Walmart Sells Off MeMD Virtual Care Company
As it continues its exit from primary health care offerings, Walmart has sold virtual care service provider MeMD to healthcare technology company Fabric. MeMD was founded in 2010 and acquired by Walmart in 2021.
Fabric provides virtual behavioral, urgent and primary care benefits to 30,000 corporate, institutional and health plan partners, as well as to 5 million members. The company is expected to ensure a seamless transition for MeMD's existing patients, partners and clinicians during the acquisition, and will continue to serve Sam's Club members as a telehealth solution.
"The MeMD team built a leading virtual care offering, and we are excited to welcome them to Fabric," said Aniq Rahman, founder and CEO of Fabric. "This acquisition aligns with our strategic vision to transform healthcare delivery through innovative technology and exceptional patient care. The combination of our teams, technology, and clinicians strategically positions Fabric to quickly expand across payers, employers, and provider organizations."
In April, Walmart announced the closure of its Walmart Health segment, which encompassed 51 health centers across five states, as well as a virtual care offering. The company cited the fact that it is not a sustainable business model for it to continue.
“We understand this change affects lives – the patients who receive care, the associates and providers who deliver care and the communities who supported us along the way,” the company said in a blog post. “This is a difficult decision, and like others, the challenging reimbursement environment and escalating operating costs create a lack of profitability that make the care business unsustainable for us at this time.”
Walmart Health clinics provided primary care, X-rays, labs, behavioral health, dental, hearing, optical and more. The service was first launched in 2019 and boasted locations in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois and Texas. More than 20 locations were brought online in Florida throughout 2022.
The retailer remains committed to offering care in its communities, though, and in June added to its roster of pharmacies that offer its HIV Point-of-Care Screenings. Those tests were piloted at two of the retailer’s pharmacies in Virginia last year, with the aim of making health care more accessible, affordable and convenient.
Walmart’s HIV Point-of-Care Screening pilot will now be extended to 18 additional Specialty Pharmacies of the Community (SPOCs) throughout Colorado and Virginia. The retailer’s SPOCs are located within Walmart pharmacies, and this pilot expansion is slated to run through Sept. 27.
Each week, about 240 million customers and members visit Walmart’s approximately 10,500 stores and numerous e-commerce websites in 19 countries. The Bentonville, Ark.-based company employs approximately 2.1 million associates worldwide. Walmart U.S. is No. 1 on Progressive Grocer’s 2024 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. PG also named Walmart one of its Retailers of the Century.
