Could Payers, Plan Sponsors Pick Retail ‘Dance Partners?’

Oct 22
Oct 22, 2021

In a series of recent moves, large retailers with pharmacy operations have struck deals with or acquired smaller companies with the aim of adding on-demand, retail clinics at national scale — and marketing them to health plans or employers. While storefront clinics aren’t new, especially in big box stores, health care insiders say the emphasis on selling to plans over consumers is novel, and that health plans may come to see such agreements as an essential benefit.

Experts tell AIS Health that the retail clinic deals build on several trends that have transformed health care delivery in recent years. The pandemic has changed patient and member expectations in countless ways: In particular, patients have come to expect on-demand access to virtual care. Also, patients now rely on urgent care for a growing number of encounters. That trend is related to declines in primary care affiliations, especially among younger people. And, perhaps most of all, new players — venture capital and large firms seeking new growth — are making inroads into the potentially lucrative health care space.
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Peter Johnson

Peter has worked as a journalist since 2011 and has covered health care since 2020. At AIS Health, Peter covers trends in finance, business and policy that affect the health insurance and pharma sectors. For Health Plan Weekly, he covers all aspects of the U.S. health insurance sector, including employer-sponsored insurance, Medicaid managed care, Medicare Advantage and the Affordable Care Act individual marketplaces. In Radar on Drug Benefits, Peter covers the operations of (and conflicts between) pharmacy benefit managers and pharmaceutical manufacturers, with a particular focus on pricing dynamics and market access. Before joining AIS Health, Peter covered transportation, public safety and local government for various outlets in Seattle, his hometown and current place of residence. He graduated with a B.A. from Colby College.