Wow, Eduardo wasn't bluffing when he emphasized how serious Wal-Mart is in penetrating retail health care space. When I think about Microsoft, Intel etc all those tech giants or revolution health (a health 2.0 site started by Steve Case, founder of AOL) who declare that they would fundamentally change health care landscape...I am placing my bet at Walmart....why?
When Katrina or any recent natural disaster happen, Wal-Mart is able to meet consumer demand better than anybody else. Who know how many terabytes of data Wal-Mart currently hold? Health care business is an information business and I would argue that the one who can utilize information better, more accurately is the one who win. Further, they catch the consumers at the point of service, where they are shopping for grocery, oh, here is a clinic for you...you got a cold/sore throat...oh, no problem..we can help you..then go get prescription down the hall.
Once they started collecting all the consumer health purchasing data, can you imagine the impact on P4P?
Alright, enough of my talk...here is the article for thos
Up to 2,000 Could Open Over Next Five to Seven Years
WASHINGTON, April 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.,
(NYSE: WMT) intends to contract with local hospitals and other
organizations to open as many as 400 in-store health clinics over the next
two to three years, and if current market forces continue, up to 2,000
clinics could be in Wal-Mart stores over the next five to seven years,
Wal-Mart president and CEO Lee Scott will say in a speech later today at
the World Health Care Congress in Washington, D.C. The clinic program's
expansion is just the latest in a series of moves by Wal-Mart to help
implement customer solutions to America's health care crisis, including the
$4 generic drug prescription program, health information technology and
participation in a major coalition supporting comprehensive healthcare
reform by 2012.
"We think the clinics will be a great opportunity for our business. But
most importantly, they are going to provide something our customers and
communities desperately need -- affordable access at the local level to
quality health care," Scott says.
Scott's speech at the World Health Care Congress (full text available
at http://www.walmartfacts.com ) is the closing keynote for the three-day
gathering of 1,600 CEOs, senior executives and government officials. His
speech focuses on the need for action, instead of ideological bickering and
finger-pointing, in order to make quality health care accessible and
affordable in America.
"The fact is the time for politics in today's debate on health care is
long past. The time for real and meaningful change has come," Scott says,
adding later, "Yes, this is about economics. But above all, it is about our
health. It is about all of us -- all 300 million Americans -- living the
fullest and best lives we can."
Scott will also announce that Wal-Mart customers have saved about $290
million on selected generic prescription drugs since September 2006, when
the company began selling prescriptions for $4 each in Tampa, Fla.
Available nationwide since November, the $4 prescriptions now account for
more than 35 percent of all prescriptions filled at Wal-Mart and nearly 30
percent of the $4 prescriptions are filled without insurance.
"The response has been nothing short of spectacular," Scott says of the
$4 program. "Within days of announcing our $4 program, countless other
discounters, drug stores and supermarkets dropped their prices on generic
prescriptions. That has surely saved our health care system millions of
more dollars. So let there be no doubt that the private sector can lead,"
continued Scott.
The health clinics, which will lease space in Wal-Mart stores, will be
managed by local or regional hospitals and/or other organizations that are
independent of Wal-Mart. The move is a significant expansion of a pilot
project begun in September 2005, when Wal-Mart started leasing space to
medical clinics inside Wal-Mart stores. Currently, 76 clinics are operating
inside Wal-Marts in 12 states.
"We know that customers like and want these clinics. At existing
clinics in our stores, about 90 percent of patients report being satisfied
or very satisfied. They appreciate the fast, easy and convenient
experience," Scott says.
Scott notes that surveys in existing clinics revealed more than half of
those who visited a clinic said they were uninsured. Nearly 15 percent of
customers said they would have gone to a hospital emergency room for their
care -- thus increasing the burden on already strained community health
care institutions -- if they could not have gone to the clinic inside a
Wal-Mart.
The providers running the clinics will determine what services to
offer, which will generally include preventive and routine care for
conditions such as allergies and sinus infections, as well as basic
services such as cholesterol screenings and school physicals at affordable
prices. They will be staffed by either certified nurse practitioners or
physicians.
"We also think there is tremendous potential with local hospitals as
partners for some or all of these clinics. Patients trust the role
hospitals play in providing quality medical care. They have the medical
experience and expertise -- and the larger network if more serious
treatment is needed," Scott says.
The clinics will post clear prices for services and procedures, helping
to bring much-needed price transparency to the American health care system.
Scott highlights Wal-Mart's work on health information technology,
pointing to Wal-Mart's partnership with other corporations to start Dossia,
an independent, non-profit group that will provide safe and secure
electronic medical records to their employees and retirees. Wal-Mart
recently joined with the University of Arkansas and Blue Cross Blue Shield
to create the Center for Innovation in Health Care Logistics, a new
research center focused on improving health care delivery through
information technology.
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