Walmart Health has inked its first health system partnership.
The retail giant's healthcare arm said Nov. 1 it signed a care coordination agreement with Orlando (Fla.) Health. Walmart Health has 48 healthcare centers adjacent to its stores across five states, offering primary, behavioral and dental care. Twenty-three of them are in Florida, the most of any state, with eight in the Orlando market.
"By collaborating with Walmart Health and focusing on care coordination in the shared patient populations, we'll be better positioned to more quickly identify patient needs and improve outcomes together in the Orlando area," said Cary D'Ortona, senior vice president at Orlando Health and president of its medical group, in a news release.
Walmart Health said the collaboration will help with "effective transitions of care" and boost "value-based outcomes."
Becker's reported in October that Walmart Health had been eyeing potential health system partnerships. "It's in discussions," Claude Pirtle, MD, chief medical informatics officer of Walmart Health & Wellness told Becker's. "People are going to need a cardiologist, they're going to need a neurologist, they're going to need that type of care. So we're mapping that out."
Other healthcare disruptors such as Amazon's One Medical and CVS MinuteClinic also partner with health systems in local markets for specialty care referrals.