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MinuteClinic Forms Clinical Quality Council; Medical Experts to Advise Retail Health Care Leader

Posted on: Tuesday, 2 May 2006, 12:00 CDT

MINNEAPOLIS, May 2 /PRNewswire/ -- MinuteClinic, the largest provider of retail health care in the United States with 82 health care centers in ten states, announced that it has formed a National Clinical Quality Advisory Council, a panel that brings together nationally recognized health care leaders from a variety of specialties and backgrounds to contribute strategic creativity, clinical guidance and quality improvement ideas to MinuteClinic services.

The Advisory Council will discuss new clinical and health improvement programs, evaluate current clinical performance and review the nationally established guidelines for the services provided by MinuteClinic at existing and new health care centers.

There are eight members on the Advisory Council including a permanent representative from the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Co-Chair, Margaret A. Fitzgerald, MS, APRN, BC, NP-C, FAANP, CSP, president of Fitzgerald Health Education Associates, Inc., a national provider of Nurse Practitioner Board Certification Preparation and ongoing continuing education for health care providers. Fitzgerald is a family nurse practitioner in Lawrence, MA.

Co-Chair, James D'Orta, MD, FACEP, founder, chairman, and CEO of LifeLinkMD, the nation's leading provider of services to support the implementation and ongoing management of automated external defibrillator (AED) programs. D'Orta also serves on the faculty of Georgetown University, George Washington University and the University of Maryland School of Medicine and is the former medical director for the State of Maryland. He is a MinuteClinic board member.

Robert Blumm, PA, clinical instructor of surgery and emergency medicine for Hofstra University. Blumm has been a pioneer in the PA profession starting in 1970 and remains in both clinical and administrative practice. He presently serves as chair of the surgical caucus for NYSSPA and as president- elect of the American College of Clinicians, an NP/PA national association.

Colleen Conway-Welch, PhD, RN, FAAN, professor and dean of Vanderbilt University School of Nursing since 1984. Conway-Welch has been active in nursing practice and nursing education for more than three decades.

Andrew Eisenberg, MD, has been actively involved with the American Academy of Family Physicians and will serve as the AAFP representative to the Council. He has also been involved with the Texas Medical Association and is a member of the AAFP Commission on Practice Enhancement. Eisenberg is the past chair of public and rural health for the Texas Academy of Family Physicians, as well as a past member of the AAFP Chapter Affairs Committee and currently on the Immunization Collaborative Advisory Group.

Michael Fleming, MD, FAAFP, family physician in Shreveport, La., and founding director and senior medical editor for Antidote Education Company, a medical education provider targeting primary care physicians. Fleming is a past president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, and is assistant clinical professor in the Department of Family Medicine at Louisiana State University Health Science Center and in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Tulane University Medical School.

Kristin L. Nichol, MD, MPH, MBA, professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota and chief of medicine at the VA Medical Center in Minneapolis. Nichol's research has focused on issues relating to adults vaccines with a special emphasis on influenza and pneumococcal vaccination. She has pursued observational studies and clinical trials in such areas as successful delivery strategies, determinants of vaccination behavior, side effects associated with vaccination, and the clinical efficacy and cost effectiveness of vaccination, and has authored more than 100 publications in these areas.

Mark S. Paller, MD, MS, professor of medicine and vice president for research at the University of Minnesota Academic Health Center. Paller is a practicing nephrologist and was listed in Best Doctors in America, Central Region 1996-1997 and Best Doctors in America 1998.

"Our most important responsibility as an organization is to make absolutely sure that MinuteClinic remains committed to delivering the highest possible quality health care to patients in communities throughout the country," said MinuteClinic chief medical officer James Woodburn, MD. "As the pioneer and industry leader of retail health care, we have an obligation to ensure that not only our company but also others in our field continue to advance new guidelines and practices that improve clinical quality. We are also demonstrating that patient-centered care is best delivered in a team approach with nurse practitioners, physician assistants and physicians working in concert."

MinuteClinic was founded in May 2000. The Minneapolis-based company has provided more than 400,000 patient visits with 99 percent customer satisfaction. It has produced substantial savings of health care expenditures and also reduced the time spent by patients seeking treatment for the conditions it addresses. For information, visit http://www.minuteclinic.com/.

MinuteClinic

CONTACT: Brent Burkhardt, +1-410-986-1303, or Nicole Khoury,+1-410-986-1317, both of TBC Public Relations for MinuteClinic

Web site: http://www.minuteclinic.com/

Source: PRNewswire

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