Wellness, preventive care offered at Walmart Care Clinics

While Walmart has more than 100 clinics in its more than 5,000 stores nationwide, company executives said the walk-in health centers offer a cost-effective way for patients to receive acute and chronic medical care. As a result, the company plans to expand its network of clinics over the next few years.

(To view the full Category Review, click here.)



“We believe that consumers are going to want their healthcare delivered to them anywhere, anyway and any how they choose,” Jill Turner-Mitchael, SVP overseeing health and wellness for the company’s Sam’s Club unit said earlier this year at a meeting of the Northwest Arkansas Council’s Health Care Summit.



Executives said Walmart’s clinics fit in with the company’s broader effort to provide a comprehensive range of health services and give consumers more flexibility on how they get care.



Walmart’s model goes beyond basic acute care and offers more services normally associated with a primary care provider, such as wellness and preventive care and management of chronic conditions.



Walmart’s clinics include 79 outlets that are independently owned by local hospitals and healthcare groups, and operate under the Clinic at Walmart banner. Six clinics in Wisconsin operate under the Aurora Quick Care name.



Meanwhile, a little over two years ago, the company opened 18 Care Clinics. These corporate-owned clinics — five in Georgia, five in South Carolina and eight in Texas — are expected to be the first in a growing network of clinics owned and operated by Walmart.



Walmart’s commitment to its clinics was underscored last year when the company named retail clinic pioneer Sandy Ryan to lead its Care Clinic business.



The former chief nurse practitioner officer for Take Care/Walgreens Healthcare Clinic who is credited with playing a central role in getting that venture off the ground, Ryan has been involved in health clinics for more than a quarter of a century. As chairwoman of the Clinical Advisory Board of the Convenient Care Association, she was instrumental in developing the trade group’s Quality and Safety Standards and implementing a third-party certification process for these standards.