Walmart is making a move into delivering primary care, according to an article on the Forbes website. It has opened a half-dozen clinics across South Carolina and Texas, and plans to launch six more before the end of the year.
The clinics will be staffed by nurse practitioners, in a partnership with QuadMed.
Walmart already has more than 100 retail clinics. Unlike those clinics, these new primary care clinics are fully owned by the company and branded as one-stop shops for primary care.
They will be open longer and later than competitors: 12 hours per day during the week and another more than eight hours per day on weekends.
Walmart says their clinics will be a low-cost alternative to traditional options: Walk-in visits will cost $40.
For the hundreds of thousands of Walmart employees covered by the company health plan the price is $4.
Walmart’s move is part of the broader trend of retailers, big-box stores, and other non-traditional competitors charging into health care delivery, the article said.
Cleanliness in Hospitals: Clinical Priority and Community Perception
Dana-Farber Receives $50M Gift for Planned Cancer Hospital
Clarinda Regional Health Center Reports Data Security Incident
Gaps in Nurses' Environmental Cleaning Knowledge Grow Amid Rising EVS Pressures
Ground Broken on the Southern Nevada Forensic Facility