Wal-Mart plans more in-store clinics; up to 2,000 in 5 years

The nation's largest retailer says it will expand operations until more than half of its stores have clinics.

By Pamela Lewis Dolan, AMNews staff. May 14, 2007.

Wal-Mart recently announced plans to significantly increase the number of in-store health clinics around the country.

The discount retailer said it plans to open up an additional 400 in-store clinics within the next three years and possibly 2,000 within the next five to seven years. Wal-Mart currently has clinics in 75 stores in 12 states.

The expansion would mean about 55% of Wal-Mart's stores would have clinics by 2012.

"We think the clinics will be a great opportunity for our business," said Wal-Mart president and CEO Lee Scott in a speech at the April World Health Care Conference in Washington, D.C., where the plans were first announced. "But more importantly, they are going to provide something our customers and communities desperately need -- affordable access at the local level to quality health care."

American Medical Association policy states that retail clinics are consistent with its belief there should be multiple entry points for patients into the health care system, although it acknowledges they are controversial among physicians.

Realizing the demand for this type of care, last year the AMA and the American Academy of Family Physicians separately developed a list of guidelines that retail clinics should follow and that physicians should consider when deciding whether to associate with a retail clinic. Among the attributes on each list is the suggestion that the clinics have a referral process and encourage patients to establish a relationship with a primary care physician.