Walmart continues to grow in the healthcare space.
Here are five things for ASC leaders to know.
1. In July, Walmart announced it would add at least six more health clinics in Atlanta this year. The retail giant would then have 12 operational clinics by the end of 2020. The clinics include primary care, imaging, lab, dental and behavioral health services.
2. Walmart has plans to open two clinics in Illinois this year as well and plans to expand into Florida in 2021.
3. Walmart has also expanded in the pharmacy space, partnering with pharmacy benefit manager startup Capital Rx in July to adopt its drug pricing framework for specialty and mail-order prescriptions. Walmart also announced plans to launch an insurance agency to sell Medicare products earlier this year.
4. Walmart bought technology from CareZone, a startup that makes apps to help people manage multiple medications. The acquisition could help it compete with Amazon, which acquired PillPack in 2018.
5. In March, it was rumored that Walmart may add 5G to its stores with health clinics, which could allow for better telehealth visits, self-registration, prescription notifications and more. Former Apple CEO John Sculley told CNBC in February that Walmart's health clinics will drive the consumer revolution in healthcare. "We're going to have a consumer revolution in retail for point of care," Mr. Sculley said. "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."