Walmart and health insurer CareSource have entered into a partnership to conduct risk screening and provide healthcare to customers at select retail locations in Ohio, the companies have established. announced on Tuesday.
The three-year agreement will focus on improving outcomes among CareSource health, Medicaid and health insurance exchange policyholders who suffer from conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and hypertension.
Walmart will employ community health workers to conduct risk and social needs assessments in stores, and provide life skills and health literacy education, according to a news release. solstice. CareSource will use those details to coordinate non-clinical services, including monthly allowances for certain merchandise sold at Walmart.
Beneficiaries will also receive a Walmart+ membership that comes with free grocery delivery, fuel discounts, and access to the Paramount+ streaming TV service. These perks will complement CareSource’s coverage benefits and the nutrition and economic mobility online programs.
Betsy Stanley, healthcare and business growth strategist at consulting firm Pinkston Strategy, said the deal will give CareSource a competitive edge in crowded markets by enabling its clients access new services. She said the deal would also facilitate greater engagement with insurer members and potentially reduce health spending. For Walmart, the initiative aligns with efforts to promote health and fitness, she said.
“This partnership will help Walmart become the primary care provider, grocery store and even lifestyle big box store for CareSource beneficiaries,” said Stanley. “Patients can go anywhere in the network, but there are specific benefits to engaging[ing] more and more with the Walmart health system.”
Abner Mason, CEO and founder of SameSky Health, which advises healthcare companies on how to work with policyholders and patients from underserved populations, said the program pilot program in Ohio designed to leverage nonclinical interventions to address health disparities.
“People who need clinical care to manage their diabetes are the same people who need access to healthier foods,” says Mason. “There is a link between controlling A1C and healthy foods, but often our system is set up in a very tight-lipped way and the person is not treated holistically.”
CareSource, Walmart and Johnson & Johnson announced a separate initiative last month to improve maternal health outcomes in Georgia.
Mason said whether these projects improve health and reduce disparities will depend on whether people use the benefits. Insurers have historically failed to connect beneficiaries with non-medical interventions, if they offered them, he said. According to a University of Pittsburgh study published in JAMA last year, less than 10% of Medicare-Medicaid dual-eligible beneficiaries with chronic illnesses are provided with assistance such as home-delivered meals and services. society.
Lawton Robert Burns, a professor of healthcare management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, says the other side of that equation is also important. Whether initiatives like Walmart and CareSource work, he said, are highly dependent on changing patient behavior, which is difficult. For example, Walmart customers may be reluctant to disclose personal health information, he said. “There may be more opportunities out there, but I don’t know what the evidence says about getting those types of subscribers to do these things,” he said.
