WalMart Health Care Expands

by francine on March 10, 2009 · View Comments

in News,Providers

So today the New York Times ran a story about WalMart’s foray into electronic health records. According to WalMart, they are going to bundle a Dell laptop, software, installation and maintenance for $25,000 and sell this package in WalMart stores. This tells me they don’t know ONE SINGLE THING about what is stopping physicians from using EHRs, or one thing about how physicians regard themselves (as professionals).

WalMart thinks because it was successful with the consumer play of $4.00 prescriptions that it can also be successful on the provider side. Let me just say that, having evaluated pretty much all the leading products, the software they chose isn’t one of them, and that’s only the beginning of the problem.

Here’s a quote from a doctor friend of mine who uses EHRs and even wrote one for himself. He’s not only a D.O. but also a MS in Medical Informatics. I sent him the Times story.

“You gotta love that. But $25K for a solo doc? Come on now, I figure Walmart should be selling it for $29.99 or something. Then I could pick up an EMR or 2 at the same time I get some new underwear. I really did laugh when I read that. Talk about everyone wanting a piece of the pie. What’s next, primary care at the Taco Bell check out counter? I’ll have a side of Lipitor with my grande burrito and please send the script to my pharmacy benefits manager at the Circle-K. He’ll check if it’s medically necessary after he gets done filling up the coffee and putting on some more hot dogs. I guess nothing should surprise me anymore.”

Maybe we should ask whether EHRs even solve the problem of rising medical costs and productivity in medical offices before we begin offering a “total solution” at a cut rate price.

Tagged as: ,

  • skintreatment
    acne treatment
    You look great now...I also thought about posting a shot of myself...but will wait, because now I realize that my weight and stress of it has caused a medical condition I have to take care of...you have been inspiring to me with the post and all!
  • I spent 2 years selling medical record supplies for a company located in Valencia, CA. I can attest the fact that medical record supplies are QUITE high. In fact, during that time we lost many clients who switched to electronic medical records (and barcoded wristbands). For a 100 bed hospital, this could result in a loss of hundreds of thousands or dollars of product sales--depending on the level of adoption throughout the hospital. Even the money saved in labor is significant, cutting a purchase order for a single roll of X-Ray date labels can cost over $100 when you factor in the time of all the people required to verify and submit the P/O.

    I believe this is an important step for two reasons. First, it is an optional initiative by a private company. I am uneasy about the government initiating this push, and ultimately ending up with the medical records of every American on file. The government is Constitutionally restricted from entering your house without a warrant, yet they could possibly know every time I have a sore throat? I'd rather be able to choose from a number of providers and select the one I trust most. Or even have the option of going to a hospital that DOESN'T use EHR, if I am particularly paranoid.

    Second, I believe that Wal-Mart is the right company for this, and the fact that they are partnering with Dell is even better. Both companies have shown an almost relentless pursuit of being the lowest price leader--even to a fault, some might say. The initial adoption of electronic health records is QUITE costly, but it saves a tremendous amount of money in the long run. As more practices adopt EHR, it will almost certainly drive the price down. It might be $25,000 now, but within a few years it could be much lower. Dell and Wal-Mart are both extremely competitive with their prices, and that is exactly what the Healthcare industry needs.

    Keep in mind that there is a lot of federal requirements on EHR. You can't just throw a few Excel templates on a laptop with a scanner. HIPAA requirements are high, as they should be, and the penalties for violating HIPAA and a patient's privacy are severe. These systems need to be absolutely secure, with a number of levels of protection available. Certain printers and labeling systems are even considered a violation because they might bleed through a label or show an imprint on the label backing. These are complex systems, that must meet a high level of scrutiny AND reliability. Any error could lead to revealing a patient's identity or medical condition.

    Overall, I think this is a great step forward. If there were small steps like this being taken in every aspect of Healthcare (and tort reform) to cut costs, we could have the cheapest most affordable healthcare in the world.
blog comments powered by Disqus

Previous post:

Next post: