Category Archives: Walmart

Pharmacy chains rapidly expand into primary care

Posted on by • Posted in CVS Health, Medicare Advantage, Pharmaceutical Industry, Primary Care, Primary Care Delivery Model, Primary Care Strategy, Retail Clinic, Retail Healthcare, Retail Pharmacy, Walgreens, Walmart • Leave a comment

https://mailchi.mp/cfd0577540a3/the-weekly-gist-november-11-2022?e=d1e747d2d8

Retailers and insurers are building out their primary care strategies in a bid to become the new front door for patients seeking healthcare services, especially seniors on highly profitable Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. In the graphic above, we examine the capabilities of three of the largest pharmacy chains—CVS Health, Walgreens, and Walmart—to deliver full-service primary care across in-person and virtual settings.

CVS pioneered the pivot to care provision in 2006 with its acquisition of MinuteClinic, which now has over 1,000 locations. The company has further expanded its concept of pairing retail and pharmacy services with primary care by opening over 100 HealthHUBs, which provide an expanded slate of care services. However, CVS lags competitors in the rollout of full-service primary care practices, with its proposed physician-led Super Clinics still stuck in the planning stages.

Walgreens, with its majority stake in VillageMD (on track for 200 co-branded practices by the end of the year) and the recent acquisition of Summit Health (which operates another 370 primary and urgent care clinics) has assembled the most impressive primary care footprint of the three companies. 

Walmart, the largest by number of stores but also the newest to healthcare, has opened more than 25 Walmart Health Centers, a step up from earlier experimentation with in-store care clinics, offering more services and partnering with Epic Systems to integrate electronic health records. 

CVS’s key advantage over its competitors comes from its payer business, having acquired Aetna in 2018, now the fourth-largest MA payer by membership. Walgreens and Walmart have both aligned themselves with UnitedHealth Group (UHG) to participate in MA, with Walmart having struck a ten-year partnership to steer UHG MA beneficiaries to Walmart Health Centers in Florida and Georgia. 

While aligning with UHG expands the reach of these retail giants into MA risk, UHG, whose OptumHealth division is by far the largest employer of physicians nationwide, remains the healthcare juggernaut most poised to unseat incumbent providers as the home for consumers’ healthcare needs.

The 18 health systems Walmart sends its employees to for care in 2022

Posted on by • Posted in Centers of Excellence, Outcomes, Quality of Care, Walmart • Leave a comment
https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/strategy/the-18-health-systems-walmart-sends-its-employees-to-for-care-in-2022.html?utm_medium=email&utm_content=newsletter

In an effort to rein in healthcare costs for its employees, Walmart sends them directly to health systems that demonstrate high-quality care outcomes, otherwise known as Centers of Excellence.

Through the COE program, Walmart will cover the travel and treatment costs for employees seeking a range of services, but only with providers the company is contracted with. Walmart then reimburses with bundled payments negotiated with the providers.

To determine which providers get access to its 1.6 million employees, Walmart starts by examining health systems. Lisa Woods, vice president of physical and emotional well-being at Walmart, and her team analyze public data, distribute requests for information and conduct detailed on-site visits.

Below are the 18 health systems or campuses to which Walmart will refer patients for defined episodes of care in 2022. (See how COE participants have evolved since 2019 or 2021.)

Cardiac

Cleveland Clinic 

Geisinger Medical Center (Danville, Pa.)

Virginia Mason Medical Center (Seattle)

Weight loss surgery

Emory University Hospital (Atlanta)

Geisinger Medical Center (Danville, Pa.)

Intermountain Healthcare (Salt Lake City)

Northeast Baptist Hospital (San Antonio)

Northwest Medical Center (Springdale, Ark.)

Ochsner Medical Center (New Orleans)

Scripps Mercy Hospital (San Diego)

University Hospital (Cleveland)

Spine surgery

Emory University Hospital (Atlanta)

Geisinger Medical Center (Danville, Pa.)

Carolina NeuroSurgery & Spine Associates (Charlotte, N.C.)

Mercy Hospital Springfield (Mo.)

Mayo Clinic Arizona (Phoenix)

Mayo Clinic Florida (Jacksonville)

Mayo Clinic Minnesota (Rochester)

Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center (Houston)

Ochsner Medical Center (New Orleans)

Virginia Mason Medical Center (Seattle)

Breast, lung, colorectal, prostate

or blood cancer

Mayo Clinic Arizona (Phoenix)

Mayo Clinic Florida (Jacksonville)

Mayo Clinic Minnesota (Rochester)

Hip and knee replacements

Emory University Hospital (Atlanta)

Geisinger Medical Center (Danville, Pa.)

Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center (Baltimore)

Kaiser Permanente Irvine (Calif.) Medical Center

Mayo Clinic Florida (Jacksonville)

Mayo Clinic Minnesota (Rochester)

Mercy Hospital Springfield (Mo.)

Northeast Baptist Hospital (San Antonio)

Ochsner Medical Center (New Orleans)

Scripps Mercy Hospital (San Diego)

University Hospital (Cleveland)

Virginia Mason Medical Center (Seattle)

Organ and tissue transplants

(except cornea and intestinal)

Mayo Clinic Arizona (Phoenix)

Mayo Clinic Florida (Jacksonville)

Mayo Clinic Minnesota (Rochester)

Walmart partners with UnitedHealth Group (UHG) in its continued push into healthcare

Posted on by • Posted in Collaboration, Health Insurance Industry, Medicare Advantage, Primary Care, Virtual Care Strategy, Virtual Healthcare, Walmart • Leave a comment

https://mailchi.mp/6a3812741768/the-weekly-gist-september-9-2022?e=d1e747d2d8

The nation’s largest retailer and its largest insurer announced a 10-year partnership to bring together the collective expertise of both companies to provide affordable healthcare to potentially millions of Americans. Set to start next year with 15 Walmart Health locations in Georgia and Florida, the collaboration will initially focus on seniors and Medicare Advantage (MA) beneficiaries, and will include a co-branded MA plan in Georgia. Walmart Health Virtual Care will also be in-network for some UnitedHealthcare beneficiaries. Plans for future years involve expanding the collaboration across commercial and Medicaid plans, as well as including pharmacy, dental, and vision services. 

The Gist: We have long wondered if this powerhouse pairing was in the works, as this kind of partnership makes a lot of sense for both parties. While Walmart has reportedly been considering an insurance company acquisition for years, and more recently been dabbling in its own insurance efforts, partnering with UHG provides the retailer with a share of the upside potential of getting into the insurance market without having to fully commit to entering that complex business. And given that 90 percent of Americans live within 10 miles of a Walmart store, and more than half of Americans visit a store every week, Walmart provides UHG with low-cost healthcare access points all over the country, especially important in markets where United’s own Optum physician network is not (yet) present.

The 18 health systems Walmart sends its employees to for care in 2022

Posted on by • Posted in Centers of Excellence, Employee Benefits, Health Insurance Coverage Adequacy, Health System, Hospital, Hospital Industry, Quality of Care, Walmart • Leave a comment
https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/strategy/the-18-health-systems-walmart-sends-its-employees-to-for-care-in-2022.html?origin=PayerE&utm_source=PayerE&utm_medium=email&utm_content=newsletter&oly_enc_id=2893H2397267F7G

In an effort to rein in healthcare costs for its employees, Walmart sends them directly to health systems that demonstrate high-quality care outcomes, otherwise known as Centers of Excellence.

Through the COE program, Walmart will cover the travel and treatment costs for employees seeking a range of services, but only with providers the company is contracted with. Walmart then reimburses with bundled payments negotiated with the providers.

To determine which providers get access to its 1.6 million employees, Walmart starts by examining health systems. Lisa Woods, vice president of physical and emotional well-being at Walmart, and her team analyze public data, distribute requests for information and conduct detailed on-site visits.

Below are the 18 health systems or campuses to which Walmart will refer patients for defined episodes of care in 2022. (See how COE participants have evolved since 2019 or 2021.)

Cardiac

Cleveland Clinic 

Geisinger Medical Center (Danville, Pa.)

Virginia Mason Medical Center (Seattle)

Weight loss surgery

Emory University Hospital (Atlanta)

Geisinger Medical Center (Danville, Pa.)

Intermountain Healthcare (Salt Lake City)

Northeast Baptist Hospital (San Antonio)

Northwest Medical Center (Springdale, Ark.)

Ochsner Medical Center (New Orleans)

Scripps Mercy Hospital (San Diego)

University Hospital (Cleveland)

Spine surgery

Emory University Hospital (Atlanta)

Geisinger Medical Center (Danville, Pa.)

Carolina NeuroSurgery & Spine Associates (Charlotte, N.C.)

Mercy Hospital Springfield (Mo.)

Mayo Clinic Arizona (Phoenix)

Mayo Clinic Florida (Jacksonville)

Mayo Clinic Minnesota (Rochester)

Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center (Houston)

Ochsner Medical Center (New Orleans)

Virginia Mason Medical Center (Seattle)

Breast, lung, colorectal, prostate

or blood cancer

Mayo Clinic Arizona (Phoenix)

Mayo Clinic Florida (Jacksonville)

Mayo Clinic Minnesota (Rochester)

Hip and knee replacements

Emory University Hospital (Atlanta)

Geisinger Medical Center (Danville, Pa.)

Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center (Baltimore)

Kaiser Permanente Irvine (Calif.) Medical Center

Mayo Clinic Florida (Jacksonville)

Mayo Clinic Minnesota (Rochester)

Mercy Hospital Springfield (Mo.)

Northeast Baptist Hospital (San Antonio)

Ochsner Medical Center (New Orleans)

Scripps Mercy Hospital (San Diego)

University Hospital (Cleveland)

Virginia Mason Medical Center (Seattle)

Organ and tissue transplants

(except cornea and intestinal)

Mayo Clinic Arizona (Phoenix)

Mayo Clinic Florida (Jacksonville)

Mayo Clinic Minnesota (Rochester)

Walmart partners with Epic for its health technology platform

Posted on by • Posted in Competition, Electronic Health Record (EHR), Primary Care, Primary Care Delivery Model, Primary Care Strategy, Retail Clinic, Retail Healthcare, Walmart • Leave a comment

https://mailchi.mp/a2cd96a48c9b/the-weekly-gist-october-1-2021?e=d1e747d2d8

Walmart to Deploy Epic EHR Platform in 4 New Health Centers

This week, retail giant Walmart announced a partnership with Epic, the country’s most widely-used electronic health record (EHR) system, as the technology platform to support its health and wellness businesses. Epic will first be installed in four Walmart Health Center clinics slated to open in Florida early next year.

The company currently operates 20 health centers in Georgia, Arkansas and the Chicago area, offering an expanded range of services including comprehensive primary care, behavioral health, dental, hearing and vision care, as well as labs and other diagnostics. Skeptics have noted that Walmart has fallen behind in its ambitious plans to broadly roll out the expanded clinics, the first of which opened in an Atlanta exurb in 2019.

The partnership with Epic, which is used by more than 2,000 hospitals nationwide, signals that Walmart is serious about expanding its role as a healthcare provider—and sees opportunity in being able to share information and connect with health systems and doctors’ offices.

However, the vision of a “unified health record across care settings, geographies and multiple sources of health data” outlined by Walmart’s EVP of health and wellness may be more difficult to achieve than expected, if the experience of health systems, who have been stymied by upgrades and version mismatches in their quest for a unified EHR, is any indication.

Welcome, Walmart, to the wonderful world of EHRs—if you thought healthcare was complicated, just wait until you begin your first Epic install!

Walmart, Amazon continue to build healthcare presence

Posted on by • Posted in Amazon, Amazon Care, Amazonification of Healthcare, Competition, Disruption, Innovation, Medicare Advantage, Pharmacy, Primary Care, Primary Care Strategy, Retail Clinic, Retail Healthcare, Retail Pharmacy, Telemedicine, Virtual Care Strategy, Virtual Healthcare, Virtual Visit, Walmart • Leave a comment
The Weekly Gist: The Unmasked! Edition
Walmart Health: A Deep Dive into the $WMT Corporate Strategy in Health Care | by Nisarg Patel | Medium

Late last week, retail giant Walmart announced its plan to acquire national telemedicine provider MeMD, for an undisclosed sum. According to Dr. Cheryl Pegus, Walmart’s executive vice president for health, the acquisition “complements our brick-and-mortar Walmart Health locations”, allowing the company to “expand access and reach consumers where they are”.

MeMD, founded in 2010, provides primary care and mental health services to five million patients nationally. The acquisition extends Walmart’s health delivery capabilities beyond the handful of in-store and store-adjacent clinics it runs, and follows the launch of its own Medicare Advantage-focused broker business, and partnership with Medicare Advantage start-up Clover Health to offer a co-branded insurance product. 

Walmart has been climbing the healthcare learning curve for several years, building on its sizeable retail pharmacy business, and seems to have hit on a successful formula in its latest in-person clinic model, which includes primary care, behavioral health, vision, and dental services. The retailer plans to add 22 new clinic locations by the end of this year, and its new telemedicine offering will allow it to expand its virtual reach even further.

The MeMD acquisition also represents a new front in Walmart’s head-to-head competition with Amazon, which launched its own national telemedicine service earlier this year. That service, Amazon Care, is targeted at the employer market, and right on cue, Amazon announced its first customer sale last week—to Precor, a fitness equipment company. 

Both retail giants are slowly circling the $3.6T healthcare industry, targeting inefficiencies by deploying their expertise in convenience and consumer engagement. Incumbents beware.

9 numbers that show how big Walmart’s role in healthcare is

Posted on by • Posted in Access, Access & Quality of Healthcare, Affordability, Clinical Testing, Consumer Preferences, Consumer-Centered Care Pathway, Consumerism, Coronavirus, Health Insurance Industry, Market Trends, Office Visit, Outpatient Care, Primary Care, Vaccine, Vaccine Distribution, Walmart • Leave a comment
https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/consumerism/9-numbers-that-show-how-big-walmart-s-role-in-healthcare-is.html?origin=CFOE&utm_source=CFOE&utm_medium=email&utm_content=newsletter&oly_enc_id=2893H2397267F7G
Georgia Is First State For Walmart's 'Health Center' | 90.1 FM WABE

Walmart has continued to grow its presence in healthcare over the past few years, with expansions of its primary care clinics and the launch of its new insurance arm.

Here are nine numbers that show how big Walmart is in healthcare and how it plans to grow:

Walmart has opened 20 standalone healthcare centers and plans to open at least 15 more in 2021. The health centers offer primary care, urgent care, labs, counseling and other services.

Walmart’s board approved a plan in 2018 to scale to 4,000 clinics by 2029. However, that plan is in flux as the retail giant may be rolling back its clinic strategy, according to a February Insider report.

Walmart in January confirmed plans to offer COVID-19 vaccines in 11 states and Puerto Rico.

In 2020, Walmart established 600 COVID-19 testing sites.

Walmart said it believes expanding its standalone clinics will help bring affordable, quality healthcare to more Americans because 90 percent of Americans live within 10 miles of a Walmart store.

The Walmart Health model lowers the cost of delivering healthcare services by about 40 percent for patients, according to Walmart’s former health and wellness president Sean Slovenski.

In October, Walmart partnered with Medicare Advantage insurer Clover Health on its first health insurance plans, which will be available to 500,000 people in eight Georgia counties. 

Walmart’s insurance arm, Walmart Insurance Services, partnered with eight payers during the Medicare open enrollment period in 2020 to sell its Medicare products. Humana, UnitedHealthcre and Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield were among the insurers offering the products.

Walmart is slowing its ambitious push into healthcare, employees and leaked documents reveal

Posted on by • Posted in Ambulatory Care Services, Outpatient Care, Primary Care, Retail Healthcare, Retail Pharmacy, Walmart • Leave a comment

https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-slowing-healthcare-clinics-strategy-2021-2

Walmart Health

In 2018, Walmart‘s board of directors approved a bold plan to scale to 4,000 clinics by 2029.

The timeline laid out a net investment of $3 billion, not counting profits from the clinics, and a rollout strategy, according to a February 2019 presentation to the board obtained by Insider.

The vision was backed by former Walmart US CEO Greg Foran, the health team’s biggest champion who left Walmart in 2019. And it was dreamed up by Sean Slovenski, who Foran asked to come up with a big idea in healthcare as Walmart’s biggest competitors were pushing deeper into the space.

Now those leaders have been replaced by a team with a different philosophy, and the strategy is in flux at the same time Walmart is dealing with the pandemic and focusing on e-commerce, Insider has learned through conversations with eight former and current employees. 

One coalition inside Walmart is happy with the change of pace —the retailer has 20 clinics currently, with at least 15 slotted for 2021 — because healthcare is hard, and the clinics are a work in progress.

Another coalition is frustrated by what they see as a stark departure from the initial goal to provide inexpensive care for people around the US quickly as possible.

Walmart didn’t comment on whether the rollout was slowing, but said it continued to “experiment” with Walmart Health centers and that the pandemic had reaffirmed its commitment to healthcare. It pointed to the launch of pharmacy curbside delivery, COVID-19 testing sites, and vaccine administration as evidence.

Walmart prepares 5,000+ pharmacies to administer the COVID vaccine

Posted on by • Posted in Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), Pandemic, Pharmacy, Retail Healthcare, Retail Pharmacy, Rural Health, Vaccine, Vaccine Distribution, Vulnerable Populations, Walmart • Leave a comment
https://www.walmart.com/cp/1228302?utm_medium=ads&utm_source=3197125&utm_content=291534060-146101090&utm_campaign=PEBEQ1-2021

The CDC selected Walmart and Sam’s Club to help administer COVID-19 vaccines in communities across the United States.

Why it’s important: With 5,000+ pharmacy locations, the company can administer the vaccine in hard-to-reach parts of the country.

Walmart Health COO outlines health insurance business: 5 things to know

Posted on by • Posted in Health Insurance Industry, Health Plan, Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Medicare Part D, Walmart • Leave a comment

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/payer-issues/walmart-health-coo-outlines-health-insurance-business-5-things-to-know.html?utm_medium=email

NCDHHS on Twitter: "A few years ago, Durham's David Tedrow couldn't drive a car. He'd forgotten how to answer a telephone. Now, he's started Senior Health Insurance Brokers, LLC, and was honored

Lori Flees, senior vice president and COO of Walmart Health, officially launched Walmart Insurance Services Oct. 6. The insurance agency will “assist people with enrolling in insurance plans and simplify what’s historically been a cumbersome, confusing process,” Ms. Flees said.

Five things to know:

1. Ms. Flees outlined the operations of Walmart Insurance Services in a Oct. 6 blog post. Walmart will begin selling Medicare insurance plans during this year’s open enrollment period, from Oct. 15 through Dec. 7. 

2. Walmart Insurance Services will provide Medicare products, including Part D, Medicare Advantage and Medicare Supplement plans. The products will be offered by Humana, UnitedHealthcare, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Amerigroup, Simply Health, WellCare, Clover Health and Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield. More insurers will be added, Ms. Flees said.

3. In July, the Arkansas Democrat Gazette broke news that Walmart had started seeking Medicare sales managers and insurance agents for a new entity called Walmart Insurance Services.

4. In early October, Walmart announced its partnership with Medicare Advantage insurer Clover Health on its first health insurance plans, which will be open to half a million people in eight counties in Georgia.

5. Walmart’s insurance business is licensed in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Ms. Flees said the company has hired insurance agents to help people find insurance plans.