Retailer adds own care sites

Wal-Mart opens 3 in-store clinics

Saturday, June 14, 2014

Correction: CVS Caremark Corp. plans to have 1,500 of its MinuteClinic retail medical clinics open across the country by 2017. An inaccurate number of projected clinics was included in this article.

Wal-Mart has leased space for medical clinics in its stores for nearly a decade, but the retailer is now dipping its big toe into the health care industry by opening its own primary care clinics in a test market of three Texas cities.

The price is right for workers, called "associates," of the nation's largest private employer. Those covered under any one of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s three insurance plans will pay just $4 per visit; everybody else will pay $40.

Paula Rosenblum, managing partner at Retail Systems Research, called it a clever move on Wal-Mart's part.

"I don't know that it's going to generate a lot of revenue for them," Rosenblum said. "It'll generate some goodwill, for sure."

As of April, Wal-Mart had roughly 100 in-store clinics operated by local health care systems and other providers who own and operate clinics. These are acute care clinics, where patients receive active but short-term treatment for injuries and illnesses.

"This is a different model," said Wal-Mart spokesman Danit Marquardt. The new Walmart Care Clinics will be primary care clinics staffed with two nurse practitioners plus medical assistants who can perform lab tests, treat basic illnesses such as flu and strep throat and manage care of chronic conditions like diabetes, asthma and high blood pressure. Patients with more serious illnesses and conditions can be referred to specialists.

Wal-Mart owns the clinics but is working with QuadMed to source and manage qualified health care professionals who will serve patients, said Marquardt. She described QuadMed as nationally recognized for offering on-site primary care clinics and health care management solutions designed to raise quality and lower costs.

Wal-Mart is self-insured with 1.1 million of its full- and part-time workers and their family members covered. Insurance plans are offered for as little as $18 per two-week pay period. The retailer employs 1.3 million people nationwide.

Wal-Mart boasts that it's creating a new price position for retail health services that aims to give both customers and associates greater access to quality and affordable health care.

The first Walmart Care Clinic opened in a Supercenter in Copperas Cove, Texas, in April, and two more will open in the Dallas/Fort Worth area -- Carrollton and Benbrook -- by June 27.

CVS Caremark Corp. holds the national retail clinic market with its MinuteClinics. The first one opened in 2000, and CVS has since grown the clinics to more than 800 locations in 28 states and the District of Columbia, said CVS spokesman Lara Franke. More than 350 MinuteClinics have opened in the last three years, and CVS -- the largest pharmacy health care provider in the United States -- plans to open another 150 this year.

The goal is to have 1,700 clinics open by 2017, Franke said. Prices range from $39 for a child's sports camp physical to $59 for a basic visit.

Though CVS has a store in Texarkana and is opening locations in central and Northwest Arkansas, there are no MinuteClinics in Arkansas.

Target Corp. has said eight of its Dallas area stores will have clinics open this fall. The nation's third-largest retailer operates about 70 clinics in other states. Most services at the Target clinics cost $75.

Will Wal-Mart make money on its care clinics? "No," said Rosenblum. Will it generate store traffic, which has fallen off over the course of several quarters? "Maybe," she said.

Having clinics in stores is said to generate more store visits at CVS and Target.

Business on 06/14/2014