The company says it’s looking beyond traditional retail clinics
as it seeks to create “supercenters” with comprehensive healthcare services.
By ELISE REUTER / Jun 28, 2020 at 10:25 AM
In the
past few months, Walmart has been designing a different kind of supercenter —
one focused on healthcare.
The
company rolled out two Walmart Health clinics this month, in Loganville,
Georgia and Springdale, Arkansas.
These
aren’t your usual walk-in clinics that might serve as a quick place to get
vaccinated or get a cold checked out. Rather, they’re more like a one-stop shop
for healthcare, with primary care, urgent care, diagnostics, x-rays, behavioral
health and dental care.
Walmart
Health’s other big differentiator: A primary care appointment costs just $40.
For children? $20.
“We
didn’t set out to disrupt healthcare. We set out to meet the needs of our
customers at Walmart,” Walmart President of Health and Wellness Sean Slovenski
said during a panel hosted by the American Telemedicine Association.
“When we say it’s $20 to have your child seen with a primary care
physician, and it’s really $20 … When you come in and walk out and get the bill
and it’s still $20, that’s quite a disruption in the space.”
Walmart
isn’t necessarily new to healthcare — It rolled out a list of $4 generic drugs
more than a decade ago, spurring pharmacies to compete. It also recently
bought medication management startup CareZone’s software.
But
having a primary care doctor at Walmart? That takes everything in a new
direction.
In
the healthcare business
Slovenski
and other members of Walmart Health’s team began quietly working on the project
two years ago. They began surveying thousands of customers about what they
wanted. Most customers didn’t feel cared for in the current healthcare system,
said Matt Parry, senior director of strategy and customer experience for health
and wellness.
“They
felt processed, like they were a number,” he said.
When
they began asking customers about the concept of Walmart Health, some of them
raised concerns that it would be “cheap healthcare.” Slovenski reiterated that
Walmart wasn’t just another retail clinice.
“There’s
a big difference between offering healthcare services to drive more people to
your store and offering healthcare services because you’re in the healthcare
business,” he said. “We’re in healthcare. We’re not in retail healthcare. We’re
recruiting physicians in all of these areas and bringing them in.”
Like at
its stores, the company began training greeters to help guide people through
their options when they walk in the door. They also charted out plans to offer
wellness services, such as exercise classes and nutritionists.
The
team began referring to the concept as “supercenters for healthcare,” with the
idea of bringing all of these disparate services together and cutting out the
middlemen to reduce costs.
“How do
we cut out all the goo where everyone’s getting a penny here and a nickel
there. How do we shave all of that out so we can get to a price point?”
Slovenski said.
Most of
the clinics’ prices are designed around cash pay. While the clinics do accept
insurance, patients might choose not to use it — why would you pay a $50 copay
for an appointment that costs $40 in cash?
For
those without coverage, it also opens an opportunity to get care. Some of the
clinics’ first patients were people who hadn’t been in the healthcare system
for 10 or 20 years — or ever, Walmart Health Director of Operations Amber Bynum
said.
Currently,
Walmart has four clinics under this model, three of which are in Georgia and
the new one in Arkansas. It plans to roll out more in the future.
For
patients who need specialty services, Walmart currently makes referrals out to
other providers in the community. Further down the line, Slovenski indicated
the company might be open to offering more in the future.
“Eventually,
we may offer some of those true specialty type services,” he said. “We’re
making sure we get these basic services and the model right the first couple of
years, and then we’ll add onto that.”
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