Chicago-based VillageMD, which has primary care clinics next to Walgreens stores across the country, will pay $8.9 billion to acquire a company that will help it to branch into specialty and urgent care and expand its footprint dramatically, the Chicago Tribune reported. VillageMD announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire New York-based Summit Health-CityMD, which provides primary, urgent and specialty care in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Central Oregon. VillageMD has Village Medical clinics that provide primary care in free-standing locations and next to Walgreens stores in more than a dozen states. VillageMD has more than 250 locations. Together, VillageMD and Summit Health will have 680 care locations across the country. Deerfield-based Walgreens Boots Alliance is contributing $3.5 billion to the acquisition, through debt and equity. Walgreens is the largest shareholder in VillageMD with about 53% ownership. VillageMD expects to be co-located with 200 Walgreens stores by the end of the year. Each of those locations is about 3,200 square feet with an average of eight exam rooms. About a year ago, Walgreens said it planned to increase the number of Village Medical clinics in its stores to 1,000 by 2027, with half of those in medically underserved communities. In recent years, Walgreens has been trying to become more of a health care destination, as it works to compete with rivals CVS Health and Amazon. The retail pharmacy chain hopes it can draw more people into its stores by offering care.
