Walmart would like to to grab a bigger slice of the health care market's revenues and hopes that its new heath centers can do the job.
Venturing further into the health care arena, Walmart is testing out yet another concept in providing some forms of care whether customers are insured or not.
According to a KCRA report, Walmart is testing its new health center in Georgia, where customers can stop in to see a doctor for routine checkups as well as for ongoing treatment of chronic illnesses like diabetes and heart disease—even if they have no health coverage.
It's not free, of course, but the costs are low at "Walmart Health"—and not just for the abovementioned services. The facility, which opened in January, also offers lab work, X-rays, dental care, behavioral health counseling, eye and hearing exams and other services—with the bill for an annual adult checkup just $30 without insurance. Eye exams are $45, while dental exams are $25. They can even get therapy sessions for $60.
There are two of these health centers; the first is in Dallas, Georgia, and opened back in September; this second one is located in Calhoun, Georgia. Walmart would like to wade into the health care market's 15+ percent share of the national economy and hopes that such heath centers can do the job.
By starting in areas in which care is both expensive and hard to come by, Walmart hopes to make some inroads against conventional health insurance by providing primary care options to those who normally may have little or no access to care for chronic diseases (both areas have higher-than-normal rates) and fewer primary care physicians to go to (again, a circumstance haunting the regions around both new health centers).
According to KCRA, "Walmart believes it can fill that gap for its customers without health insurance, as well as those who have insurance plans with high deductibles and out-of-pocket costs." And it thinks it can do so by easing its own doctors into the slots currently filled—when available—by patients' current primary care providers.
It certainly won't hurt the megachain's retail side, with health care bringing in ready-made customers in the form of patients who can't get—or can't afford—care anywhere else. And the addition of medical, dental and therapist care, in addition to its already-established pharmacies and optical departments, signals not just a broader approach but also a more concentrated effort to enlarge the relationship it already has with its customers.
In doing so, it's challenging not just Amazon's efforts to provide health care, but also CVS and Walgreens clinics—and it thinks it can be profitable, because it's not operating the same way as the current health care system. In addition, it has all those big-box stores and massive parking lots to take advantage of.
Walmart vice president of health and wellness transformation Marcus Osbore, speaking in an interview, explained that those who visit its clinics have not seen a primary care provider or dentist in a number of years, and that for many patients, this was their first opportunity to access mental health services.
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Marlene Satter
Marlene Y. Satter has worked in and written about the financial industry for decades.
