The Changing Guards of Medicine

The Changing Guards of Medicine

The retail pharmacy wars are heating up, with fierce competition to add primary care providers to their operations. Walmart has been making serious moves, including a 10-year partnership with UnitedHealth Group and a rumored deal for primary care group ChenMed.

CVS Health added dozens of new primary care clinics through senior primary care clinic developer Oak Street Health. Amazon also entered the primary care space with its acquisition of One Medical, which operates over 220 primary care offices in more than 28 U.S. markets.

Walgreens, which has invested in primary care provider VillageMD, is rolling out hundreds of new clinics across the country. Walgreens plans to open at-least 600 co-operated VillageMD practices in 25 markets by 2025 and 1,000 practices by 2027. VillageMD also expanded earlier this year by acquiring Summit Health, which includes the urgent care clinic chain CityMD.

Walmart, the largest retailer in the country, is also expanding its healthcare footprint with more Walmart Health centers. In March, the company said it plans to expand into two new states, Arizona and Missouri, and open 28 new health centers by the end of 2024, bringing the nationwide total to 75.

Walmart is expanding its healthcare services by partnering with Orlando Health to improve care coordination and outcomes. Walmart plans to reduce their over $6 billion spent annually on employee healthcare costs, Walmart is adopting a startup mentality for its healthcare services and has partnered with Included Health to offer virtual care to its employees, addressing national care shortages and rising costs.

Walmart is strategically positioned to serve the rural, under-represented, and lower-income population to where they are largely well positioned to serve these populations. Very few healthcare providers are chasing those populations market and very few physicians who serve the rural population and Medicaid patients. It is likely, that Walmart will be one of the biggest primary care providers in the next 10 years.