Health and wellness, which includes pharmacy, clinical and optical services, made up approximately 9 percent of Walmart's roughly $332 billion in U.S. sales last year. (Photo: Shutterstock)
A new health clinic opening up in a Georgia Walmart, called Walmart Health, is expanding the range of services offered over those available at previous Walmart clinics in Texas, South Carolina and Georgia.
The new Walmart Health clinic in Dallas, Georgia, according to a CNBC report, will provide hearing and vision tests, as well as 60-minute counseling sessions—services not currently available at the existing Walmart clinics—and will also offer Walmarthealth.com, an online way to schedule appointments.
More such clinics could open in the future, if the test of the Dallas location brings positive results. The new clinic is located in a separate building next to the store to afford a greater sense of privacy to patients.
Already one of the largest pharmacy companies in the U.S., Walmart offers in-store sections for prescription drugs in almost all of its 4,700 locations across the U.S. Health and wellness, which includes pharmacy, clinical and optical services, made up approximately 9 percent of its roughly $332 billion in U.S. sales, or $36 billion, in the last fiscal year.
Clinics in or next to Walmart stores provide an opportunity for people—particularly in underserved rural areas—to have access to health care, while also affording the company access to the approximately 140 million customers who visit its stores every week, as well as a pool of some 1.5 million employees across the country.
An earlier lease of space in one of its Texas stores to a mental health professional a couple of years ago introduced the company to the opportunity presented by offering its own mental health services.
The Texas, South Carolina and Georgia facilities, called Care Clinics, offer appointments at a cost that varies from $59 to $99, although Walmart accepts many of the largest health insurance plans. According to the report, the new clinic "will have on-site health providers, including nurses, to offer consultations, immunizations and lab tests, people familiar with the matter said. Added services include hearing tests, 60-minute counseling sessions and vision tests."
"I would put this in the broad category of retailers looking for services that give them opportunity for growth," Tom Lee, the founder of One Medical and CEO of primary care start-up Galileo Health, was quoted in the report saying. Lee added, "In-store concepts have had mixed success and this is an attempt to try something more standalone."
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Marlene Satter
Marlene Y. Satter has worked in and written about the financial industry for decades.
