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Texas and Missouri will soon have about two dozen Walmart health centers, the retail giant announced this month, adding to its 50-site roster.
The company plans to open eight clinics in the Houston metro area, 10 sites in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and four facilities in Kansas City by the end of 2024, Modern Healthcare reported.
Walmart began opening health centers in 2019 around the US in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, and Texas. Located next to Walmart Supercenters, the health centers offer primary care as well as dental and behavioral health services, among other treatments.
“With the population of Texas continuing to grow, these Walmart Health centers will help address the demand for easy-to-access care for all seniors and their families,” David Carmouche, SVP of healthcare delivery at Walmart, said in a statement.
Walmart can be a convenient location for some people to receive healthcare—particularly for those living in rural areas, where patients usually travel farther to access care—as 90% of the US population lives within 10 miles of a Walmart store, Healthcare Brew previously reported.
The company has slowed down its planned rollout of the health centers. In 2023, Walmart said it would open 75 locations by the end of 2024, but the company now expects to hit that goal in early 2025, Fierce Healthcare reported.
Walmart executives previously said the company would add more than 30 health centers in four states this year, but lowered that to 22 centers in two states, Modern Healthcare reported.
Some health centers that were planned to open in the Phoenix area this year have been delayed due to “issues with construction resources,” Modern Healthcare reported.
Walmart also announced in August 2023 a program called Testing and Treatment that allows pharmacists to test for a variety of common illnesses, including Covid-19, the flu, and strep, and then prescribe an appropriate treatment, Healthcare Brew previously reported.