Walmart Health Targets Self-Insured Employers with Transcarent Agreement

Walmart’s strategy is to make every day easier for busy families, operate with discipline, sharpen its culture and become digital, and make trust a competitive advantage.

By leading on price, Walmart earns the trust of customers every day by providing a broad assortment of quality merchandise and services at everyday low prices (EDLP). EDLP is Walmart’s pricing philosophy under which it prices items at a low price every day so its customers trust that prices will not change under frequent promotional activity.

As part of the company’s strategy, Walmart is committed to making health care more affordable and accessible for customers in the communities it serves. To expand on this commitment, the company launched Walmart Health to provide affordable, transparent pricing for key health center services for local customers, regardless of insurance status.

To grow its services Walmart Health is focused on the needs of the patient and customer by creating partnerships, most recently with Transcarent, a new and different health and care experience company putting people back in charge of their health and care experiences.

Using a combination of software, technology, Health Guides and data science, Transcarent empowers consumers with the kind of unbiased information, trusted guidance and access to high-value care that leads to better care, better outcomes, and more cost-effective decisions and allows Members to share in the benefits of their decisions.

Walmart’s agreement with Transcarent will make it easier for self-funded employers to access its healthcare services. This is the first time Walmart has made such an agreement to offer its prices on pharmaceuticals and other healthcare services to employers. The partnership aims to allow employers to leverage the retail giant’s size and scale to offer more convenient care and cost-effective health and wellness options.

Transcarent members can access Walmart’s prescription benefits as well as care at the company’s community clinics, optical services and telehealth. The retailer also offers over-the-counter medications and vaccines, including for COVID-19.

 

Takeaway: The trend of removing the middleman for self-insured employers gains immediate traction with this agreement and the recent launch of Morgan Health by JP Morgan