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Will Walmart’s Mammogram Partnership with RadNet Improve Patient Access?
In a continued strategy of diversification into healthcare services, Walmart recently announced a partnership with RadNet to offer mammograms at select Walmart Health locations. RadNet is the largest outpatient radiology imaging provider in the country. This partnership launched in December of last year and is set to expand further in 2024.
Walmart and RadNet’s strategies have emphasized how these services will increase access to a greater population, and the convenience factor is expected to reduce some of the resistance to patient scheduling. In terms of the good, the National Breast Cancer Foundation reports that “1 in 8 women in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime,” but when “caught in its earliest, localized stages, the 5-year relative survival rate is 99%.”
As altruistic as that may sound, healthcare is a massive industry with significant revenue potential, making it a win-win for consumers and retailers. Healthcare spending in the U.S. in 2022 grew 4.1% to $4.5 trillion, and this was estimated to grow to $4.7 trillion in 2023 with the final tally still pending.
These figures are too hard for retailers, hungry for growth, to ignore. It has created a trend of diversification into healthcare across the retail industry, pulling in multiple chains. Walmart originally launched its Walmart Health initiative in 2019, and it is showing no signs of slowing down.
Walmart Health expanded its long-standing pharmacy operations by adding in services such as dental, vision, behavioral health, and even X-rays. In the forward-looking statement section of its 2023 annual report, Walmart highlighted the growth of this business segment and emphasized a focus on its competitive advantage in the healthcare space as a priority for its flywheel. Meanwhile, sales in its U.S. Health & Wellness division grew 9% in 2023 to $46.6 billion, which is up 27% from just 2020.
As for other retailers, Amazon most notably acquired online pharmacy PillPack in 2018 for $1 billion, and after the launch of Amazon Clinic in 2022, it acquired OneMedical in 2023 for $3.9 billion. Walgreens and CVS of course are moving into vertical expansion with primary care clinic services as well, both virtually and in-person. Even Best Buy is betting on this strategy by offering healthcare tech solutions in a B2B play.
Healthcare isn’t the only industry with the potential to diversify, as essential retailers are also striving to further solidify their indispensability. Retail media networks are growing alongside a push for logistic services, which are natural extensions for revenue streams given the vertical integration.
Walmart currently also offers pet services, vision centers, and its long-standing auto services at supercenter locations. Additionally, Kohl’s and Target have taken a page out of JCPenney’s playbook by adding shop-in-shops like Ulta and Sephora. Amazon, with the most diverse business model of all, has a somewhat conglomerate structure, as its portfolio includes companies in electronics, media, advertising, education lesson planning, home services like plumbing, and even salon service industries. So what’s next?
Discussion Questions
Should local care providers be worried or looking to integrate their practices?
What other industries do you see having the potential to expand into the “supercenter” format?
Do you see this as a long-term strategy, or do you expect there to be a rotation of services being offered?
Poll
Loading …BrainTrust
Carol Spieckerman
President, Spieckerman Retail
Georganne Bender
Principal, KIZER & BENDER Speaking
Anything that improves availability and access to this kind of health testing and examination is a very good thing. As long as the examination area is private and properly appointed, I do not see customers being deterred. Indeed, the convenience and ease of being able to visit Walmart for this service will probably be a plus for many consumers. On the wider question of healthcare and wellness, many retailers want to get into this area because of the lucrative returns and high growth potential. The problem is the barriers to entry are high and the healthcare space has a lot of vested interests and complexity which can be hard to break down. Even Amazon struggles to disrupt and industry that is ripe for disruption!
I’ve mixed feelings about it; certainly if it were promoted in the Barnumesque way the title suggests I would have issues (happily it appears Brian was being a bit of tongue in beak…er cheek). For simple things we have to weigh the advantages of wider, and presumably less costly, access against companies becoming involved in a complex field, that they have little/no experience in, hoping to turn a quick buck. As with many ideas, the best course is to proceed – slowly – and see what happens …there are all kinds of theories, I expect they will have little to do with the real outcome.
Is the American healthcare system the most broken industry in the country? I give it a resounding YES! Cost and access for Americans is embarrassing. I applaud any competent company for taking advantage of this trade. That goes for grocery, mass, Drug, mobile medical trailers, and any place close to where people hang out.
Access to healthcare is an issue for a lot of people, and in a large number of locations. Increasing basic preventative care to a wider audience, hopefully with pricing that is not based on the convoluted logic of hospital/clinic – insurance driven system that is characteristic of the rest of the healthcare industry. There does need to be a high measure of quality – who is going to read the diagnostics, accessibility – where do patients go if they screen positive/possible for something, and data accessibility – the images/diagnostics need to be part of an overall centralized patient record. Now if Walmart and others skim off the most profitable procedures from the traditional providers – that’s an issue that we really need to figure out anyways.
Walmart’s aggressive healthcare ambitions are no secret. The mammogram move aligns perfectly with Walmart’s intention to own regular visits (be they groceries or health). Walmart’s health clinics aren’t janky places. The ones I’ve checked out are clean, well-designed, welcoming, and staffed with helpful practitioners.
Informative article but as the daughter and sister of breast cancer survivors I couldn’t get past the title.
If it makes getting a mammogram easier and more convenient then having availability at Walmart makes sense. It’s not about location, it’s getting regular exams.
Totally agree the title is offensive. My mother died of breast cancer. I know from personal experience it isn’t – or at least shouldn’t be – fodder for bad puns. Glad your mother and sister survived. Not everyone is that fortunate which, as you pointed out, makes early detection and regular exams all that more important.
I am so sad to hear that, Ryan. I’m with you, nothing about cancer is funny.
Local care providers should monitor the rise of retail as a substitute to their offerings. The pandemic strained the traditional healthcare system and now consumers are more willing to shop around for convenience, value and quality care.
First of all, let me salute Georganne Bender on her objections to this headline. My mother died of breast cancer, and I found the headline both inappropriate and offensive.,, That little “pun” references a disease that – in the United States alone – kills, on average 42,000 women and 500 men annually. Every year an average of 240,000 American women and 2,100 men are diagnosed with breast cancer. And, while survival rates are clearly improving it’s still – sometimes literally – a deadly serious diagnosis. As Gene Detroyer notes, American healthcare is almost irretrievably broken and anyone, in any industry, that steps up in any way to save lives should be saluted. As the number of uninsured and/or underinsured Americans continues to rise the demand for these kinds of services are going to increase. It isn’t a laughing matter. It’s a matter of life or death.
Expanding health is always a good thing. If they can build in stores, why can’t they build a mobile unit for each store? I have been told it is more private in that scenario . Regardless, the truck can be moved to smaller rural areas , as in need, when it’s applicable. Whatever they decide , this is a good thing.