Care delivered simply, conveniently

With an aging baby boomer population and a health care system in flux, people want a variety of options when it comes to their health.

Dr. Nancy Gagliano has been instrumental in fulfilling this demand in her supervision of CVS Health’s MinuteClinics.

Located inside more than 900 CVS / Pharmacys nationwide – including seven here in Rhode Island – the retail medical clinics provide acute, preventative and wellness services to walk-in patients.

As senior vice president of CVS Health and chief medical officer of MinuteClinic, Gagliano is responsible for internal operations, physician oversight, as well as expansion of the clinics. Since joining CVS Health in 2010, she has overseen the addition of more than 400 clinics across the country, expanded its scope to include such services as biometric screenings and management of chronic disease, and has helped form strategic relationships with more than two dozen major health care systems in the country.

- Advertisement -

“We’re growing very rapidly,” she said in a phone interview. “The primary reason is that people find them extremely convenient.”

Since launching in 2000 (originally under the name QuickMedx), the clinics have served more than 24 million patients, with nurse practitioners and physician assistants receiving a 95 percent patient satisfaction rating, according to Gagliano.

Continuing that growth, strategic plans are to have more than 1,500 MinuteClinics up and running across the country by 2017.

Gagliano came to the company with plenty of expertise. A veteran of the medical profession, she is an alumni of Harvard Medical School and Union College in Schenectady, N.Y. She spent more than 21 years at Massachusetts General Hospital, where she served as associate medical director for primary care, and also oversaw the quality, service, operations improvement and technology integration of its 400 ambulatory practices. A board-certified internist, she also practiced as a primary care provider at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Women’s Health Associates.

As she explained, Gagliano came to the medical profession from the “classic” perspective – a love of science and a desire to help people. As her career has evolved, she has been drawn into helping to improve the health care system at large, she said. What’s more, she is set to receive her MBA from Northeastern University in Boston this fall.

“The ability to impact health care on a national level was very intriguing,” she said of her transition to her current position. “I am passionate about growing and learning and doing different things. I consider myself extremely lucky to have been able to have multiple careers.”

Her passion for medicine extends to her community involvement, as well.

Gagliano is a board member for the Rhode Island Free Clinic in Providence, and also sits on the external advisory board for the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering’s point-of-care technology research network. The latter is dedicated to aiding in the development of inexpensive, easy-to-use medical devices and information-sharing tools.

“I just really truly enjoy making a difference in my community,” Gagliano said. “Whatever I can do to help people get access to high-quality care. I believe personally that it should be a right for everyone.” n

‘The ability to impact health care on a national level was very intriguing.’

No posts to display