7 Walgreens Clinics To Be Closed

Advocate Medical Group intends to close seven of its clinics that were founded in Chicago-area Walgreens stores next month, indicating a therapists union to allege unfair labor studies.

Advocate intends to close clinics in Walgreens stores in Carol Stream, Joliet, Naperville, Oak Park, River Forest, Sycamore and Yorkville, according to a letter from advocate to the Illinois Nurses Association, which was acquired by the Tribune.

“The organization found extension in available healthcare services in the neighborhoods where Advocate Clinic at Walgreens are established, which has appeared in amounts that are unsustainable,” Bonnie Kreischer, vice president of social support for Advocate Medical Group, wrote in the letter. “The company decided that other providers well serve the communities’ health care obligations.”

The closings will affect 13 excellent practice therapists, told Chris Martin, a spokesman for the Illinois Nurses Association. Superior practice nurses have more practice and education than registered therapists.

Health Care Modification

The therapists’ community said it filed a complaint against advocate with the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday. The organization claims that Advocate “failed and declined to negotiate in great faith with the union as the collective bargaining spokesperson of its representatives by making single changes in terms and forms of the profession,” according to the filing.

It’s more alleging the advocate failed to give it specific knowledge compared to the closures.

The union needs an advocate to hold off on any hospital closures until the business can take place over the matter. It would like to see the clinics remain open, and the therapists keep their jobs, Martin stated.

The advocate said in a report Wednesday that it remains “committed to making health care more affordable, which involves reducing duplication of support in our neighborhoods.”

The system also denied the unfair labor usage allegations and said it is working to meet with the union.

“We’re frustrated the union remains to share misinformation and distortions in an attempt to take account of this situation for the union’s gain at the expense of those whose interest they claim to represent,” Advocate said in the statement.

Illinois Nurses Association official director Alice Johnson announced in a statement that despite being at the trade table with an advocate for months, advocate didn’t consider the conclusions until now.

“Advocate maintains its tight grasp at advantages at the responsibility of the therapist practitioners and the sufferers they serve,” Johnson stated.

A Strategy Of Consolidations And Acquisitions

Advocate Aurora Health administrators said at a health care conference in San Francisco on Monday that the policy is aiming to cut prices by $1.1 billion and more than double its revenue to $27 billion by 2025. Advocate Aurora also intends to continue a strategy of consolidations and acquisitions.

Current year, Advocate Aurora Health, which is based in Downers Grove and Milwaukee, provided early withdrawal buyouts to about 200 representatives and didn’t offer an anniversary bonus to operators. The system had revenue of $9.4 billion for the first three quarters of 2019, up from just below $9 billion during the same period in 2018.

When the seven Advocate clinics close Feb. 15, advocate still will have 48 other Walgreens in-store clinics in Illinois, regularly in the Chicago area, announced Walgreens spokesman Scott Goldberg. SSM Health runs four Walgreens hospitals in Illinois in the St. Louis area, he answered.

There are no ideas for another health system to take over the seven Advocate dispensaries that are closing, he stated.

At the end of last year, Walgreens ended all of its 157 in-store clinics run by Walgreens across the nation. Local health systems operate more than 200 clinics in Walgreens stores.

To Sum Up

Walgreens is also in the midst of a sizeable cost-cutting program and is aiming to slash at least $1.8 billion a year in costs by 2022. It announced plans last year to close 200 stores, laid off more than 100 apprentices at its corporate headquarters in Deerfield, and discharged bonuses for store superintendents and others.