Monday, August 25, 2014

Walmart Shakes Up Primary Care—and the Whole System

fastcare

Walmart has a new take on retail clinics. These newly launched clinics will charge patients $40 for a visit—but only $4 for Walmart associates. Anybody, with or without insurance, can go into one of these clinics and be seen by a qualified health professional, without the usual paperwork. Although the mega-retailer has operated clinics in its stores for a few years now, the new ones are different in a couple of ways.

9 comments:

  1. Im sure fed.gov will find a reason to shut this down.

    Exams for schools, Cdl licensing etc will be deemed unacceptable. Because they cant skim off the top or defraud in some way.

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    1. Don't know how they sell monthly supplies of some pills so cheap.

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  2. I am not a Wal-Mart hater however saying that I choose not to shop there. I personally believe Wal-Mart is the greatest single destroyer to the American Dream that exists. Loathe, as I am to admit this even worse than Obama. I see this move as having one of two outcomes. One the normal healthcare providers will reduce prices to compete. The other possibility is the prices will increase to cover the lost revenue. Either way it will be an interesting experiment in capitalism to watch.

    Badger

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  3. Yes, but the prices the medical field charges are ridiculous. $4,242 for a CT scan? My wife had an appendectomy, was in the hospital about 24 hours and the bill was $16K+ which doesn't include any doctors or other providers. So maybe $30K?

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  4. Last checkup my wife had there was a problem. The doctor wanted to do a CT scan of her heart to make sure there was no damage or blockage. We have no insurance it is too expensive so we have a fund saved and pay as we go. We called the hospital where they do the test and like you sticker shock. I think we were quoted about $3700. We talked and decided to call the hospital to see what kind of payment schedule we could work out. After talking a few minutes and explaining our situation, they ask if they could do some checking and call us back. When they called back a couple hours later, they said they would just charge us for the technician and doctor’s time and said the test would cost $255. We scheduled the test, paid the cost and thankfully, everything was fine with no heart issues.

    I did the same think with our local Pharmacy. They did not have a special generic drug-pricing plan like Wal-Mart and Walgreens. I talked to the owner and politely ask if they could come close to their pricing. I understood they do not have the volume but if they come close, I would rather spend my money local. He said he would see if something could be done and could I come back the next day. The next day I went back and he told me the prices he worked out. He was going to match every generic they sold at just a slightly higher cost. It worked out a 1-month generic is $2 more and a 3-month supply is $4 more than the giant chains. He instituted that plan for all his customers. So now, I and many others here spend just a few dollars more but keep a local business.

    Badger

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    1. Hey, that is extraordinary. Good job and congratulations! Have you checked out this one? http://samaritanministries.org/

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  5. http://youtu.be/P7PDDySY1E8

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  6. Medical care is so expensive precisely because of gvt mandates and regs. Seven people to HR and handle psperwork in quadruplicate. K. DENNINGer has a couple posts about it
    Ok he rants about it constantly
    Also some in med field push unnecessary surgery and procedures because $$$$ is the new "god".
    Why else is there catheter commercials (unnecessary prostate surgery for "cancer") and for all the $ pored into FDA they arent keeping us safe from bad drugs. Big pharma.

    Rant over.

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    1. Medical care is so expensive precisely because of gvt mandates and regs.

      Yes, but then they turn around and only authorize a small percent for payment. The anesthesiologist billed $1,200 for my wife recently and CHAMPVA authorized 19.92%.

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