Walgreen restructures healthcare units

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Walgreen Co (WAG.N) is restructuring its healthcare divisions and giving them one sales force so that the company can do a better job of pitching its pharmacy and healthcare services to clients.

The moves announced on Monday are supposed to bring various services such as mail service pharmacy and home care closer together so they can be more clearly offered to employers, managed care organizations, pharmacy benefit managers and government clients. The changes will not impact its pharmacy counter operations.

The restructuring comes as Walgreen, which is best known for running the largest U.S. drugstore chain, tries to position itself as a broader health and wellness company. Rival CVS Caremark Corp (CVS.N) already evolved into a broader services provider with its large pharmacy benefits management business, which administers prescription drug benefits for employers and health plans, and operates a large mail-order pharmacy.

The latest changes at Deerfield, Illinois-based Walgreen also come on the heels of its plan to buy drugstore chain Duane Reade, which will give it a dominant drugstore presence in New York City.

Under the old structure, specialty, infusion, mail service, medical campus and long-term care pharmacies, along with home care services, were all part of Walgreens Health Services. Now, they will become part of the core pharmacy division, led by Executive Vice President Kermit Crawford.

Walgreen also said that Stanley Blaylock, president of the old Walgreens Health Services, will leave the company in April to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities in health care.

Other job cuts were not announced yet, but Walgreen could find savings as overlapping functions such as the pharmacy, health and wellness operations are consolidated, the company said.

A new Pharmacy, Health and Wellness Solutions sales and client services unit will be run by Joe Terrion, who had been chief client officer for Health and Wellness sales and client services.

The pharmacy benefit solutions group, which handles pharmacy benefits management services and had been part of Walgreens Health Services, will now fall under Peter Hotz, president of the Take Care Health Employer Solutions group.

Both Terrion and Hotz will still report to Hal Rosenbluth, president of the Health and Wellness Division.

Shares of Walgreen slipped 0.4 percent to $35.11 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Jessica Wohl; Editing by Derek Caney, Dave Zimmerman)