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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Walmart will close all of its health care clinics | |
By Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN | |
Updated: | |
9:42 AM EDT, Tue April 30, 2024 | |
Source: CNN | |
Walmart, the largest retailer in the United States, will close all 51 | |
of its health care centers in six states and end virtual health care | |
services, the company said Tuesday. | |
Walmart had made a in recent years, opening clinics next to its | |
superstores that offered primary and urgent care, labs, X-rays, | |
behavioral health and dental work — Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, | |
Illinois, Missouri and Texas. Walmart believed it could use its massive | |
financial scale and store base to offer convenient, low-cost services | |
to patients in rural and underserved areas that lacked primary care | |
options. | |
But the announcement is an abrupt reversal in Walmart’s strategy and | |
may leave a gap in health care access, particularly for lower-income | |
patients without insurance who relied on the centers. Walmart also said | |
it will end virtual health care services. | |
“One of unique things was they were focused on stores located in | |
underserved communities. It’s disappointing that Walmart wasn’t | |
able to make it work because these patients need care and don’t have | |
as many options,” said Ateev Mehrotra, a professor of health care | |
policy and medicine at Harvard Medical School who researches retail | |
health clinics. | |
Walmart said it was a “difficult decision,” but its health care | |
push was not profitable for the company because of the “challenging | |
reimbursement environment and escalating operating costs.” | |
“We determined there is not a sustainable business model for us to | |
continue,” the company said. | |
Mehrotra said Walmart’s closures reflect the challenges for primary | |
care providers in the United States. A shortage of up to 55,000 primary | |
care physicians is in the next decade, according to the Association | |
of American Medical Colleges. | |
“This experience highlights the financial struggles that primary care | |
has in general. It really speaks to what primary clinics are facing,” | |
he said. | |
Walmart said it will continue operating its 4,600 pharmacies and more | |
than 3,000 optical centers around the country. | |
Walmart’s health push | |
Walmart opened clinics to try to fill a gap for its customers without | |
health insurance, as well as people who have insurance plans with high | |
deductibles and out-of-pocket costs. | |
“Health care looks like a big opportunity,” Walmart CEO Doug | |
McMillion said in 2020, shortly after the first clinics opened. | |
Soaring costs and access to primary care options remain persistent | |
challenges, especially in rural areas. Walmart chose some of its | |
locations because the areas had higher rates of chronic disease and | |
fewer primary care physicians than average US communities. | |
Marcus Osborne, Walmart’s former vice president of health and | |
wellness transformation, told CNN in 2020 that people who came into the | |
clinics often had not seen a primary care physician in two or three | |
years, or a dentist in five years. | |
Walmart faced several challenges with its health clinics, including a | |
shortage of medical workers, said Robert Field, a professor of health | |
management and policy at Drexel University. | |
Walmart’s closures show that strength in retail does not always | |
translate into health care, he said. | |
“It is different from selling products, like toothpaste and breakfast | |
cereal, and requires different kinds of expertise and management,” | |
Field said. | |
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