Walgreens Boots Alliance CEO Rosalind “Roz” Brewer has joined the board of tech-enabled, primary-care startup, VillageMD, along with former National Coordinator for Health IT at the Health and Human Services Department, Dr. David Brailer.
Last year, Walgreens announced it was investing $5.2 billion into VillageMD, on top of the $1 billion it put into the company in 2020. With those investments, Walgreens took a controlling stake in VillageMD, owning 63% of the primary-care company.
The two companies have partnered to create in-store primary clinics at Walgreens locations across the country. The plans outlined by the companies are to open 500 VillageMD clinics at Walgreens stores in more than 30 U.S. markets by 2025 and 1,000 clinics by 2027. By the end of 2021, the two companies had opened more than 80 clinics. In early 2022, VillageMD and Walgreens have opened primary care practices in the Southern New Hampshire area and in Florida.
Brewer joined Walgreens in March 2021 after serving as the chief operating officer of Starbucks for three years. Prior to Starbucks, she was the president and CEO of Sam’s Club for five years and president of a Walmart division before that.
Joining her on the board will be Brailer, the first-ever National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, serving under President George W. Bush from 2004-2006. He currently serves as the executive chairman of Health Evolution, a company that connects healthcare CEOs from payers, providers, and life science organizations. Brailer serves on Walgreens’ board as well.
