How Walmart Is Disrupting Primary Care in America
By: Sid Khaitan
Tags: Innovation, Disruption, Healthcare, Retail, Health

Last week, news broke that the retail giant is suspending its $35 online minimum, offering free shipping to anyone who forks up a $98 yearly subscription fee.

Headlines described how Walmart+ was looking to compete with Amazon Prime in a war over the hearts and minds of online shoppers. That might be true, but there’s a deeper, underlying motive at play.

Drug dealer ambitions.

The move also enables members to receive free mail-order pharmacy delivery. Put that next to ongoing disruption across the healthcare landscape and the picture begins to paint itself. Walmart has a bold vision of becoming our “neighborhood health destination”, and they might just accomplish it.

More importantly, it could mean better access and affordability for us.

Live better by having more convenience

Did you know that over 90% of Americans live within 10 miles of a Walmart?

Probably not too surprising if you’ve been on a cruise in the suburbs. But imagine if you could go to Walmart to see a doctor, fill your script, and understand your insurance coverage. Well, now you basically can.

The retailer is partnering with Oak Street Health on primary care clinics and offering Doctor on Demand telemedicine services to employees. They now also sell pet insurance and care.

This would be a net-positive benefit for consumers, providing closer physical access, but also a one-stop-shop for most preventive care. Revisiting our recently expanded, broader definition of healthcare through the lens of social determinants of health, we can’t forget about what’s on the shelves.

Books, games, technology, and vitamins. Putting healthcare providers and consumers closer to such resources is not just a sign of the times.

It’s a signal of what’s to come. Walmart recently began testing autonomous deliveries with GM Cruise, which could mean our future drug dealer could be a self-driving car. Other players are emerging with different ways of tackling convenience, ranging from virtual pharmacist support to home-based care.

We’re just scratching the surface.

Save money by having better options in time

According to Walmart, their clinic’s prices are 30% to 50% lower than what patients would pay at physician offices. Primary care office visits cost $40, annual checkups cost $30 for adult patients and $20 for children. Mental health counseling and routine vision exams cost $45 and dental exams with x-rays start at $25.

Now you ask, what about drugs? Along with offering $4 generic prescription drug programs and longer-term fill savings, Walmart struck a deal with the pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) Capital Rx, giving members more transparency at the point of sale.

This is a pretty big deal. Here’s why.

Researchers recently uncovered that the list price (cost before discounts or insurance payments) for 14 top-selling drugs increased by 129% between 2010–2016, while median insurance payments only grew by 64%. Even after accounting for inflation, OOP spending or cost-sharing for members increased by 85% for specialty and 42% for non-specialty Rx. Insurance payments for these same drugs went up 116% for specialty but only 28% in non-specialty.

This means that the costs of non-specialty drugs are increasingly being passed on to consumers. Which means that the direct-to-consumer model should be focused on reducing prices, engaging in preventive care, and searching for alternatives that result in better outcomes.

In other words, if we’re going to be paying for this, we deserve to…

Know what we’re paying for

Get the best options to inform our decisions

Benefit from exceptional service or convenience

Just like what we’d expect from any other business, whether it’s Netflix, Amazon, or Apple.

A cautiously optimistic future

At the end of the day, let’s not forget that this is healthcare. Aside from being an incredibly complex system, it’s strongly influenced by politics, legislation, and corporate greed.

However, I believe that the lowest common denominator, or standard of care, will rise. And much-needed consumer advocacy will not only help us, because we need it, but also the underserved communities who need it even more.

Which means it’s not just healthcare, it’s the impact of innovation on our lives.

All opinions are my own.