DEERFIELD & CHICAGO, Ill., 2016-Dec-22 — /EPR Retail News/ — As Walgreens focuses on new ways to help support the development of next-generation health care technology, products and services, today (Dec. 20, 2016) the company joins Chicago-based health care incubator and innovation community, MATTER, in announcing a new strategic relationship.
Walgreens will collaborate with health care innovators across MATTER’s network of early-stage industry entrepreneurs and partners, who are focused on accelerating the development and growth of solutions that address industry challenges and improve care.
“We’re looking forward to working with MATTER and uncovering new innovation that can help shape the future of health care, technology and pharmacy,” said Brad Fluegel, senior vice president and chief healthcare commercial market development officer at Walgreens.
As part of the collaboration, Walgreens will actively contribute to MATTER’s knowledge network, providing expertise to MATTER’s curriculum, participating in mentorship, and supporting other initiatives designed to provide the incubator’s 150+ startups with the resources they need to further their businesses and connect to the broader health care ecosystem in the region.
Walgreens is also working closely with MATTER as a founding member of the recently launched Healthcare Council of Chicago (HC3) – an organization co-created by MATTER and Leavitt Partners. HC3’s charter is to convene Chicagoland health care companies to expand the intellectual, technical, human and financial capital required to succeed in a value-based health care economy while concurrently raising Chicago’s profile as an American health care epicenter.
“Walgreens has been a retail pharmacy pioneer for more than a century,” said Steven Collens, MATTER CEO. “The opportunities, insights, and perspectives that Walgreens provides will prove invaluable to the innovators at MATTER and to the Healthcare Council of Chicago.”
“We look forward to supporting MATTER’s community efforts to help push the status quo of health care forward through innovation and technology,” said Nimesh Jhaveri, Walgreens divisional vice president, health services development. “Collectively, with MATTER and its members and partners, we will focus on helping to address some of the pressing health care challenges the industry is facing today, to better serve patients and our communities.”
MATTER acts as a community hub for stakeholders across the health care industry, from executives of established companies, to entrepreneurs building their own innovative solutions to real health care problems. By convening these various players together, MATTER believes the future of health care innovation can and will be reached more quickly and efficiently.
About Walgreens
Walgreens (www.walgreens.com), one of the nation’s largest drugstore chains, is included in the Retail Pharmacy USA Division of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ: WBA), the first global pharmacy-led, health and wellbeing enterprise. More than 10 million customers interact with Walgreens each day in communities across America, using the most convenient, multichannel access to consumer goods and services and trusted, cost-effective pharmacy, health and wellness services and advice. Walgreens operates 8,175 drugstores with a presence in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Walgreens omnichannel business includes Walgreens.com and VisionDirect.com. Approximately 400 Walgreens stores offer Healthcare Clinic or other provider retail clinic services.
About MATTER
MATTER is a community of entrepreneurs, innovators and industry leaders working together to harness technology to improve health and healthcare. More than 150 healthcare technology startups operate at MATTER, and the company partners with 11 hospitals and health systems, five universities and more than 40 industry-leading companies. By equipping, empowering and emboldening healthcare innovators, MATTER accelerates the development of technologies that solve the right healthcare problems in the right ways. For more information, visit www.matterchicago.com and follow @matterchicago.
Contacts:
Walgreens
Scott Goldberg
847-315-7649
scott.goldberg@walgreens.com
http://news.walgreens.com
@WalgreensNews
facebook.com/Walgreens
MATTER
Melissa Lederer
312-543-9537
melissa@matterchicago.com
Source: Walgreens