Forbes has a piece about the opening of Walmart’s first health center, featuring “an array of primary medical services, dental care, and behavioral health services as part of a new model expected to eventually be replicated in other markets,” offering things like optometry, counseling, laboratory tests, X-rays, hearing, and wellness education.
“We are creating a super center for basic healthcare services,” says Sean Slovenski, senior vice president and president of Walmart Health and Wellness.
The 10,000 square foot center, in Dallas, Georgia, is said to be about six times the size of the more limited Care Clinics that Walmart has used in other stores; another, similar center will open in Calhoun, Georgia, next year.
In its assessment, Forbes writes that “Walmart’s new Georgia location opening comes as rivals CVS Health and Walgreens Boots Alliance push further into outpatient healthcare services through various models. The retailers see 10,000 baby boomers aging into Medicare coverage each day and are also looking to fill emptying space in their brick and mortar stores in the face of changing consumer shopping habits driven by online retail giant Amazon, which is also exploring new ways to get into the healthcare business but has yet to offer face-to-face personalized healthcare services for customers.”
One interesting thing about the Walmart Health center - Forbes points out that the physicians and dentists working there “are providers already in the community.”
“We are creating a super center for basic healthcare services,” says Sean Slovenski, senior vice president and president of Walmart Health and Wellness.
The 10,000 square foot center, in Dallas, Georgia, is said to be about six times the size of the more limited Care Clinics that Walmart has used in other stores; another, similar center will open in Calhoun, Georgia, next year.
In its assessment, Forbes writes that “Walmart’s new Georgia location opening comes as rivals CVS Health and Walgreens Boots Alliance push further into outpatient healthcare services through various models. The retailers see 10,000 baby boomers aging into Medicare coverage each day and are also looking to fill emptying space in their brick and mortar stores in the face of changing consumer shopping habits driven by online retail giant Amazon, which is also exploring new ways to get into the healthcare business but has yet to offer face-to-face personalized healthcare services for customers.”
One interesting thing about the Walmart Health center - Forbes points out that the physicians and dentists working there “are providers already in the community.”
- KC's View:
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The growing focus that so many companies have on healthcare would, in my estimation, be at least partly a reflection of the fact that a) they believe the current system is not working as well as it should, and b) they believe that political polarization has gotten to the point that nobody actually is going to fix it.
Retailers are smart to push into this direction - if people are disgusted with the system, they’re going to embrace self-care to a greater degree, and these initiatives will enable them to take greater responsibility for their own well-being. It is all about seeing a need and responding to it.
