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Walgreens Continues Expansion into Primary Care as VillageMD Acquires Starling Physicians Group with 30 Locations in Connecticut

Expect there to be more clinical laboratory testing at pharmacies as retail pharmacy chains expand their primary care offerings

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) of Deerfield, Illinois, continues to expand its primary care footprint with VillageMD’s latest acquisition of Starling Physicians, a multi-specialty physicians group with 30 locations in Connecticut, according to a VillageMD news release. Walgreens is the majority owner of VillageMD, which now has more than 700 medical centers, Healthcare Dive noted.

This deal continues the trend of corporations acquiring physician practices. Already, the majority of physicians are employees, not partners in a private practice physician group. Under corporate ownership, these physician groups often decide to change their clinical laboratory providers. For that reason, managers and pathologists at local medical laboratories will want to explore how they might provide daily lab testing services to the corporate owners of these primary care clinics.

The Hartford Business Journal called VillageMD’s acquisition of Starling Physicians—which is subject to a state investigation for possible certificate-of-need requirement—one of Connecticut’s “more high-profile healthcare merger and acquisition deals in Connecticut in recent years.”

Starling Physicians locations offer full primary care services, as well as specialties that include geriatrics, endocrinology, nephrology, ophthalmology, and cardiology.

The Starling Physicians group acquisition comes just a few months after  

VillageMD paid $8.9 billion for Summit Health-CityMD of Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, with primary care services in the Northeast and Oregon. Walgreens invested $3.5 billion in that transaction, a Summit Health news release noted.

These acquisitions by Walgreens/VillageMD provide opportunities for local clinical laboratories to serve the physicians in these practices, though the operations may have a different patient flow and work process than traditional family practice clinics located in medical offices around community hospitals.

Tim Barry

“Starling shares our vision of being a physician-led model and they provide care in a compassionate and exceptional way to all the patients they serve. By integrating primary care with specialty care, we are able to optimize access to high-quality care for our patients,” said Tim Barry (above), CEO and Chair of VillageMD in the news release. “This is a natural extension of our growth in the Northeast, including our recent acquisition of Summit Health-CityMD. Together, we are transforming the way healthcare is delivered in the United States.” Clinical laboratories in these areas will want to develop a strategy for serving the physicians practicing at these non-traditional locations. (Photo copyright: The Business Journals.)

Primary Care at Retail Locations a Growing Trend

Dark Daily and its sister publication The Dark Report have reported extensively on the growing trend by pharmacy chains and other retail superstores to add primary care services to their footprint.

In “By 2027, Walgreens Wants 1,000 Primary Care Clinics,” The Dark Report covered how Walgreens had disclosed that it would spend $5.2 billion to acquire a 63% interest to become the majority owner of VillageMD. Fierce Healthcare reported that “[Walgreens] planned to open at least 600 Village Medical at Walgreens primary-care practices across the country by 2025 and 1,000 by 2027.”

In “Retail Chain Pharmacies Add CLIA-Waived Point-of-Care Blood Testing and Other Preventive Health Services to Their In-store Offerings,” we reported how eTrueNorth, a pharmacy‐based clinical laboratory services network headquartered in Mansfield, Texas, had partnered with Walmart (NYSE:WMT), Winn-Dixie, Kroger (NYSE:KR), and other retailers to offer their employees CLIA-waived point-of-care testing, preventive health services, wellness screenings, and other medical laboratory testing services through its eLabNetwork chain of retail pharmacies.

And in “Walmart’s Health and Wellness Chief Discusses Retail Giant’s Move to Healthcare/Telehealth Provider, a Step with Implications for Clinical Laboratory Testing,” Dark Daily pointed out that clinical laboratories need strategies to serve customers accessing healthcare in non-traditional settings, particularly as Walmart and the national retail pharmacy chains continue to expand the clinical services offered in their retail stores.

VillageMD

VillageMD is a primary care provider with same-day appointments, telehealth virtual visits, in-home care, and clinical laboratory diagnostic testing such as blood tests and urinalysis. Many VillageMD practices are located in buildings next door to Walgreens sites throughout the United States. (Photo copyright: Walgreens.)

Other Retailers Investing in Primary Care

Other retailers have recently taken deeper dives into healthcare as well.

According to Forbes, “The acquisition comes amid a flurry of acquisitions across the US for doctor practices, which are being purchased at an unprecedented pace by large retailers like Walgreens Boots Alliance, CVS Health, Amazon, and Walmart. Meanwhile, medical care providers owned by health insurers like UnitedHealth Group’s Optum and Cigna’s Evernorth are also in the doctor practice bidding war.”

In “Walmart’s Health and Wellness Chief Discusses Retail Giant’s Move to Healthcare/Telehealth Provider, a Step with Implications for Clinical Laboratory Testing,” Dark Daily reported on Walmart Health’s acquisition of MeMD, which was subsequently renamed in May to Walmart Health Virtual Care.

And in February, CVS announced plans to acquire for $10.6 billion Oak Street Health, a Chicago-based primary care company with 169 medical centers across 21 states that plans to have more than 300 centers by 2026.

Do Clinical Laboratories Want Retail Customers?

The question of whether clinical laboratories should pursue retail customers is at this point academic. Consumer demand is driving the change and labs that don’t keep up may be left behind.

“The trend of putting full-service primary care clinics in retail pharmacies is a significant development for the clinical laboratory industry,” wrote Robert Michel, Editor-in-Chief of Dark Daily and The Dark Report. “These clinics will need clinical lab tests and can be expected to shift patients away from traditional medical clinic sites for two reasons—lower price and convenience—since this new generation of primary care clinics will be located around the corner from where people live and work.”

Thus, healthcare system laboratories or large reference labs may want to reach out to Walgreens, CVS, Amazon, and Walmart for test referrals. These and other large retailers are investing heavily in the belief that consumers will continue to seek convenience in their healthcare.   

—Donna Marie Pocius

Related Information:

VillageMD Acquires Starling Physicians and Broadens its Footprint in the Northeast

Regulator Opens Inquiry into VillageMD-Starling Physicians Deal

VillageMD Acquires Summit Health-CityMD, Creating One of the Largest Independent Provider Groups in the US

Clinical Laboratory Trends: By 2027 Walgreens Wants 1,000 Primary Care Clinics

Walgreens-backed VillageMD Acquires Connecticut Medical Group

Walmart’s Health and Wellness Chief Discusses Retail Giant’s Move to Healthcare

CVS Health to Acquire Oak Street Health

CVS Reports $2.3B Q4 Profit, Will Buy Oak Street Health

Walgreens Launches Clinical Trial Business with Goal of Leveraging Consumer Data, Technology, and Nationwide Reach to Increase Racial and Ethnic Diversity in Drug Research

By partnering with drug manufacturers to connect customers with clinical trials, the retail pharmacy chain believes this new venture will be the company’s “next growth engine.”

Walgreens is launching a business to connect customers with clinical drug trials, a venture that adds another offering to the retail pharmacy giants’ growing menu of healthcare services. This new venture might also mean additional test orders for clinical laboratories and pathology groups in areas that serve Walgreens customers.

In “By 2027, Walgreens Wants 1,000 Primary Care Clinics,” Dark Daily’s sister publication, The Dark Report, reported on Walgreens’ goal of building 1,000 primary care clinics at its retail pharmacies by 2027, a move which mimics the rollout of CVS Pharmacy MinuteClinic and Walmart Health primary care clinics in their retail locations.

Now, Walgreens is attempting to further redefine the patient experience by partnering with pharmaceutical companies to find participants for clinical trials, a business that could result in more Americans from underrepresented racial and ethnic populations enrolling in drug-development trials. With 9,021 retail pharmacies in all 50 states, it is well-positioned to know which of its customers would be candidates for different clinical trials.

“Walgreens’ trusted community presence across the nation, combined with our enterprise-wide data and health capabilities, enables us to pioneer a comprehensive solution that makes health options, including clinical trials, more accessible, convenient and equitable,” said Ramita Tandon, Walgreens’ Chief Clinical Trials Officer, in a press release.

Ramita Tandon, Walgreens’ Chief Clinical Trials Officer

Ramita Tandon, Walgreens’ Chief Clinical Trials Officer, believes Walgreens can play a role in solving the issues of diversity and declining enrollment in clinical trials. “Through the launch of our clinical trials services, we can provide another offering for patients with complex or chronic conditions in their care journey, while helping sponsors advance treatment options for the diverse communities we serve,” she said in a press release. (Photo copyright: Walgreens.)

Serving the Socially Vulnerable

In an interview with Fierce Healthcare, Tandon described the clinical trials business as Walgreens’ “next growth engine” of consumer-centric healthcare solutions.

According to the company press release, “Walgreens is addressing access barriers through a compliant, validated and secure decentralized clinical trial platform built on a rigorous compliance and regulatory framework to ensure patient privacy and security. This approach leverages owned and partner digital and physical assets, including select Health Corner and Village Medical at Walgreens locations, to directly engage patients at home, virtually or in-person.”

Walgreens notes that more than half of its roughly 9,000 U.S.-based stores are in “socially vulnerable areas.”

According to the Washington Examiner, a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) study revealed that 75% of patients who participate in clinical trials are white, while just 11% are Hispanic and fewer than 10% are Asian or black. In addition, participation in clinical trials has been declining, with 80% of trials failing to attract enough participants on time.

Tandon maintains that making the process of participating in clinical trials easier is another key to increasing diversity and participation in clinical trials.

“During the clinical trial journey, we know it’s a burden for patients to visit sites. We also know that 78% of patient-consumers in the US live within five miles of a Walgreens,” she told PharmaVoice. “If a patient can complete much of the up-front clinical trial requirements at a local Walgreens, or conduct some of the visits digitally, it would make the whole clinical trial experience that much more positive and, maybe, encourage the patient to participate in new clinical trials going forward.”

Walgreens also plans to use its treasure-trove of customer data to find potential patients for its trials business.

“Understanding this detail of customer preference and segmentation can be quite useful particularly in clinical trials, for example, to create better protocols,” Tandon told PharmaVoice. “We are sitting on so much information, but we can, and need to, do a better job of using these insights in a real-world setting, which can be translated to pharma R/D or brand management organizations. We’re all about patient-centric drug development.”

FDA Seeks Diversity in Clinical Trails

Walgreens is in discussions with several drug manufacturers as it looks to launch this new venture.

“We are working very closely with them to understand their business needs and create the solution that’s going to be sort of bespoke to their specific trial needs,” Tandon told Fierce Healthcare. “Our goal is to move that needle and start to see a larger number of US patients participating and highly diverse participants that are coming into clinical trials.”

In April, an FDA press release announced new draft guidance aimed at “developing plans to enroll more participants from underrepresented racial and ethnic populations in the US into clinical trials.”

“Despite having a disproportionate burden for certain diseases, racial and ethnic minorities are frequently underrepresented in biomedical research,” the FDA stated. “Clinical trials provide a crucial base of evidence for evaluating whether a medical product is safe and effective; therefore, enrollment in clinical trials should reflect the diversity of the population that is ultimately going to use the treatment.”

Disintermediation of Retail Pharmacies

“Walgreens has a significant opportunity to create an interconnected healthcare ecosystem where we can use the physical assets of Walgreens and connect with patients and consumers at a local level to better support healthcare and healthcare equality,” Tandon said in PharmaVoice.

This is the latest example of a billion-dollar retail pharmacy chain diversifying away from simply filling prescriptions. Two types of competitors are driving the disintermediation of retail pharmacies because they end up directing patients away from the pharmacy:

  • Amazon.com acquired PillPack and now sends, via mail, prescriptions to patients’ homes.
  • Pharmacy benefit management (PBM) companies with a business model that encourage patients to get 90 days of prescriptions at once, mailed to their home.

In both cases, retail pharmacies lose access to patients. This is what is motivating several national pharmacy chains to offer primary care within their retail pharmacies (where following an office visit with a general practitioner, the patient simply crosses the store to the pharmacy to fill his/her prescription), as well as the clinical trial matching business.

As retail pharmacy chains become an increasingly disruptive force in healthcare, clinical laboratory managers and pathologists should be preparing new strategies to meet the testing needs of a changing primary care delivery model, which likely will include lab testing being offered in nontraditional medical locations.  

Andrea Downing Peck

Related Information:

Walgreens Launches Clinical Trial Business to Address Industrywide Access and Diversity Challenges and Redefine Patient Experience

Pharmacy Retail Giant Walgreens Looks to Disrupt Clinical Trials Business

By 2027, Walgreens Wants 1,000 Primary Care Clinics

FDA Takes Important Steps to Increase Racial and Ethnic Diversity in Clinical Trials

Walgreens Opens First Clinical Trial Business to Achieve ‘Equitable’ Health Options

With Its Wealth of Patient Data, Walgreens Is Looking to Disrupt the Clinical Trial Space

Walmart’s Health and Wellness Chief Discusses Retail Giant’s Move to Healthcare/Telehealth Provider, a Step with Implications for Clinical Laboratory Testing

Retail giant now has primary care clinics at stores in five states, but the rollout has not gone smoothly

Healthcare is increasingly being driven by consumerism and one clear sign of this trend is Walmart’s ambitious plan to open health clinics at its retail locations. The retail giant set its plans in motion in 2019 with its first primary care site in a suburban Atlanta store, however, the rollout since then has presented certain challenges.

Nevertheless, the trend of placing nearly full-service primary care clinics in retail locations continues. Clinical laboratories in these areas need strategies to serve customers accessing healthcare through these new channels, particularly as Walmart and the national retail pharmacy chains continue to expand the clinical services offered in their retail stores.

“Consumer engagement is a huge part of healthcare, [yet it is also a] gap for us in healthcare,” cardiologist and Walmart VP of Health and Wellness Cheryl Pegus, MD, told Modern Healthcare. “Healthcare is incredibly complicated,” she added. “And where we are in healthcare today is not in having great treatments. It’s not in having evidence-based medicine. It’s understanding how we engage consumers.”

The company also entered the telehealth business with last year’s acquisition of multispecialty telehealth provider MeMD.

“Telehealth offers a great opportunity to expand access and reach consumers where they are and complements our brick-and-mortar Walmart Health locations,” said Pegus in a Walmart new release announcing the acquisition. “Today people expect omnichannel access to care and adding telehealth to our Walmart healthcare strategies allows us to provide in-person and digital care across our multiple assets and solutions.”

Currently, Walmart Health centers only operate in Georgia, Florida, Illinois, and Arkansas. But telehealth enables Walmart “to provide virtual healthcare across the country to anyone,” Pegus said. With both offerings, “we’re really attempting to allow people to get healthcare the way they need it without disrupting the rest of their life.” Many users of these services are Walmart “associates,” she added, using the company’s term for its retail employees.

Cheryl Pegus, MD
 
“In this country, about 25% of people don’t have a primary care physician,” cardiologist Cheryl Pegus, MD (above), Walmart’s VP of Health and Wellness, told Medscape. “So, your options for being able to solve in real time something that will help you, they’re quite limited. What we’re trying to do is give those options. We’re not trying to take away emergency rooms, or healthcare systems, or existing primary care. We’re asking, how do we expand that infrastructure so that people get care when they need it?” And this includes clinical laboratory testing, radiology, and telehealth services as well. (Photo copyright: Walmart.)

Large Portfolio of Healthcare Offerings

Pegus joined Walmart (NYSE:WMT) in December 2020 to oversee a portfolio that now includes more than 4,700 pharmacies and 3,400 Vision Centers, in addition to the telehealth operation and the Walmart Health centers. She was previously chief medical officer at Walgreens and Cambia Health Solutions and worked in private practice as a cardiologist.

The retail giant opened its first Walmart Health center in Dallas, Ga., an Atlanta suburb, in September 2019, followed by additional centers in Georgia, Arkansas, and Illinois.

Earlier this year, it opened five new clinics in northern and central Florida with plans for at least four more in the Jacksonville, Orlando, and Tampa areas, according to a press release. Each health center is adjacent to a Walmart retail location.

These centers offer a range of primary care medical services, including:

  • physicals,
  • injury care,
  • immunizations,
  • radiology, and
  • care for chronic health conditions.
One of the first health clinics established by Walmart
Pictured above is one of the first health clinics established by Walmart. This location is in a western Atlanta suburb. Note that the services advertised include more than just primary care. Also offered are “labs and X-ray,” along with dental, hearing, optometry, and counseling. Clinical laboratory managers and pathologists may want to monitor whether consumers embrace primary care delivered from clinics located in retail stores. (Photo copyright: Georgia Health News.)

As Dark Daily reported in May 2020, the Walmart Health centers also offer clinical laboratory testing at cut-rate prices, such as:

  • $10 for a lipid test,
  • $10 for Hemoglobin A1c, and
  • $20 for a strep test.

On the Walmart Health website, patients can enter their Zip code to view a list of Walmart Health clinics in their area, including links to price lists.

Walmart’s Expansion into Healthcare Not Without Problems

In “Walmart to Open 4,000 Healthcare ‘Supercenters’ by 2029 That Include ‘Comprehensive’ Clinical Laboratory Services,” Dark Daily covered how Walmart was poised to become a much bigger healthcare player with an expanded menu of clinical laboratory testing services including EKGs, vision care, dental care, and more for children and adults.

However, the company’s expansion into healthcare has not gone smoothly. In 2018, the Walmart board signed off on a plan to open 4,000 health centers by 2029, Insider reported. By the end of 2021, Walmart expected to have 125 health centers in operation, but as of June 2022, the Walmart Health website listed only 25 locations, mostly in Georgia.

Citing anonymous sources, Insider reported problems that include “leadership changes, competing business priorities brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, and the complexity of scaling a massive healthcare operation.”

In Sept. 2021, Insider further reported that the clinics were experiencing operational difficulties including hidden fees and billing problems. One culprit, the story suggested, was the company’s electronic health record (EHR) software. That same month, Walmart announced it would adopt the Epic health records system, beginning with the opening of new clinics in Florida locations.

Pegus’ arrival at Walmart appears to be part of a management shakeup. In January 2022, Insider reported that she had assembled a new executive team, with David Carmouche, MD, Senior VP, Omnichannel Care Offerings, overseeing the health centers and telehealth operations. By then, the original executives leading the rollout of the health centers had all left, Insider reported. Carmouche was previously an executive VP with Ochsner Health in New Orleans.

Partnership with Quest Diagnostics

Meanwhile, in January, Walmart announced a deal with Quest Diagnostics that allows consumers to order more than 50 lab tests through The Wellness Hub on Walmart.com, which is separate from the Walmart Health website. The tests cover “general health, digestive health, allergy, heart health, women’s health, and infectious disease,” according to a press release announcing the partnership.

Consumers can order at-home test kits for certain conditions or set up appointments for tests at Quest Patient Service Centers. The tests on the Walmart/QuestDirect website include:

  • COVID-19 Active Infection ($119+)
  • COVID-19 Antibody Test ($69)
  • Cholesterol Panel ($59)
  • Complete Blood Count ($59)
  • Comprehensive Metabolic Panel ($49)
  • CRP Inflammation Marker ($59)
  • Diabetes Management ($69+)
  • Diabetes Risk ($99+)
  • Food Allergy Test Panel ($209)
  • Chickenpox ($59)

The website also offers a combined Basic Health Profile with CBC, CMP, cholesterol panel, and urinalysis for $149. “Each purchase is reviewed and, if appropriate, ordered by a licensed physician,” the press release states.

What does all this mean for clinical laboratories? “They need to recognize that the Millennials and Gen Zs are driving a consumer revolution in healthcare,” said Robert Michel, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Dark Daily and its sister publication The Dark Report.

“Walmart was early to recognize and respond to this, in part because it employs 1.3 million Americans, many of whom are Gen Y and Gen Z and quick to use telehealth and similar virtual health services,” he added.

Clinical laboratory leaders need to understand this trend and develop strategies to attract and serve new patients who are willing to access healthcare virtually, while still needing to provide blood and other specimens for the lab tests ordered by their providers.

Stephen Beale

Related Information:

Q/A with Dr. Cheryl Pegus of Walmart: ‘Consumer Engagement Is a Huge Part of Healthcare’

Nine Numbers That Show How Big Walmart’s Role in Healthcare Is

Walmart Health Opens Two More Locations in Chicago

Change Makers: Dr Cheryl Pegus on How Walmart Is Rethinking Health

Walmart to Open Two Health Clinics in Rogers, Fort Smith

Walmart Deepens Healthcare Offering with Lab Test Partnership

Walmart Tests Leap into Healthcare Business by Opening Second Clinic

Walmart to Open 4,000 Healthcare ‘Supercenters’ by 2029 That Include ‘Comprehensive’ Clinical Laboratory Services

Walmart to Open 4,000 Healthcare ‘Supercenters’ by 2029 That Include ‘Comprehensive’ Clinical Laboratory Services

With the majority of Americans living just a few miles from a Walmart, how might independent clinical laboratories compete?

Retail giant Walmart (NYSE:WMT) plans to install 4,000 primary care “supercenters” in stores by 2029 that will include clinical laboratory testing services. This is on top of the dozens of Walmart Health locations already in operation in Georgia, Florida, Arkansas, Illinois, and Texas.

Clinical laboratories already have growing competition in the healthcare marketplace from pharmacy chains CVS (NYSE:CVS), Walgreens (NASDAQ:WBA), and Rite Aid (NYSE:RAD) which have installed in-store healthcare clinics in their retail locations—many of which offer limited, but common, medical laboratory services—as well as from existing Walmart Health locations.

Now, Walmart is poised to become a much bigger healthcare player. According to MedCity News, Walmart is “looking beyond traditional retail clinics as it seeks to create ‘supercenters’ with comprehensive healthcare services.”

Presumably, this includes an expanded menu of clinical laboratory testing services—along with the EKGs, vision care, dental care, and more—that Walmart Health locations currently provide for children and adults.

And though Becker’s Hospital Review reported in March that Walmart’s “plan is in flux,” the major national retailer continues to disrupt healthcare in significant ways.

Not the Average Retail Health Clinic

In “Walmart Health Opens Two Primary Care Clinics at Retail Supercenters in Chicago with Plans to Open Seven Florida Locations in 2021,” Dark Daily covered CNBC’s question, “Is Walmart the future of healthcare?” from its article, “How Walmart Plans to Take Over Health Care.”

We reported that Walmart Health’s list of services included:

  • Primary care,
  • Dental,
  • Counseling,
  • Clinical laboratory testing,
  • X-rays,
  • Health screening,
  • Optometry,
  • Hearing,
  • Fitness and nutrition, and
  • Health insurance education and enrollment.

However, the new Walmart Healthcare supercenters differ from Walmart Health clinics and the clinics operated by Walmart’s retail competitors Target, CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid.

Those clinics are designed to draw customers into existing retail setting. Walmart has a different goal with its healthcare supercenter concept.

“There’s a big difference between offering healthcare services to drive more people to your store and offering healthcare services because you’re in the healthcare business,” said former President of Health and Wellness for Walmart, Sean Slovenski, during a panel hosted by the American Telemedicine Association. “We’re in healthcare,” he continued, “We’re not in retail healthcare. We’re recruiting physicians in all of these areas and bringing them in.”

Providing Transparency with Clear, Consistent Pricing

In response to consumer demand for transparency, Walmart is taking a different approach to charging patients for healthcare services. The cost of an appointment for primary care is $40 for an adult and $20 for a child. The patient can choose to bill insurance or not, and people without insurance can pay out-of-pocket.

Prices for individual services are equally transparent. Explaining why Walmart is becoming a player in the healthcare industry, Marcus Osborne, Senior Vice President Walmart Health, told Fierce Healthcare, “It’s issues of affordability. That people can’t afford the care they need for themselves and their families. It’s issues of access … That really is the business that we’ve been in. Walmart’s business has been about helping people afford the things they need, getting them in a more accessible, convenient way, and doing it in ways that are simple. Healthcare’s no different in that regard.”

According to STAT, some 35 million Americans were uninsured in 2020. Thus, the idea of transparent pricing and walk-in affordable care should appeal to a sizable market. Walmart is banking on that. Considering that 90% of Americans live within 10 miles of a Walmart, the potential success of the healthcare supercenters becomes clear, Becker’s Hospital Review noted.

Walmart’s Other Healthcare Moves

In addition to opening 20 Walmart Health Centers, and its plans for 4,000 healthcare supercenters, Walmart has made other moves that indicate its intention to disrupt the healthcare industry.

Walmart Insurance Services, for example, partnered with eight payers during the open enrollment period in 2020 to sell its Medicare products. Through a partnership with Clover Health, a Preferred Provider Organization (PPO), and a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) with a Medicare contract, Walmart made its insurance plans available to 500,000 people in Georgia, Becker’s Hospital Review reported.

“We’re going to have a consumer revolution in retail for point of care,” John Sculley, former Apple CEO and current chairman at RxAdvance (now called nirvanaHealth), told CNBC. “Why? Because if the Walmart tests are successful, and I suspect they will be, people will be able to go in and get these kinds of health services at a lower cost than if they had health insurance.”

“A lot of the opportunity is just about bringing what we’re doing to more people. I think about Walmart Health and what we launched a little over a year ago in Georgia and the impact we’ve seen in the communities where it launched. I think one of the biggest things to do is how do we continue to find ways to make that model work so we can reach more people with it in more communities,” Marcus Osborne (above), Senior Vice President Walmart Health, told Fierce Healthcare. Walmart certainly has experience in disruption. The retailer upended the grocery industry from the moment it entered the market, and it was the first to offer $4 prescriptions, which disrupted long-standing retail relationships consumers had with their pharmacies. Clinical laboratories should realize that Walmart
will likely make similar waves in the healthcare sector. (Photo copyright: Consumer Goods Forum.)

How Will Clinical Laboratories Compete?

Change is constant. Clinical laboratories that cannot adapt to changing market forces are ill-equipped to withstand the coming “consumer revolution.” However, labs that have already begun to plan for more direct-to-consumer interactions will be better positioned to adjust as changes come.

“My goal is that we have done the work on Walmart Health as a model, to really get it to work from a consumer perspective and get it to work in a way that it scales effectively, that we are able to reach more people,” Osborne told Fierce Healthcare.

Clinical laboratory leaders should understand that this trend is being driven by consumer demand for convenience, lower costs, and price transparency. Labs that don’t prepare to address those forces will be left behind as Walmart provides what consumers want.

Dava Stewart

Related Information:

Walmart Opens Second Health Center Offering Clinical Laboratory Tests and Primary Care Services

9 Numbers That Show How Big Walmart’s Role in Healthcare Is

Walmart Divulges Plans for ‘Healthcare Supercenters’

Why Does Walmart Think It Has a Right to Play in Healthcare? Top Health Exec Osborne Explains

The Number of Americans Without Health Insurance Has Been Trending Up. Let’s Turn It Down Again

Former Apple CEO: Walmart’s Healthcare Services Will Cause ‘a Consumer Revolution’

Walmart Health Opens Two Primary Care Clinics at Retail Supercenters in Chicago with Plans to Open Seven Florida Locations in 2021

Walmart may be the largest, but it is not the only retailer offering clinical laboratory testing and primary care services at conveniently-located retail stores

Earlier this month in “How Walmart Plans to Take Over Health Care,” CNBC asked, “Is Walmart the future of healthcare?” Good question. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Walmart (NYSE:WMT) managed to open six Walmart Health locations in Georgia and Arkansas. In addition, the giant retailer announced plans to open more primary care clinics at Walmart Supercenters in Chicago and Florida.

Clinical laboratory managers who struggle to keep revenues flowing should take notice. These retail clinics may not have their own medical laboratories, but their primary care physicians will be generating lab specimens.

And because Walmart offers medical laboratory tests at these locations, with so many people opting to visit health clinics installed within retail stores, independent clinical labs could see a noticeable drop in business as Walmart Health expands its network across the US.

Therefore, clinical labs near Walmart Health locations would be wise to develop strategies and services toward becoming a lab test provider to these retail clinics.

Walmart Health Eyes Florida Primary Care Market

“The past few months in particular have exposed the vulnerabilities of our healthcare system and left many without access to adequate health resources,” said Lori Flees, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Walmart US Health and Wellness, in a blog post. “We know our customers need us more than ever, which is why we’re announcing an expansion of Walmart Health.

“We’re planning to open seven Walmart Health locations in the Jacksonville [Florida] market in 2021, with at least one opening in early 2021, and we’re beginning conversations in the Orlando and Tampa markets. Our new health centers will be in communities in need of affordable, accessible preventive care, which we will help deliver through Walmart Health,” Flees wrote.

Exterior and interior images of Walmart Health Clinic with customers sitting on a blue couch in the lobby
Walmart could be operating 22 Walmart Health locations like that shown above in Georgia, Florida, Arkansas, and Illinois by the end of 2021, Fierce Healthcare reported. This means Walmart Health may double its locations by the end of this year. Clinical laboratories near these locations may want to reach out and offer lab testing services to these retail clinics. Notice that, in the picture of the exterior of a Walmart Health clinic, “Labs” is a service that is prominently displayed as one of the important clinical services offered at that site. (Photo copyright: Walmart.)

Can Clinical Laboratories Compete or Collaborate with Walmart?

A news release announcing the opening of the Walmart Health Centers in Chicago stated that Walmart Health partners with “local, on-the-ground health providers to deliver primary care, labs, x-ray and diagnostics, counseling, dental, and hearing services all in one facility at transparent pricing regardless of a patient’s insurance status.”

However, clinical laboratories wanting to be a testing provider to Walmart Health may have to keep their costs of tests and services down in order to be competitive.

As Dark Daily reported in “Walmart Opens Second Health Center Offering Clinical Laboratory Tests and Primary Care Services,” Walmart Health’s lab test prices—in conjunction with primary care services—are low. Some of those tests include:

  • Primary care physician office visit – $40
  • Lipid – $10
  • Hemoglobin A1c – $10
  • Pregnancy Test – $10
  • Flu Test – $20
  • Strep Test – $20
  • Mono Test – $20

Walmart Health’s “Summary Price List” provides a complete list of medical laboratory tests and services offered at the retail clinics.

Other Primary Care Disruptors

Walmart is not the only retailer offering primary care services amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) partnered with VillageMD, a provider of primary care services, to open 500-700 “Village Medical at Walgreens” primary care clinics “in more than 30 US markets in the next five years, with the intent to build hundreds more thereafter,” according to a news release.

Exterior image of Village Medical at Walgreens primary care site medical clinic
By end of summer 2021, 40 “Village Medical at Walgreens” primary care sites (above) are expected to open in Texas, Arizona, and Florida, according to a January 2021 news release. Walgreens is investing $1 billion over three years in the clinics, which will be situated near its stores. “Through these conveniently located clinics at our neighborhood stores, we will uniquely integrate the pharmacist as a critical member of VillageMD’s multi-disciplinary care team to provide patients with personalized and coordinated care,” said Stefano Pessina, Walgreens Executive Vice Chairman and CEO, in the news release. (Photo copyright: Walgreens Boots Alliance.)

Meanwhile, Forbes reported that CVS Health is intent on opening 1,500 more HealthHUB locations in its stores during 2021. In “Walgreens, CVS Add New Healthcare Services and Technology to Their Retail Locations; Is Medical Laboratory Testing Soon to Be Included?Dark Daily reported on CVS Health’s pilot program to test several HealthHUB locations in Houston that would offer expanded Minute Clinic services. These services include:

  • medical laboratory blood testing,
  • health screening,
  • telehealth visits,
  • durable medical and sleep apnea equipment, and
  • wellness programs.

Clinical laboratory managers and pathologists will want to be on the alert for opportunities to forge relationships with Walmart Health, Walgreens, and CVS Health to capture new primary care-related testing business coming out of these non-traditional healthcare providers.

—Donna Marie Pocius

Related Information:

How Walmart Plans to Take Over Health Care

Two Newly Remodeled Chicago Supercenters Introduce Walmart Health

One Year In, Walmart Health is Delivering Affordable Healthcare and Expanding

Walmart Health Opens Two More Locations in Chicago

Walmart to Expand Health Centers to Florida Next Year

Walmart to Launch Healthcare Supercenters in Lucrative Florida Market

Walmart Health Expands to Florida Bringing Affordable and Accessible Care to Local Communities

Walgreens Boots Alliance Accelerates VillageMD Investment and Large-scale Rollout of Primary Care Clinics

CVS HealthHUB Openings on Track Despite Pandemic

CVS Health Debuts HealthHUB Locations to Serve Greater Houston Community

Walmart Opens Second Health Center Offering Clinical Laboratory Tests and Primary Care Services

Walgreens, CVS Add New Healthcare Services and Technology to Their Retail Locations; Is Medical Laboratory Testing Soon to Be Included?

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