BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart has reason to be sanguine about its pharmacy, health and wellness business. Expanding on its nearly 50-year pharmacy legacy, the company continues to augment the ways it can meet the evolving needs of customers and patients, with a focus on making pharmacy care more convenient, accessible and affordable. That customer focus is also reflected in the state of the business. In its most recent quarterly earnings, Walmart reported mid-single-digit growth in pharmacy script counts, ongoing gains in market share and strength in over-the-counter products, despite headwinds from maximum fair price legislation.
Senior vice president of pharmacy Kevin Host is intent on maintaining that momentum. “We just keep building on our record in providing pharmaceutical care to our customers,” he says. “We’ve added things like test and treat, Better Care Services, and access to virtual care. If our customers want to have more options around dietitians and fitness coaches, that’s something we do.
“We’re optimistic about the pharmacy business because it’s where Walmart shows up in that moment of need. It’s where we continue to build on the trust that we have with our customers. They’re voting with their feet and their wallets.”
Host and his colleagues are working to seamlessly integrate Walmart’s health-related products and service, extending their reach throughout the store and beyond. Better Care Services is a prime example. It enables customers on Walmart.com to compare and access virtual care offered by curated telehealth companies. The third-party providers offer urgent care, mental health, prescription renewals, and more.
“We’re optimistic about pharmacy’s ability to evolve and change to meet the needs of patients,” Host notes. “This is a very old, tried-and-true profession that’s proven really resilient around adopting new technologies.”
Innovation is evident in the stores as well. Walmart is a leader in implementing test-and-treat services in states that allow pharmacists to provide them. Customers schedule an appointment or walk in to be tested for such common conditions as influenza, strep throat and COVID-19. If needed, pharmacists initiate the appropriate drug therapy. Walmart plans to expand the number of services available and the program’s geographic scope as more states come on board.
“If patients are talking to one of our pharmacies in any of the states that allow test and treat, those pharmacies can and will provide those services. Patients can, when appropriate and permitted, be tested and receive a prescription with express options available in as little as 30 minutes,” says Host. “I can’t think of a more convenient point of care than that.”
The response among Walmart customers who have utilized test and treat has been overwhelmingly positive. Host acknowledges, however, that many people have yet to realize that such services are available at the pharmacy counter.
“Most people don’t think of their pharmacies that way,” he explains. “There’s a lot of trust that customers and patients feel with their pharmacist. That’s existed for a long time, but it can sometimes feel a little transactional when it’s a question of simply filling the same prescription every month. If you can show up when you’re not feeling well and walk away with a clinically appropriate treatment for your condition, the trust level goes up exponentially. It solidifies the relationship that patients already experience with their pharmacists.”
Host understands that if the recent progress that Walmart has made in increasing the impact that its pharmacy, health and wellness offerings have on the well-being of the 150 million customers that shop the retailer every week is to be sustained, securing meaningful healthcare policy changes is essential. Additional PBM reform at the federal level and passage of the Main Street Pharmacy Access Act are important steps.
“The urgency has never been more acute than right now, given that we’ve lost 8,000 pharmacies in America over the last several years,” he says. “One of the things that will help sustain pharmacies, of course, is comprehensive PBM reform, but also the Main Street Pharmacy Access Act, which will do a couple of things. It will give pharmacists provider status. Pharmacists have the education and training to provide care in a number of areas in a way that can help improve access at an affordable cost. “They need it in order to provide care in those communities where there may not be doctors readily available. With 90% of Americans living within 10 miles of a Walmart pharmacy, we’re easily the most accessible point of care. And, of course, pharmacists are the medication experts. As patients age and the burden of chronic disease continues to grow for many Americans, pharmacists help patients evaluate and understand their medication therapies and navigate the complexity of the healthcare system.”
Walmart has already gone a long way toward meeting those challenges, Host says, and stands ready to do much more to help Americans solve problems of access, quality and cost that continue to plague the nation’s healthcare system.
