Walmart to open 5 health clinics in Florida

by | Apr 5, 2022



 

Walmart announced on Tuesday that it is expanding its healthcare footprint to Floridians, launching five new Walmart Health subsidiary locations across the state. The doctor-staffed clinics aim to rival other pharmacy giants CVS and Walgreens in offering low-cost routine healthcare services.

Walmart Health has opened 20 facilities across Arkansas, Georgia, and Illinois in the three years it has been operative. The Florida clinics are planned to feature a variety of primary medical services, urgent care including X-ray services, dental and eye care, and behavioral health services as part of a new model being replicated in other markets.

“Two years after the launch of Walmart Health, we continue evolving and growing to make health care even more accessible to the communities we serve,” said Dr. David Carmouche, senior vice president of Omnichannel Care Offerings at Walmart. “With only one primary care doctor per 1,380 Florida residents, these Walmart Health centers will help address the demand for care in three major cities in the Sunshine State, delivering quality health care at the right time in the right setting, right next to where many Floridians get their groceries. We are part of these communities, and we are excited to bring more options for in-person and telehealth care services to our neighbors.”

Walgreens has opened hundreds of doctor-staffed clinics nationwide following a $6 billion investment in the primary care company VillageMD, while CVS boasts 1,100 CVS MinuteClinics across the U.S. that can offer basic medicinal and healthcare services at reduced or no cost for patients.

Announced in 2021, all Walmart Health locations in Florida will be the first centers to utilize Epic health technology. Epic is the most widely-used and comprehensive health records system in the U.S., used by more than 2,000 hospitals and 45,000 clinics, including most U.S. News & World Report’s top-ranked hospitals, and medical schools. With the use of the most widespread medical record system in the nation, patients will easily be able to visit Walmart Health as a supplementary clinic to their primary care doctor.

The five Walmart Health clinics will be located in Jacksonville, Middleburg, Poinciana/Kissimmee, Sanford, and Wesley Chapel. Walmart conducted an analysis and deduced that these five areas would most benefit from a clinic being available as a part of a retail center. All five locations will be open and operational by the end of the summer.

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