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Wal-Mart expanding in-store health clinics
The retailer plans to roll out 400 clinics at its stores that will be jointly branded with local medical groups.
February 19, 2008 -- 13:25 ET
By The Associated Press
Wal-Mart Stores will open its first in-store medical clinics under its own brand name after leasing space in dozens of stores to outside companies that operate the quick-service health stops.
The world's largest retailer said last week it will open The Clinic at Wal-Mart as a joint venture with local hospital systems in Atlanta, Dallas and Little Rock, Ark., starting in April.
Wal-Mart is among several supermarket and drugstore chains that in the past couple of years have begun opening store-based health clinics, which are staffed mostly by nurse practitioners or physician assistants and offer quick service for routine conditions from colds and bladder infections to sunburns.
About 7% of Americans have tried a clinic at least once, according to an estimate by the Convenient Care Association, an industry trade group formed in 2006.
That number is expected to increase dramatically as chains such as Wal-Mart, CVS Caremark, Target and Walgreen partner with miniclinic providers like RediClinic and MinuteClinic to expand operations. The trade group estimates there will be more than 1,500 by the year's end, up from about 800 in November.
Wal-Mart has clinics in 77 stores, including nine in Wisconsin and Florida operated by local hospitals. Clinics in 23 locations in Florida and three other Southern states have been in limbo since last month, when CheckUps of New York shut down.
Now Wal-Mart has signed a letter of intent to work with local hospital systems and RediClinic to open co-branded walk-in clinics in 200 Wal-Mart Supercenters.
Wal-Mart has also signed a letter of intent to partner directly with St. Vincent Health System, a part of the Catholic Health Initiatives system, to open four co-branded clinics in Little Rock.
Co-branding means the clinics will jointly bear the names of Wal-Mart and its partners and have an identical look and record keeping system, Wal-Mart spokeswoman Deisha Galberth said.
Having the local hospital system involved will also increase the level of trust among shoppers, Galberth said.
Wal-Mart said this is the first step toward opening 400 co-branded clinics by 2010.
Retail analyst Patricia Edwards of San Francisco-based Wentworth, Hauser and Violich said the move will benefit Wal-Mart by giving the clinics added credibility.
Edwards said putting Wal-Mart's name on the clinics also fits with the retailer's drive for a public role in health care to counter union-led criticism that it skimps on employee health insurance.
Wal-Mart also has introduced $4 prescriptions for some generic medicines. Chief Executive Lee Scott pledged last month to find other ways to help cut health-care costs, including promoting the use of electronic health records instead of paper files.
This article was reported and written by Marcus Kabel for The Associated Press.
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