�鶹Ů��

Piedmont Healthcare, a seven-hospital system in Atlanta, has agreed to take over and operate 27 Walgreens in-store retail clinics in the metropolitan area, the two companies announced Wednesday. Piedmont joins other hospital systems such as Advocate Health Care in Chicago and Providence Health in Renton, Wash., that have bought or leased retail clinics that Walgreens and other chains have opened inside their stores to provide convenience for patients with minor ailments. (Barkholz, 2/22)

Piedmont Healthcare will operate 27 retail health clinics in Walgreens stores across the Atlanta area. The transition to Piedmont management is planned for August, and the clinics will be known as Piedmont QuickCare at Walgreens. It’s the latest move by Atlanta-based Piedmont to extend its reach across metro Atlanta and North Georgia. Last year, Piedmont acquired Athens Regional Medical Center as its seventh hospital. (Miller, 2/22)

With a new wave of advertising and a new bill at the Georgia General Assembly, Cancer Treatment Centers of America has re-ignited its ongoing turf war with the rest of Georgia’s hospitals. The “destination cancer hospital” is again seeking to change the terms of a 2008 legislative deal that permitted the cancer-only hospital to come to Georgia, arguing that more in-state patients should be allowed to get treatment at the Newnan facility. (Teegardin, 2/22)

Johns Hopkins Medicine said Wednesday it will work with health real estate firm Welltower Inc. to come up with programs and explore developing facilities to serve and treat the elderly. Welltower develops assisted-living centers, memory care facilities and other medical institutions for the elderly. Company officials said programs and technology developed in those facilities said could be useful to Johns Hopkins, particularly as the trend in health care is to do more treatment outside hospitals. (McDaniels, 2/22)