Walmart Offers Workers Expanded Virtual Primary Care

Walmart says it will begin offering virtual primary care services to more of its employees.

The retailer announced Tuesday (Oct. 10) that it was expanding the program — already available in parts of the country — to 28 additional states.

“In 2019, we knew that similar to national data, about 50% of associates and their family members were not seeing primary care physicians — and a big part of that gap was due to access,” Walmart said in a news release.

“With the goal in mind of continuing to build a better, more comprehensive health care experience, along with reducing unnecessary in-patient and emergency room visits, we launched a virtual primary care pilot to three states in 2020. After seeing success across the board, we expanded this virtual care pilot to 16 states, then again to 21 states in 2023,” the company added.

Walmart said its initial pilot found that workers with hypertension were able to lower their blood pressure, while those with diabetes saw a drop in HbA1c levels. On the whole, patients who used the virtual care option saw an 11% reduction in total cost of care.

“Over the past three and a half years, Walmart has tested and validated the role of virtual care beyond simple sick needs,” said Owen Tripp, the CEO and co-founder of Included Health, which is Walmart’s virtual primary health partner. “Against national primary care shortages, rural health care deserts, and persistent price growth, Walmart has continued to move health care forward.”

The expansion is happening at a time when a growing number of Americans are embracing virtual healthcare.

As PYMNTS wrote in July, consumer monthly participation in telehealth since January of last year has ranged between approximately 30% and 40%, not far below the roughly 50% share with monthly in-person visits.

“Both figures remained stable through 2022 and this year, though telehealth has trended upward, with physical visits declining over the most recent months,” that report said.

And as this popularity might indicate, telemedicine has turned out to be a profitable venture for participating businesses. For example UnitedHealthcare and its Optum unit saw particular growth in 2022 from its home health offerings, with the company saying in April it was on track to serve four million patients in 2023, almost double that in 2021.

Walmart, meanwhile, has been investing more in its healthcare offerings for consumers. Last month saw reports — so far unconfirmed — that the company was weighing the purchase of a majority share of primary care chain ChenMed. If the deal comes to fruition, it would mark Wamart’s largest health investment to date.

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