Some Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) locations have offered health care services since 2005 in about 100 stores. On Friday, the company opened its first Walmart-owned clinics in two Georgia stores, three South Carolina stores and four Texas stores.
At its website, Walmart promotes a $40 charge per visit, not including lab tests, immunizations and “other ancillary services associated with the visit.” The clinic offers primary care services as well as preventive services, and the company promotes this as an “expanded scope of services [that] enables us to be your primary medical provider.”
The Walmart-owned clinics are staffed by a certified nurse practitioner who may refer a patient to more advanced or specialized care and may in some states maintain a collaborative practice agreement with an independent physician. The clinics do not require an appointment, and the company accepts payment of both traditional Medicare and health insurance plans as well as the usual array of cash, checks and plastic.
While the idea of getting medical care at a Walmart supercenter may seem strange at first, it is well to remember that people who don’t have a primary care physician often use a hospital emergency room as an alternative. As many as half of all emergency room visits are made for non-emergency situations. Any cut to that number reduces the overall cost of medical care in the United States.
In a recent emergency room horror story, a New Jersey man was charged almost $9,000 for emergency room that included a tetanus shot, some antiseptic cream and a bandage. Now maybe Walmart doesn’t want to have bleeding patients walking into its stores, but many people who visit an ER with a cold or the flu could save a lot of money.
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