Moon Twp., PA (August 2, 2010) - Heritage Valley Health System is set to celebrate the inaugural National Convenient Care Clinic Week (NCCCW), August 2-6. Heritage Valley operates five retail clinics in Western Pennsylvania (a freestanding site in Beaver and in Walmart stores in Cranberry Twp., Monaca, Chippewa and New Castle) and will be opening a sixth in late August in the Calcutta, OH Walmart.

Recently created by the Convenient Care Association (CCA), National Convenient Care Clinic Week is designed to celebrate the role of retail-based clinics and practitioners in complementing traditional medical service providers in delivering care to patients, and to promote its expanding scope of service under recent healthcare reform.

“We are very excited to launch Convenient Care Week. Convenient care clinics and their providers are part of the solution to ensure that all Americans have access to quality primary care when and where they need it at a price they can afford,” said Tine Hansen-Turton, executive director of the CCA.

The first ever convenient care clinic (CCC) in the United States opened in 2000 and the CCC industry has grown quickly since then. There currently are an estimated 1,200 clinics across the country that have served more than 15 million patients. The number of clinics and patients are expected to increase as healthcare reform gets underway. According to the RAND study released in September 2009, nearly one-third of Americans live within about a 10-minute drive of a retail-based clinic.

“Convenient Care Clinics must address cost, convenience and quality. Clinics provide a detailed menu of services and prices at thousands of retail locations across the country — with many more to be added. They offer high-quality care delivered by medical professionals trained and experienced in diagnosing common illnesses,” said John Luellen, M.D., medical director of satellite services for Heritage Valley Health System and a national board member of CCA. “Here at Heritage Valley, we’ve been pleased with our ConvenientCare clinics and plan to expand our locations over the next 18 months.”