DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreen Co. pharmacists and Healthcare Clinic nurse practitioners are collaborating with Arizona Priority Care (AzPC) physicians in a model aimed at improving patient care and quality outcomes.

The agreement will provide coordinated, expanded services for AzPC Medicare Advantage and ACO members through select Walgreens pharmacies and Healthcare Clinics. AzPC describes itself as a patient-doctor-centric integrated health care system.

The collaborative model brings Walgreens pharmacists and Healthcare Clinic nurse practitioners together with AzPC providers to further coordinate patient care while giving AzPC members access to a broad range of health care services at select Walgreens units. The program aims to improve patient care while reducing overall costs.

“Coordinated care programs are vitally important to help ensure patients have access to the quality care they need, especially in today’s health care environment,” said Dr. Jeffrey Kang, Walgreens senior vice president of health and wellness services and solutions. “Walgreens brings an expansive retail footprint and diverse portfolio of health care assets and services, and AzPC has long been a leader in providing accountable, coordinated care to its members. This collaboration further demonstrates the value we provide in partnering with others in the medical community to close critical gaps in care to help further improve patient outcomes.”

AzPC chief executive officer Richard Merkin sees the collaboration with Walgreens as part of that group’s ongoing strategy of providing better ways to keep its members healthy while lowering health care costs.

“This relationship will allow our Arizona members to conveniently access community-based health care services at select Walgreens locations. We see this as a model for how affordable health care could be more effectively delivered in the U.S., and we are proud to be piloting this type of innovative effort with Walgreens,” said Merkin.

Walgreens and AzPC will collaborate on a number of clinical and preventive health services aimed at extending physicians’ efforts to provide health services with the support of Walgreens pharmacy and medication management services.