Walmart may be scaling back ambitious plans to expand into imaging and other healthcare services, according to a recently published report.
The Arkansas-based retail giant has made a big move into the industry, opening a handful of health hubs offering x-rays, diagnostics, labs and EKG all with upfront pricing. Back in September, Walmart revealed “bold ambitions” to ramp up its clinic rollout, but company officials may be pumping the breaks on aggressive expansion, Business Insider has learned.
Walmart’s board of directors had approved a plan to build 125 clinics this year and 4,000 by 2029 at a cost of $11 billion, the publication noted, citing conversations with anonymous current and former employees. However, those plans have been pared back, with the company now planning to have 22 running this year.
Insider cited several reasons for the slow down, including changes in leadership, competing business priorities amid the pandemic, and the complexity of scaling their healthcare operation.
“There is less commitment to the strategy," one source told the website. “What you have today is an organization that's playing the waiting game—waiting for a core strategic choice to be made.”
Walmart did not comment on the alleged slowdown of its clinic strategy but said it will continue to experiment in healthcare. Surveys last year found that consumers appreciated the offering, with more than 50% of visits booked by returning patients and 96% saying they felt “cared for.” Each of the initial clinics made between $15-$20 million in annual revenue while boosting sales at the main store by 6%.
Read more about Walmart’s plans from Business Insider below.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.