In the healthcare industry, sustainability is unfortunately hard to come by for most providers. Last week, Walmart Health announced they are closing all 51 Health Centers and shutting down its telehealth service, five years after jumping into the industry and just weeks after saying it was expanding into new markets.
Retail healthcare ventures by companies like Walmart, Walgreens, Amazon, and CVS initially aimed to make healthcare more accessible by leveraging their extensive reach and resources. However, as Walmart's recent closure of its Health Centers demonstrates, navigating the complexities of the healthcare industry poses significant challenges, particularly in achieving profitability while maintaining quality care.
Amazon:
Amazon Care was launched to great fanfare in 2019 as the next new frontier for Amazon. The primary care service that blended telehealth and in-person medical services quietly ceased operations in 2022.
CVS:
Closing approximately 900 stores with walk-in "MinuteClinics" across the country and reducing its workforce by 5,000 people between 2022 and 2024.
Walgreens:
Planning to close 160 of its VillageMD primary care clinics after it recorded a $5.8 billion impairment charge on its investment in VillageMD.
Walmart:
Entered market in 2019 and closed all 51 Health Centers in 2024 due to lack of profitability.
Walmart Health's decision to close its Health Centers sends ripples across the healthcare industry, signaling both challenges and opportunities. Given Walmart's extensive reach, a significant number of patients throughout the U.S. are now without services such as primary care, telehealth consultations, and on-site lab tests (X-rays, strep/flu tests, and urine tests) - highlighting the need for alternative avenues of comprehensive healthcare delivery.
The need for accessible and affordable healthcare has only grown through this cycle of retail giants attempting to deliver care more directly to patients. EZaccessMD bridges the gap between in person onsite care and telehealth. Families who desperately need affordable and quality healthcare, receive free care, quickly and in their home when needed. This reinforces the importance of innovative healthcare solutions to fill the gap and serve individuals across various locations and demographics.
EZaccessMD redefines the traditional healthcare model by bringing urgent care services right the patient's front door. From X-rays and ultrasounds to strep tests and UTI tests, patients embrace the convenience of on-demand healthcare in the comfort of their own home.
As an employer-sponsored health benefit, employees and families members can receive 85% of urgent care services in their home for FREE. Patients call and talk to a board-certified physician within 30 minutes. If further testing is needed to make a diagnosis, a medical team is sent immediately to the patient's home or office to perform anything from an X-ray to an echocardiogram. EZaccessMD eliminates the barriers of time, distance, and cost. Without ever leaving the home, the patient has a confirmed diagnosis, a care plan, and script within a few short hours.
With yet another healthcare provider biting the dust, this highlights the challenges facing traditional healthcare models in today's dynamic environment. However, with solutions like EZaccessMD, the future of healthcare is brighter than ever.
