400 Health Clinics to Open in Wal-Mart Stores During Next Three Years
Up to 2,000 Could Open Over Next Five to Seven Years
WASHINGTON, D.C. – April 24, 2007 – Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., (NYSE: WMT) intends to contract with local hospitals and other organizations to open as many as 400 in-store health clinics over the next two to three years, and if current market forces continue, up to 2,000 clinics could be in Wal-Mart stores over the next five to seven years, Wal-Mart president and CEO Lee Scott will say in a speech later today at the World Health Care Congress in Washington, D.C. The clinic program’s expansion is just the latest in a series of moves by Wal-Mart to help implement customer solutions to America’s health care crisis, including the $4 generic drug prescription program, health information technology and participation in a major coalition supporting comprehensive healthcare reform by 2012.
“We think the clinics will be a great opportunity for our business. But most importantly, they are going to provide something our customers and communities desperately need – affordable access at the local level to quality health care,” Scott says.
Scott’s speech at the World Health Care Congress is the closing keynote for the three-day gathering of 1,600 CEOs, senior executives and government officials. His speech focuses on the need for action, instead of ideological bickering and finger-pointing, in order to make quality health care accessible and affordable in America.
“The fact is the time for politics in today’s debate on health care is long past. The time for real and meaningful change has come,” Scott says, adding later, “Yes, this is about economics. But above all, it is about our health. It is about all of us -- all 300 million Americans -- living the fullest and best lives we can.”
Scott will also announce that Wal-Mart customers have saved about $290 million on selected generic prescription drugs since September 2006, when the company began selling prescriptions for $4 each in Tampa, Fla. Available nationwide since November, the $4 prescriptions now account for more than 35 percent of all prescriptions filled at Wal-Mart and nearly 30 percent of the $4 prescriptions are filled without insurance.
“The response has been nothing short of spectacular,” Scott says of the $4 program. “Within days of announcing our $4 program, countless other discounters, drug stores and supermarkets dropped their prices on generic prescriptions. That has surely saved our health care system millions of more dollars. So let there be no doubt that the private sector can lead,” continued Scott.
The health clinics, which will lease space in Wal-Mart stores, will be managed by local or regional hospitals and/or other organizations that are independent of Wal-Mart. The move is a significant expansion of a pilot project begun in September 2005, when Wal-Mart started leasing space to medical clinics inside Wal-Mart stores. Currently, 76 clinics are operating inside Wal-Marts in 12 states.
“We know that customers like and want these clinics. At existing clinics in our stores, about 90 percent of patients report being satisfied or very satisfied. They appreciate the fast, easy and convenient experience,” Scott says.
Scott notes that surveys in existing clinics revealed more than half of those who visited a clinic said they were uninsured. Nearly 15 percent of customers said they would have gone to a hospital emergency room for their care – thus increasing the burden on already strained community health care institutions – if they could not have gone to the clinic inside a Wal-Mart.
The providers running the clinics will determine what services to offer, which will generally include preventive and routine care for conditions such as allergies and sinus infections, as well as basic services such as cholesterol screenings and school physicals at affordable prices. They will be staffed by either certified nurse practitioners or physicians.
“We also think there is tremendous potential with local hospitals as partners for some or all of these clinics. Patients trust the role hospitals play in providing quality medical care. They have the medical experience and expertise – and the larger network if more serious treatment is needed,” Scott says.
The clinics will post clear prices for services and procedures, helping to bring much-needed price transparency to the American health care system.
Scott highlights Wal-Mart’s work on health information technology, pointing to Wal-Mart’s partnership with other corporations to start Dossia, an independent, non-profit group that will provide safe and secure electronic medical records to their employees and retirees. Wal-Mart recently joined with the University of Arkansas and Blue Cross Blue Shield to create the Center for Innovation in Health Care Logistics, a new research center focused on improving health care delivery through information technology.
Wal-Mart is also working with leaders in business, government, labor and public policy on the “Better Health Care Together” coalition. The goal of the coalition is to assure that affordable, quality health care is accessible to all Americans by 2012.
Scott today urges other companies and organizations to join the coalition. “There is not a person or group anywhere in this country that cannot play a role,” he says.
About Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. operates Wal-Mart discount stores, Supercenters, Neighborhood Markets and Sam’s Club locations in the United States. The Company operates in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom. The Company’s securities are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol WMT. More information about Wal-Mart can be found by visiting www.walmartfacts.com. Online merchandise sales are available at www.walmart.com.
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