CVS applies to open first 10 in-store clinics

By Stephen Smith, Globe staff

CVS Corp. today asked state health authorities to allow it to open medical clinics inside 10 drug stores in Eastern Massachusetts, the first of what are expected to eventually be more than 100 MinuteClinics in the Bay State.

Company executives said they plan to have clinics running by late summer or early fall in Ashland, Beverly, Bridgewater, Danvers, Medford, Medway, Stoughton, Taunton, Tewksbury, and Westford. The company anticipates having 25 to 30 MinuteClinics in Massachusetts before the end of the year, executives said.

The company announced no immediate plans to open clinics inside stores in the city of Boston, but CVS spokeswoman Carolyn Castel said today that "at some point Boston would be in our plans, but I can't be any firmer than that at this stage." Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino has been a strident foe of the in-store clinics, urging the city's health department to find a way to block their arrival. The mayor has said that the clinics would commercialize the delivery of medical care.

State regulators adopted rules in January that opened the door to in-store clinics in Massachusetts, saying that the facilities would ease the burden on overwhelmed emergency rooms and primary care practices. Tom Lyons, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Health, said he could not commit to a timetable for reviewing the CVS application. "We're going to try to move as quickly as we can but as thoroughly as we can as well, since it's the first time we're going to be acting on these regulations."