Walmart, UnitedHealth Announce Wide-Ranging Collaboration
Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) and UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) have launched a 10-year, collaboration, starting in 2023 with 15 Walmart Health locations in Florida and Georgia and expanding into new geographies over time, ultimately serving hundreds of thousands of seniors and Medicare beneficiaries in value-based arrangements through multiple Medicare Advantage plans.
UnitedHealth Group said its Optum business will help enable Walmart Health clinicians through analytics and decision support tools that will help accelerate the transition to value-based care by enabling clinicians to focus on patient outcomes.
Beginning in January 2023, the collaboration will include a co-branded Medicare Advantage plan in Georgia, UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage Walmart Flex (HMO-POS). Also in January 2023, Walmart Health Virtual Care will be in network for commercial members in UnitedHealthcare’s Choice Plus PPO plan.
Eventually, the collaboration aims to serve even more people, including those across commercial and Medicaid plans, by providing access to fresh food and enhancing current initiatives to address social determinants of health, over-the-counter and prescription medications, and dental and vision services.
“UnitedHealth Group and Walmart share a deep commitment to high-quality and affordable primary care led services that address all of a patient’s health needs in ways that are convenient for them and improve health outcomes,” said Andrew Witty, chief executive officer, UnitedHealth Group, in a statement.
In May 2021, Healthcare Innovation reported Walmart Health’s acquisition of MeMD, a multispeciality telehealth provider. At the time Walmart officials said the acquisition would allow the company to provide access to virtual care across the U.S., including urgent, behavioral and primary care.
These virtual care offerings complement their existing in-person Walmart Health centers. Walmart Health started its journey by opening its first center in Dallas, Ga., in 2019. Since that first opening, the company has opened several new centers across the state and has also announced expansions to other states such as Arkansas and Florida.
Last November, David Carmouche, M.D., who had headed up Ochsner Health System’s value-based care delivery models for six years, left the New Orleans-based health system to head up Walmart’s national expansion into retail healthcare,
