Re: Walmart is ending its telehealth service and closing over 50 health clinics

Bob F wrote:
 

On 5/20/2024 3:19 PM, Scott Lurndal wrote:

Bob F <bobnospam@gmail.com> writes:

On 5/20/2024 11:59 AM, Dave Wainwright wrote:

On 5/20/2024 10:59 AM, Frank wrote:

On 5/20/2024 9:24 AM, Ed P wrote:

On 5/20/2024 4:31 AM, Thanks Joe... wrote:
>

>
RASCOE: So, when people walk into a Walmart, they'll
usually find a pharmacy, maybe vision care, but these
clinics that we're talking about were much more than
that, right?
>
JAPSEN: Yes, they started about five years ago. And
Walmart - a lot of people don't realize this, but Walmart
has done some innovative things in
health care over the years. Years ago, they had this
market-moving move on
$4 prescriptions. So they thought, you know what? We're -
in the markets
that we operate, which were at one time rural, we're
going to expand and
get into the health care business and start retail
clinics. So the first
clinic they opened in Dallas, Ga., which Dallas, Ga.,
maybe 20 years ago,
was rural. Now it's a booming suburban market. They
opened a 10,000- square-foot health center. It would have
primary care doctors. It would have X-rays. It would have
mental health support - all sorts of services,
and it went well enough. They ended up in five states,
and then just a month ago, they told me, yeah, we're
expanding, you know, we're going. And
then they reached out and said that they were getting out
of it.
>
RASCOE: Yeah, well, so, what - 'cause, you know, Walmart
is obviously legendary for maximizing its profit margins
and keeping its eyes on the bottom line. So is this
simply a question of profitability? Like, why did
they go from announcing expansions to now saying they're
going to shutter
the whole thing?
>
JAPSEN: Well, that's a great question, because they
basically said this -
after the pandemic, we have a very tight labor market. In
healthcare, you've had a lot of burnout and hospitals
have had to pay a lot of money
to attract and retain primary care providers. And Walmart
basically said,
for right now, they don't see a sustainable business
model because health
care costs are going up. In some cases, reimbursement is
not keeping up.
They're trying to go into the primary care business when
they're competing
against big hospitals and health care systems. And
meanwhile, you know, Amazon, Walgreen, CVS - they're all
going into - trying to go into this primary care market.

>

>

https://www.npr.org/2024/05/05/1249231441/walmart-is-ending-its-

telehealth-service-and-closing-over-50-health-clinics
>

>
Yes, much of our healthcare is a mess and getting worse.
Some of the Medicare Advantage plans are running into
similar problems and people will lose them.
>
There are shortages of healthcare workers too.  Seems they
are in great need and can walk into a hospital and just
say, "I'm a (fill in skill) when can I start working here?

>
Humana Medicare Advantage is no longer accepted by the biggest
hospital system in the state.  State retirees were totally
pissed when the state tried to switch them to an advantage
plan so the state backed off.
>
Socialized medicine sounds attractive but a friend that
worked in the UK for several years just told me that a friend
of his in the UK had to wait two years in pain to get a hip
replacement and then they botched it.
>
A manager in the UK I worked with left the company to go on
his own and coworkers told me he would lose his health
insurance.  When I told them I thought they had socialized
medicine they told me this was a supplemental policy the
company gave to get prompt health care.

>
It's the same in Canada per some reports.  Two or three years
to get a knee replacement and they've cut back on pain killers
because of oxy abuse in the US.  Figure that.  Canada began
rationing their people because a completely unrelated situation
in another country.

>
"The median waiting time for an initial orthopedic consultation
was two weeks in the United States and four weeks in Ontario. The
median waiting time for knee replacement after the operation had
been planned was three weeks in the United States and eight weeks
in Canada."
>
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8090168/
>

>
Don't confuse Frank and T with actual, you know, facts.  They
believe that second and third-hand anecdotes have superior veracity
over actual data.
>
(newsgroups trimmed to alt.home.repair).

>
Thanks for the trim. I have been doing that myself for a couple days.
Yesterday, I created a filter for post including a couple of those
newsgroups, and got sloppy again, I guess, with an older response
from before I made that change.

 It happens, or trollish people add them back in.