Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) CEO Tim Wentworth is altering the best way the retail pharmacy chain operates in a bid to turn out to be a extra clinically oriented model — although with out the clinics.”We like the place we are actually, however we’re not going to get to the place we have to just by being a spot that may rent numerous pharmacists. It’s about work redesign, it’s about taking the lower-value work off the desk,” he advised Yahoo Finance on Thursday.The longtime healthcare govt is signaling a seismic shift in how the corporate operates, with a watch towards fewer verticals inside the enterprise. Wentworth, former CEO of pharmacy advantages supervisor Categorical Scripts, which was acquired by Cigna (CI) in 2018, beforehand introduced 60 VillageMD closures. The co-located clinics and pharmacies have been the results of a $5 billion Walgreens partnership in 2020 previous to Wentworth’s arrival final yr, and have been a part of a broader technique to be extra well being companies targeted — much like rival CVS’s (CVS) Minute Clinic.The clinics prompted a virtually $6 billion drop within the firm’s second quarter income in comparison with the prior yr, the corporate introduced on Thursday. Nonetheless, Walgreens managed to beat earnings expectations, reporting earnings per share of $1.20 in comparison with analyst expectations of $0.82. The corporate’s inventory was up practically 4% in buying and selling Thursday.Pharmacist rolesIn its post-results earnings name, Wentworth famous that the Nationwide Well being Service, the UK’s well being company, just lately started permitting pharmacists to diagnose and prescribe remedy for seven frequent well being circumstances, together with shingles, UTIs, and sore throats. Boots places within the UK are a part of this new program, which provides Wentworth entry to firsthand information on the way it works and the way it may very well be replicated within the US.”We’re on a mission to attain supplier standing for our pharmacists, given their affect, which was so clearly highlighted in the course of the pandemic. This is able to enable them to get reimbursed for offering choose companies to sufferers,” Wentworth stated on the decision concerning the US labor power.Story continues”These are extremely educated medical professionals … whose scope of follow goes properly past allotting medicines,” he added. Merchandise aisle at a Walgreens in Queens, N.Y. (Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Common Photos Group by way of Getty Photos) (UCG by way of Getty Photos)How the corporate can obtain this purpose amid a nationwide scarcity of pharmacists, in addition to ongoing headwinds within the client area, is the problem Wentworth faces.US pharmacists, that are licensed by states, have various levels of medical authority relying on the state they follow in. Walgreens is within the midst of lobbying Congress to move a invoice with language that might enable Medicare Half B reimbursement for pharmacists offering exams, vaccines and coverings— however wouldn’t step on state legal guidelines, a spokesperson for Walgreens clarified after the interview Thursday.Wentworth acknowledged the corporate has confronted the identical issues as different pharmacies up to now few years — together with having to shut down greater than 100 places and pausing the buildout of smaller places as a way to higher handle assets.Since taking the helm, Wentworth says he has been specializing in a return to the fundamentals. Meaning dealing with previous issues — corresponding to weak demand for front-of-store client gadgets as extra clients look to e-commerce and bulk shopping for amid inflationary strain.To that finish, he just lately introduced internally that retailer managers can have extra management over their shops and be incentivized to drive development. As well as, making a extra community-based pharmacy setting — customizing the shop primarily based on the situation quite than the present massive field really feel — on the entrance retail paired with the again finish with “pharmacists working on the very prime of their medical means” is how Walgreens can survive the downward strain it has confronted in recent times, Wentworth stated.”That is the best way we’re capable of develop our underlying medical facet of our enterprise whereas on the similar time constructing belief with sufferers,” he stated.Anjalee Khemlani is the senior well being reporter at Yahoo Finance, overlaying all issues pharma, insurance coverage, care companies, digital well being, PBMs, and well being coverage and politics. Comply with Anjalee on all social media platforms @AnjKhem.Click on right here for in-depth evaluation of the newest well being business information and occasions impacting inventory pricesRead the newest monetary and enterprise information from Yahoo Finance