Walmart Shuts Down All Health Care Centers, Discontinues Virtual Care Services after Finding Unsustainable Business Model

On Tuesday, Walmart announced that it will be closing all 51 of its health care centers across five states and discontinuing virtual care services. After five years since the launch of Walmart Health centers, the company stated that it found there was not a sustainable business model for them to continue.

Walmart Health centers were established in 2019 and located next to Walmart Supercenters, offering a variety of services including labs, X-rays, primary and urgent care, dental work, and behavioral health services. These centers were primarily located in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, and Texas.

In a statement, Walmart expressed that the decision to close all 51 health centers and end virtual care services was a difficult one that would impact not only patients but also associates and communities that supported them. Due to challenges with reimbursement and rising operating costs, the health care business was deemed unsustainable at this time.

While specific closure dates have not been provided yet by Walmart, they assured impacted associates will have opportunities to transfer to other Walmart or Sam’s Club locations. Associates will receive pay for 90 days; those who do not transfer or leave the company after this period will receive severance benefits.

Instead of focusing on its health care centers, Walmart plans to shift its attention towards its numerous pharmacies and vision centers which number close to 4600 and over 3000 respectively. The pharmacies will continue providing immunizations testing treatment including access to specialty medication pharmacy care while expanding clinical capabilities of their pharmacy services in recent years to meet increasing demand from customers.