DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreen Co. has entered into a joint venture with Vanderbilt Medical Center, a Nashville-based health care facility and a major patient referral center for the mid-South.

Under the agreement, Walgreens’ home care division will work with Vanderbilt to provide home infusion and respiratory services.

Plans call for the partnership to operate as Vanderbilt Home Care, affiliated with Walgreens Infusion and Respiratory Services, and be located in Brentwood, Tenn.

“The opportunity to join with a leading regional medical center in the provision of home infusion and respiratory services provides us with the opportunity to strengthen the services that we offer our patients,” comments Paul Mastrapa, president of Walgreens’ OptionCare unit.

Laura Beth Brown, president of Vanderbilt Home Health Care Services, remarks that a joint venture with a company like Walgreens “allows us to enhance the way we meet our mission by providing home infusion, respiratory services and durable medical equipment for all patients in the community.’’

This is the fourth joint venture of this type that Walgreens has entered. The drug store chain has similar agreements with organizations in Idaho, Ohio and Oregon. The initiatives are designed to help expand Walgreens’ service area and bring home infusion and respiratory therapies to more patients.