The retail giant is partnering with health records system company Epic to integrate all of Walmart’s health and wellness lines of business – across channels.
By creating a single, unified system, the retailer intends to engage patients, health care professionals, insurance carriers and other stakeholders in its Walmart Health offering through a unified portal. The Epic EMR platform will support all of Walmart’s health-and-wellness lines of businesses as it is rolled out and will first be implemented in four new Walmart Health Centers opening in Florida in early 2022.
The Epic online portal allows patients to securely access their health information, communicate with their providers, schedule appointments, and pay bills on their phone or computer. Walmart is collaborating with Epic on the heels of two significant healthcare technology acquisitions earlier in recent months.
In June 2021, Walmart acquired the technology platform, patents and intellectual property of CareZone, which developed an app that helps people manage their health information and medications. Individuals can also use the app to scan labels or insurance cards to speed and simplify the process.
CareZone, which also operates an online pharmacy that puts customers’ medications into pill packs and delivers them to patients via mail, will remain a separate company unrelated to Walmart. At the time of the acquisition, Walmart said CareZone would augment its current health & wellness capabilities and support its focus on the digital health care solutions process.
