Walmart teams with UnitedHealth Group, Optum on patient experience
The collaboration will start in 2023 with 15 Walmart Health locations in Florida and Georgia, and will expand into new geographies over time.
Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Walmart and UnitedHealth Group, along with UHG subsidiary Optum, are beginning a 10-year collaboration the companies describe as "wide-ranging," and intend to leverage their combined expertise to improve health outcomes and the patient experience.
The collaboration will start in 2023 with 15 Walmart Health locations in Florida and Georgia, and will expand into new geographies over time. Ultimately the companies expect to serve hundreds of thousands of seniors and Medicare beneficiaries in value-based arrangements through multiple Medicare Advantage plans.
Optum will lend Walmart Health clinicians access to its analytics and decision support tools to deliver what they call "comprehensive value-based care." These capabilities are intended to enhance the care already being provided at Walmart Health centers, which operate on a team-based delivery model focusing on patient outcomes – and thus on the transition to value-based care.
WHAT'S THE IMPACT?
Beginning in January 2023, the collaboration will include a co-branded Medicare Advantage plan in Georgia, UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage Walmart Flex.
Also that month, Walmart Health Virtual Care will be in-network for commercial members in UnitedHealthcare's Choice Plus PPO plan, giving consumers another option to access care.
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.
Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said via statement that the mission is to connect people to care at a lower cost.
"This collaboration puts the patient at the center of health care by leveraging the strength and complementary skill sets of our two companies to accelerate access to quality care," he said.
Walmart Health has 27 locations in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia and Illinois, offering primary and urgent care, labs, x-ray and diagnostics, behavioral health, dental, optometry and hearing services.
THE LARGER TREND
Walmart Health has pursued a couple of different partnerships over the past year. About one year ago, in the fall of 2021, Walmart announced it would begin using Epic's electronic health record in its health centers. Eventually, all of Walmart's health and wellness lines of business will be supported by the Epic platform as it's rolled out.
In the following month, October 2021, Walmart teamed with Transcarent on a partnership to lower prescription drug and other prices for the self-insured market.
Optum, meanwhile, helped parent UnitedHealth Group post a $5.1 billion profit in the second quarter of this year. Value-based arrangements at Optum and a growing customer base for UnitedHealthcare were the main drivers of this growth, UHG said in an earnings report in July.
Optum second-quarter revenues of $45.1 billion grew $6.8 billion, or 18%, year-over-year, with double-digit growth at each business, led by Optum Health. Operating earnings were $3.3 billion, compared to $2.9 billion last year.
ON THE RECORD
"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 UHG CEO Andrew Witty.
Twitter: @JELagasse
Email the writer: jeff.lagasse@himssmedia.com
