Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) Venturing Into Healthcare With Affordable Walmart Healthcare Clinics

Retail giant Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) is diving into healthcare following the launch of Walmart Health which is a primary care clinic in September last year.

The company launched the clinic in Dallas, Georgia which is run by a doctor offering services such as annual check-ups, dental exams, and X-rays. Last year Walmart Health established around 600 COVID-19 testing locations and in December it started administering the COVID-19 vaccines to healthcare staff in New Mexico.

Walmart forays to the $3.6 trillion US healthcare market

The retailers’ former health and wellness president Sean Slovenski indicated in February last year that the number of patients visiting their health clinics in Georgia was overwhelming. Although he didn’t give the exact number the volume was considerably higher than Walmart’s expectations. This is because the Walmart Health model seems attractive to patients because of the lower costs of delivering by around 40% thus doing away with “administrative baloney.”

Currently, consumers face increasing healthcare costs, and retailers such as Walmart and its rivals Walgreens and CVS Health are foraying into the healthcare sector. They are opening in-store clinics as they seek to get a share of the $3.6 trillion annual US market. As of 2019 around 35 Million, Americans are uninsured and thus they could take advantage of the low costs healthcare services that Walmart Health clinics offer.

Walmart clinics appeal to low income and uninsured patients

Oak Street Health recently opened a clinic at Walmart in the Fort Worth area, Dallas following the opening of another clinic in Mesquite, TX. Walmart CFO Tim Cook indicated in an earnings call in November that the Walmart clinics are just a small section of their business.

Experts consider Walmart to be a formidable disruptor in the healthcare sector because it will be attracting customers with its low prices. It is important to note that affordability is a major concern for the uninsured and low-income patients. Equally accessibility to Walmart Health services attracts patients considering almost 90% of the US population live within a 10 miles radius of a Walmart store.