Walmart revealed plans in April to close all 51 health centers across the U.S. this year. The retail giant recently posted the closing date, and it's fast approaching: June 28.
The health centers stopped taking new patients and halted virtual care June 1. Walmart encouraged patients to establish a connection with new providers and will not preserve continuity of care.
"Walmart Health cannot provide patients with contact information for providers or information about future practices," the company said on its website. "Patients will have the opportunity to obtain or transfer their health records."
The company recommended patients search ZocDoc and Healthgrades to identify new providers in the area.
Walmart decided to close its health centers and virtual care because their business model wasn't sustainable. The retailer cited the challenging reimbursement environment and increasing costs to operate the facilities as contributing to their downfall.
Health system executives were not surprised by Walmart's challenges and decision to close the health centers.
"When you have both payers and providers continuously focusing intense efforts and innovation on gaming the revenue cycle continuum in their own favor against the other, you're essentially left with an industry that only moves in the direction of new dollars," Saad Chaudhry, chief digital and information officer of Annapolis, Md.-based Luminis Health, told Giles Bruce earlier this year. "This was true for telehealth for many years in the same way. Some of these new entrants into the provider space are beginning to learn this lesson the hard way."
Read full reactions from health system executives here.