Walmart has made the difficult decision to shut down its health centers and virtual care service, despite initial success. The retail giant launched the health centers five years ago with the aim of helping people save money on their healthcare needs. However, after realizing that there is no sustainable business model for these services, Walmart announced that it will be closing all 51 of its health centers across five states.
The Bentonville, Arkansas-based company opened its first health center in 2019 and had plans to expand with more centers in different areas. In March 2023, Walmart announced plans to add over 25 new health centers to some of its stores, with a majority planned for Dallas and Houston. However, due to escalating operating costs and challenging reimbursement environment, the company has now decided to close all existing health centers.
Walmart will provide information on the closure date when available. While they are closing down their health centers and virtual care service, the company still operates almost 4,600 pharmacies and over 3,000 vision centers in the U.S. Employees working at the closed health centers will have the opportunity to transfer to other Walmart or Sam’s Club locations.
