Walmart teams up with primary-care network Oak Street Health

Oak Street Health is teaming up with Walmart as the retail giant doubles down on healthcare.

The Chicago-based network of primary care centers, which went public last month, today announced plans to open clinics at three Walmart stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. While Oak Street Health’s model focuses on patients 65 and older, the retail-based primary and urgent care clinics expected to open later this year will treat patients of all ages.

Walmart recently expanded its health offerings to include dental care and counseling, among other services, at select locations in Georgia and Arkansas. CEO Doug McMillon said in a June statement that "Walmart Health" is still in a pilot phase, but that the chain is looking to open such locations in Chicago.

“As we grow Walmart Health locations in other markets, we think Oak Street Health’s innovative value-based healthcare model will help us continue to deliver on our live better promise at these locations,” Marcus Osborne, senior vice president of Walmart Health, said in today’s statement.

With 90 percent of Americans living within 10 miles of a Walmart store, the model aims to provide customers with quality care at an affordable price, according to the company.

Walmart isn’t the only chain betting big on health care. Walgreens plans to put VillageMD clinics in 500 to 700 of its stores in the next five years, and CVS Health plans to launch 1,500 “HealthHUBs” by the end of 2021.

Meanwhile, Oak Street Health has grown quickly since it was founded in 2012 by three Boston Consulting Group colleagues, including current CEO Mike Pykosz. Since opening its first clinic in 2013 on Chicago’s North Side, Oak Street has opened more than 60 centers in nine states.

“It is our mission at Oak Street Health to rebuild healthcare as it should be, and that aligns directly with Walmart’s history of providing accessible and equitable health care in communities across the country,” Pykosz said in the statement. “We look forward to becoming a positive addition to the neighborhood in these new markets and providing an unmatched healthcare experience in a convenient location.”