Walmart Backpedals on Plans for Healthcare Services

Walmart has been feeling a little under the weather ever since reporters, including this one, jumped all over a request for proposals it issued to its vendors suggesting it was planning to enter the healthcare business in a big way.

“The RFI statement of intent is overwritten and incorrect. We are not building a national, integrated, low-cost primary care health care platform,” John Agwunobi M.D., Senior Vice President & President of Walmart U.S. Health & Wellness, said in a statement today.

But the statement leaves lots of wriggle room and there was speculation it was written to relieve the attacks of angina and fluttery pulse that beset physicians and healthcare executives as they contemplated Walmart dominating healthcare the way it dominates retailing in the U.S.

Backing off

What Walmart is really talking about, executives insist, is expanding the quick-service clinics it already runs at some of its stores, where customers can get basic services such as cholesterol monitoring and pregnancy tests. 

Could be, but at 14 pages, the RFI must surely have undergone more than a little internal vetting, leading some to speculate that the only thing really wrong with the statement was the fact that it became public before Walmart wanted it to.

The document details the superstore's mission to "expand access to high quality health services" and "dramatically lower the cost of healthcare."  That doesn't necessarily mean all the docs in boxes would be transformed into docs in Walmarts but it still leaves a lot of room for in-store clinics that provide many of the services now performed in doctor's offices, community clinics and hospitals.

Or, as National Public Radio reporter Scott Hensley put it: 

"So even with the public provisos about the document, Wal-Mart's ambitions to do something bigger in health care remain pretty clear. The company is looking for help managing chronic health conditions — from asthma to osteoporosis — that are among the most prevalent problems in the U.S. Other services might include some common lab tests, including PSA, and physical exams."

Or, to be even more plain-spoken, The Wall Street Journal quoted consultant Adam Fein as saying: "Wal-Mart knows where the money is.  It's not in HDTVs. Over time, it's going to be in health care."