Walmart has announced the closure of all 51 of its health centers across five states as well as its virtual health care service due to a lack of profitability. The company cited challenging reimbursement environment and escalating operating costs as reasons for the closure of its health care services.
Walmart’s first Health center opened in Georgia in 2019, offering primary care, dental services, x-rays, and lab tests. In 2019, Walmart opened additional centers in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, and Texas. However, with the closure of these centers, Walmart will not be able to provide primary care services to patients who rely on them.
The closure of these centers will not affect Walmart’s 4,600 pharmacies and 3,000 vision centers. Employees of the closed health centers will have the option to transfer to other Walmart or Sam’s Club locations. This decision comes at a time when virtual doctor’s visits have sharply declined since the peak of the pandemic when many health providers turned to telehealth services due to social distancing protocols. Recent data shows that telehealth visits dropped in 2023 with Medicare beneficiaries who used at least one telehealth service falling 73% from a peak of 10.2 million in the same period in 2020 to 2.8 million in the second quarter of 2023