Rite Aid Corporation (NYSE: RAD), one of the nation’s leading drug store chains, and global healthcare leader Heritage Provider Network (HPN), one of California’s largest healthcare provider networks, announced today they have entered into an agreement to bring the Rite Aid Health Alliance program to HPN’s chronic and poly-chronic patients across Southern California.

Today, Rite Aid President and Chief Operating Officer Ken Martindale along with Heritage Provider Network President and Chief Executive Officer Richard Merkin, M.D., will host a press conference at the Rite Aid pharmacy located at 21949 Ventura Boulevard in Woodland Hills, Calif., to discuss the details of this partnership.

“We are excited to announce Heritage Provider Network, one of the leading healthcare providers in California, as the latest Rite Aid Health Alliance partner,” said Martindale. “Known as a pioneer in population health management, Heritage Provider Network has long believed in and offered a wide array of innovative and preventative healthcare services, making them a natural partner for us as we continue to bring this one-of-a-kind healthcare program to the communities we serve.”

Through Rite Aid Health Alliance, Rite Aid and HPN will offer coordinated, comprehensive care and support to patients with chronic and poly-chronic conditions like congestive heart failure, diabetes, COPD, hypertension and high cholesterol. HPN physicians and Rite Aid pharmacists will work with specially trained care coaches, located in select Rite Aid pharmacies, to achieve specific physician identified wellness goals and improve the patient’s overall health and self-management abilities.

“Improving health outcomes and reducing the cost of care for chronic and poly-chronic patients is a top priority for us at HPN,” said Merkin. “We look forward to working with Rite Aid in this collaboration to provide additional care services to our patients in communities throughout Southern California at convenient Rite Aid pharmacies.”

Heritage Provider Network affiliates participating in Rite Aid Health Alliance include Bakersfield Family Medical Center; Coastal Communities Physician Network; Desert Oasis Health Care; High Desert Medical Group; Lakeside Medical Group; Regal Medical Group; Sierra Medical Group, Affiliated Doctors of Orange County as well as Heritage California ACO.

The full range of services available to patients participating in Rite Aid Health Alliance includes medication compliance support; comprehensive medication reviews and reconciliation; nutrition and weight management information; disease education; exercise coaching; and tobacco cessation support. In order to ensure collaboration between Rite Aid and primary care physicians, physician orders will be transmitted electronically to the Care Coach and pharmacist and reports of all patient interactions within Rite Aid pharmacies will be shared with the member’s physician.

The Rite Aid Health Alliance pilot partnership with Heritage Provider Network is the largest to date since Rite Aid announced the program earlier this year. Thirty Rite Aid pharmacies and eight Heritage affiliates, as well as its ACO, across Southern California are participating. The rollout, taking place in two phases, is expected to be complete by mid-July.

Rite Aid previously announced it was piloting Rite Aid Health Alliance partnerships in Greensboro, N.C., Glendale, Calif., Buffalo, N.Y., and Hershey, Pa., in addition to the new arrangement with HPN.

Rite Aid Corporation is one of the nation's leading drugstore chains with nearly 4,600 stores in 31 states and the District of Columbia and fiscal 2014 annual revenues of $25.5 billion. Information about Rite Aid, including corporate background and press releases, is available through the company's website at www.riteaid.com.

Heritage Provider Network, Inc. (HPN) is on the cutting edge of the accountable care model of healthcare delivery: coordinated, patient-doctor centric, integrated health care systems that represent the future of health care in the United States. HPN provides high quality, cost effective healthcare to over 700,000 individuals and is dedicated to quality, affordable health care, and putting patients' wellness first. (www.heritageprovidernetwork.com)