Walmart Opening More Healthcare ‘Super Centers’

Walmart Health’s first “super center for basic healthcare services” opened Sept. 13, 2019 in Dallas.  Walmart

Walmart disclosed plans to open more “Walmart Health” centers that feature an array of primary medical services, dental care, and behavioral health services as part of a new model being replicated beyond Georgia into other markets.
Walmart says the new health centers opening this month will be located in Loganville, Georgia, and Springdale, Arkansas. They will be the third and fourth such centers to open in less than a year.
Executives said the new centers build on the first 10,000 square foot facility that opened last fall in Dallas, Georgia, where Walmart shoppers and patients in the community have taken to the concept. A Calhoun, Ga., center already opened and the new Loganville center are about 6,800 square feet, a Walmart spokeswoman confirmed.

The new centers, like the first “Walmart Health” brand center in Dallas, Georgia, offer more services than the 19 “Care Clinics” that take up about 1,500 square feet inside stores elsewhere in Georgia, South Carolina and Texas. The retailer says the Care Clinics remain an important part of their healthcare offerings, but are more limited in service.
“Our existing Walmart Health Centers in Dallas and Calhoun, Georgia, have created a real impact in the months since opening,” Walmart’s senior vice president of health and wellness, Sean Slovenski said in a blog post Wednesday.

“Patients have responded favorably to our low, transparent pricing for key healthcare services, regardless of insurance status,” Slovenski added. “They’re also appreciative of the convenience of our facilities that offer primary and urgent care, labs, x-ray and diagnostics, counseling, dental, optical and hearing services all in one central facility. But don’t just take my word for it.”
The move by Walmart comes as CVS Health opens hundreds of “HealthHubs” which include additional health and wellness items and services beyond what’s already available in the drugstore chain’s MinuteClinics. Meanwhile, Walgreens Boots Alliance has been partnering with an array of companies, testing everything from urgent care in attached centers operated by UnitedHealth Group’s Optum MedExpress unit to Partners in Primary Care Clinics for Medicare beneficiaries that are operated by Humana.
In an interview last year, Slovenski decribed the new Walmart Health centers as “a super center for basic healthcare services.”
The larger Walmart Health Center puts “key health services under one roof,” a first for the world’s largest retailer when it comes to offering primary care, dental, optometry, counseling, laboratory tests, X-rays, hearing, wellness education and behavioral health.
“It’s clear our model is working, but there’s also more to be done to ensure every family has access to care,” Slovenski said. “Walmart Health will continue to expand with additional locations opening in Georgia this year. We owe it to our communities to continue our mission to bring quality care to those who need it, now more than ever.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2020/06/17/walmart-rolling-out-more-healthcare-services-super-centers/#6fcc141f202f