Walmart announced today that it is closing all 51 of its health centers across five states and its virtual health care service due to a lack of profitability.
“Through our experience managing Walmart Health centers and Walmart Health Virtual Care, we determined there is not a sustainable business model for us to continue,” the company said in a press release this morning.
The big-box retail chain cited a “challenging reimbursement environment and escalating operating costs” as reasons for why the company’s health care services were not profitable.
The company first opened a Walmart Health center in Georgia in 2019 offering consumers primary care, dental services, x-rays, and lab tests. Walmart eventually opened more centers across Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois and Texas.
In March, the company had announced plans to open 22 new locations by the the end of 2024.
Walmart’s 4,600 pharmacies and 3,000 vision centers are not impacted by today’s news.
Employees of the closed health centers will have the option to transfer to other Walmart or Sam’s Club locations.
The decline of telehealth visits
Walmart also announced it was shutting down its telehealth service Walmart Health Virtual Care, which launched in 2022.
This news comes as virtual doctor’s visits have sharply declined since peaking during the pandemic, when many health providers turned to them amid social distancing protocols.
Recent data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services shows that telehealth visits dropped in 2023. Medicare beneficiaries who used at least one telehealth service fell 73% to 2.8 million in the second quarter of 2023, from a peak of 10.2 million during the same period in 2020.