Healthcare Design - March 2015 - 11

MONITOR
PERSPECTIVE

What healthcare lessons can Walmart teach us?
In the new world of retail healthcare, providers such as Walmart are getting it right.
They have a better understanding of what patients really desire rather than what traditional healthcare providers want patients to want.
Retail clinics understand this growing shift in consumer preferences and have
responded by lowering the cost of care. They've also taken steps to make care more
convenient, such as extending hours of operation, offering visits without appointments,
and opening locations on practically every corner.
Walmart, the provider of $4 generic pharmaceuticals, now provides $4 clinical visits
covering a range of services, from diagnosis and treatment of basic medical conditions
to management of chronic disease.
So how do retailers keep costs low? Certified nurse practitioners, who are fully
licensed, credentialed, and experienced to provide primary healthcare, are the main reason behind such low costs of care. Additionally, the sheer volume of their business also
helps to drive costs down-combined, CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart see more than
150 million visits a day.
So what does this mean for emergency departments and primary care facilities?
Here are a few thoughts:
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BMlowing them to focus on higher-acuity patients and true emergency cases.
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serious cases and increase the number and types of equipment available.
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FWFOCPSSPXJOHEFTJHODVFTGSPNSFUBJMDPNpetitors.
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decrease in low-acuity patients. To recapture these patients, it will be important to
pursue locations in high-traffic areas with convenient access, all with the operational
efficiencies retail competitors are boasting, too.
Hospitals and primary care physicians' offices don't have to worry about losing
their entire market share yet, though, as they still have an advantage over the retail
providers in the relationships they've built with patients and the medical expertise
they possess.-Jim Atkinson, vice president and director of healthcare design and
planning, HDR

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display for anybody who is walking by in the corridor or
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-Susan B. Frampton, president of Planetree Inc. (Derby, Conn.), on the key elements in a
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Healthcare Design - March 2015

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