walk-in clinic is the third in a Pennsylvania Wal-Mart and the third to be owned and operated by Heritage Valley in a Pennsylvania Wal-Mart.

Other Heritage Valley ConvenientCare locations inside Wal-Mart stores are in Cranberry and Chippewa townships. The New Castle clinic’s hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

The Clinic at Walmart in New Castle is staffed by Heritage Valley Certified Registered Nurse Practitioners and overseen by an off-site physician supervisor, also employed by Heritage Valley. Referrals for more coordinated care are made to Heritage Valley’s network of primary-care physicians, satellite facilities or its two hospitals, Heritage Valley Beaver or Heritage Valley Sewickley, providing a better continuity of care, officials said.

The clinic is designed to provide convenient health-care access for consumers and is connected to Heritage Valley’s electronic health-record and electronic- prescription program. This system allows for automatic medical- record delivery to Heritage Valley associated physicians, providing continuity of care for patients choosing this alternative for the care of minor illnesses and injuries.

In addition to enhancing the “one-stop shopping” experience for customers, the Clinic at Walmart offers access to acute and preventive care for common health ailments treatable without urgent or emergency care, including sore throats, sinus infections, upper respiratory infections, ear aches, bladder infections, insect bites and stings, vaccinations, drug screening and routine physicals, Heritage Valley officials said.

With the opening of the New Castle clinic, there are 67 in-store clinics in Wal-Mart stores across 15 states.

“We are planning on more partnerships with Wal-Mart in other locations, but at this point I don’t know where,” said Scott Monit, Heritage Valley spokesman.

Heritage Valley Health System, a community-based health-care system in southwestern Pennsylvania, consists of Heritage Valley Beaver, with 351 beds; Heritage Valley Sewickley, with 186 beds; four affiliated physician groups — Tri-State Medical Group, Sewickley Valley Medical Group, Tri-State Obstetrics and Gynecology and Tri-State Pediatric Associates; and the Heritage Valley Beaver and Heritage Valley Sewickley foundations.