Latest / StartUp Health NOW Podcast / Walmart Could Magnify Americans’ Access to Healthcare — With the Help of Key Startups

Transcript

Walmart Could Magnify Americans’ Access to Healthcare — With the Help of Key Startups · StartUp Health NOW Podcast

• 0:00
  [ on-hold music] Well, the, the strategy really is all about bringing access to basic preventative care, making it more convenient, um, more affordable, and, um, yeah, better...
• 0:22
  and giving our customers a better experience when they interact with it. So that's, those are the really the three pillars that we focus on, uh, convenience, affordability, and a really great customer experience.
• 0:31
  [upbeat music] Welcome to another Fireside Chat here at StartUp Health. Uh, my name is Logan Plaster. I'm the media director and editor-in-chief here at StartUp Health.
• 0:49
  Uh, excited to have Evan Schnurr on Fireside Chat today. Uh, Evan is the, uh, director of healthcare transformation and strategy at a little retail operation called Walmart.
• 1:00
  Uh, Evan i- is trained as a pharmacist, and he's been at Walmart for th- almost 13 years, where he began as a pharmacy intern.
• 1:08
  Uh, Evan's got a great combination of boots-on-the-ground experience, uh, in pharmacy work, working with patients, and then also this innovation corporate strategy at, um, I think the largest retailer in the world.
• 1:22
  So a fascinating combination of experiences that we're gonna get into today with Evan. We're, uh, excited to have you on, so thanks for joining us, Evan Schnurr. Absolutely.
• 1:32
  Thank, thank y'all for having me, and, and thank you all for, uh, for making time out of your busy days.
• 1:36
  It's exciting to see so many of you, a few familiar faces, and really look forward to getting to know you, uh, as we, uh, chat here over the next few minutes.
• 1:44
  So Evan, uh, I, I wanna start with a little bit of background. I mentioned that you've been with Walmart for nearly 13 years, starting out as a pharmacy intern, and now director of healthcare transformation and strategy.
• 1:56
  Um, how unusual is that at Walmart? Uh, is there a culture of cultivating leadership from within? Um, and kind of what's that experience been like? Yeah, thanks, Logan.
• 2:08
  It, it's been an awesome ride as, as you all can imagine. Uh, the, the opportunities being at the largest retailer are pretty phenomenal, but I think we do very much have a...
• 2:17
  We value tenure in the culture, but I think we're also finding the right, trying to strike the right balance of that as we learn to innovate and grow and expand into new areas, um, where we're, you know, maybe not as talented at, um, or, or, you know, historically.
• 2:31
  And so I think it, it's a really good blend, but certainly we, we do have a culture of kind of long-term, long-term commitment. And, um, a lot of folks, including, uh, you know, our CEO, started as hourly associates.
• 2:42
  And so, um, can't say that's the path I'm on, but, uh, nonetheless, it's been a fun journey from, uh, hourly intern to, uh, to getting to take part in what we're building here.
• 2:52
  And I spend most of my time at Walmart Health, and what we're building here really as, um, a, a, a bit of a startup within a, a massive company, and so it's, it's been quite a ride. Interesting.
• 3:02
  Was there a moment, uh, when you were working as a pharmacist or a pharmacy intern where you saw a, a pain point or a problem that kind of inspired you to take this, this other route towards innovation and strategy?
• 3:16
  Yeah, I think it's, it's so many of the problems that we probably all see every day within healthcare, whether it's the fact that, um, you know, we still, I still sit at the computer and sent tens of faxes every day, um, or, you know, y- you know, kind of pick the problem with someone's insurance coverage, for example.
• 3:32
  I think the, the, yeah, motivation and the, what really kind of lit up for me was just knowing that it's one thing to impact one patient at a time at the counter, which is ultimately where change happens, but being able to hopefully have a, a broader impact across, you know, the many outlets that we have is really what drove, um, my personal passion for what I do today.
• 3:51
  Did you know that you wanted to do that from the beginning, or, or was there kind of a, a, a turning point for you? Uh, you know, I think it's definitely been, been a journey, uh, with many different chapters in it.
• 4:03
  But, um, I think the, the turning point for me really was just even the first, uh, call it the first few months of exposure in the, in working with patients and, like, loving that interaction, but just seeing how much more impact you could have, um, when you take it beyond the, the four walls of, of that location.
• 4:21
  L- let's talk a little bit about that impact that you mentioned. You know, one of the first things people think about when they think about Walmart is just its sheer scale.
• 4:28
  Uh, I read that Walmart operates more than 11,000 stores, employs more than 2.2 million people, serves hundreds of millions of people, uh, per week, operates in 25 countries, uh, employing 700,000 people globe, uh, outside of the United States.
• 4:45
  Um, so obviously the opportunity for impact there is enormous. You do one good thing, and you multiply it by that many visits, uh, and the impact is great.
• 4:53
  But maybe we could start with the ch- some of the challenges of thinking about innovation at scale, uh, some of the, some of the challenges to your job when you're, when you're thinking about strategy at that s- at that size.
• 5:06
  Yeah. Uh, absolutely.
• 5:07
  I think, you know, I think some of the biggest opportunities, uh, as we like to call challenges here at Walmart, um, are, are really around, there's so many different places that you could act, and you could try to make a difference, and so it's really an opportunity around focus, number one.
• 5:23
  And then I think, you know, the second is just, and this is where, you know, I know we'll talk about partnerships as we move forward, but this is where we really value partners because there's only so much that we can do.
• 5:34
  We can help that scale part, but sometimes getting the right idea to scale is, you know, w- we look to the outside to help find those. Um, and so it, it's, it's a combination of, of those things.
• 5:44
  Like, what are you focused on? 'Cause we could do everything. I'm sure that almost with everyone on the call, we could find a way in which we could do something really cool together.
• 5:52
  Um, but the ability to, you know, execute on the right few is, is always something that I think our team strives to, to think about and to work on.I, I find that note that you say there's only so much that we can do interesting given how much [laughs] Walmart does.
• 6:06
  Is that, is that sort of sense of humility I'm hearing, is that sort of part of the culture? Uh, is that this idea that we are bringing other ideas together. We're not trying to be everything to everyone. That's...
• 6:21
  Yeah, I mean, it's probably a little bit of both. I think certainly we, you know, we view ourselves as a, a humble, uh, family-owned retailer based out of the Midwest.
• 6:29
  Um, it just happens to be we have a lot of other locations. Um, so I think there is a little bit of that, but it's probably more the latter, which is, you know, how do we, um...
• 6:39
  E-everyone has resource limitations, right? And so how do you just deploy those the best for the best ideas that will make the most impact? I think it's, it's most really thinking in that, that vein.
• 6:51
  Uh, let, let's talk for a second about the access to care, uh, moonshot. I mean, this is a, this is a huge issue for Walmart. I read somewhere that 90% of Americans are... live within 15 miles of a Walmart.
• 7:02
  The, the idea of access and, and being able to reach individuals, a huge issue for the company and, uh, a major health moonshot, uh, that we're focused on here at StartUp Health. Um, so what are...
• 7:16
  You know, given that access and reach, what would you characterize the importance of Walmart's place in healthcare, uh, playing into that access challenge? And kind of along with that question, you know, what,
• 7:29
  you know, what gets you excited about, uh, your ability to reach into the community and increase that access?
• 7:36
  Access is such a huge part of what we focus on, think about, and believe we can improve, and so excited about the correlation between your, your moonshots and, and that focus on our end.
• 7:48
  Um, to me, I think about it in terms of a loyal shopper, and that shopper on average is in the store two times a week, um, maybe more.
• 7:58
  And sure, that might look a little bit different right now, but you know, generally a couple times a week.
• 8:03
  And when you think about that and then you think about how often does someone interact with the healthcare system, and thankfully for the most part, it's less than two times a week.
• 8:12
  Um, but how do you marry those things together to really bring, um, access to pr- especially preventative care, um, put it in the workflow of our consumer's life.
• 8:23
  I think that that's the opportunity that we see, um, and, and where we really think we can, can truly make a difference.
• 8:30
  And you think about, you know, you walk into a Walmart and you've got your grocery list and your health screening list. Like, that's maybe the, the holy grail that we get to.
• 8:39
  But in, you know, in the interim, h- as we work to get there, what are the things that we can be doing to, um, figure out what customers really like at retail?
• 8:47
  Um, one of, one of the things that make them, uh, comfortable with getting care, that make, um, not just that it's a have to do, like it's on my list, like I said, but it's a I want to do it. I want to engage.
• 8:58
  I wanna get this screening. Um, for example, we're, we're testing some stuff within the musculoskeletal space right now, and part of that is helping people measure their movement age, and we're doing this with a partner.
• 9:12
  And so it's kind of creating this opportunity for folks to come in and say, "Hey, am I getting better or not?"
• 9:16
  Um, so I think about things like that that make our customers want to come back, want to engage, and ultimately that really drives the access.
• 9:23
  So kind of carrying it back to where we started, all those things, and we see them two times a week.
• 9:28
  And in a community that might be, um, you know, a small rural community, on average, we're seeing as many unique people in that store every week as live in that town.
• 9:38
  Um, so that's a, that's a huge impact you can have on a, a community. Did COVID-19 change your thoughts or strategies around access, what that looks like in the store? You know, I think we learn...
• 9:50
  We're continuing to learn every day, as, [laughs] as everybody is, but we learned a lot early on about folks' comfort levels.
• 9:58
  They were coming to see us to buy their groceries, so they might have been more comfortable getting their healthcare from us than going into a more traditional facility. You know, those things are anecdotal.
• 10:07
  We're still relatively small in the, uh, in the healthcare space. Um, but we feel pretty good about what we observe there and, and our customers and patients' willingness to come engage.
• 10:18
  So that's been a really helpful learning.
• 10:20
  I think the other thing that we're excited about, and, and I was thinking about this as I was giving my last answer, which is how do you decouple healthcare from, you know, from where it's traditionally received?
• 10:31
  And, and of course, we're all talking about that in the virtual sense, the idea that I'm getting my care at home. But how do you partner that up with, like what's the physical nature of that?
• 10:39
  And so things like diagnostics. If we're decoupling getting tested, for example, for anything from a visit to now it's just an, it's an experience, it's something I need to go do.
• 10:50
  Um, we're really excited to watch that over the next few months here, um, as people start to behave differently within how they get their care. Yeah.
• 10:58
  I'm sure that all plays, uh, very, uh, intricately into the strategy behind Walmart Health Clinics, which I know is a, is a new thing. I believe there's 15 open to date. Arkansas, Georgia, Texas.
• 11:12
  Um, talk to us about your strategy around these clinics, these primary care clinics, what they offer, and kind of what the, what you see as the trajectory for them.
• 11:21
  Well, the, the strategy really is all about bringing access to basic preventative care, making it more convenient, um, more affordable, and, uh, yeah, better...
• 11:31
  and giving our customers a better experience when they interact with it. So that's, those are the really the three pillars that we focus on, the convenience, affordability, and a really great customer experience. Um,
• 11:42
  those, those locations, you mentioned we've got 15, so we have her open primarily in Georgia. We've got a site here in Arkansas, and then we have two sites up in Chicago. Um, they...
• 11:51
  It's a full service, kind of one-stop shop for your, your basic healthcare, primary care, behavioral health. I've got a dentist on site, an optometrist.
• 12:00
  Um, you know-We have a space that once we can all get back together again, people will come and get back together and take exercise classes and, um, and enjoy, you know, that social interaction that we feel is so important.
• 12:11
  Um, and so there's a lot going on in those spaces, and it's just a really, um, it, it's an intentionally cohesive experience for the patient so that their experience is the same whether they came to get their teeth cleaned or for their annual checkup.
• 12:24
  Um, and so we're really excited about what we're seeing in that model, the way customers are engaging with it, and also the opportunity to continue to expand it beyond those kind of basic services that I described.
• 12:36
  You know, oftentimes when we think about health innovation, it is within the four walls of a clinic or a, uh, a doctor's office or a specialist's office.
• 12:45
  Um, and you've got this, you know, the four walls of the, of the Walmart clinic, and then you've got the, the Walmart superstore.
• 12:52
  Uh, uh, how much, when you're thinking about i-innovating the, uh, the patient experience, how much of that has to do with the full experience of being at the retail or the things that they're able to buy, um, while they're, you know, after their visit that have to do with their health, that in, that holistic experience?
• 13:11
  I, I think that holistic health experience is really critical to what we're trying to build and, and a really big piece of the puzzle.
• 13:18
  The way I think about it is when you go to a Walmart, whether there's a Walmart Health there or not, you make, you know, tens if not hundreds of decisions related to your health.
• 13:27
  Um, you know, it starts in the parking lot. How far away am I gonna park? Can I get my steps in today because I'm in the back row?
• 13:33
  Um, obviously it translates right up to the shelf where I'm deciding between, you know, uh, maybe a sugary breakfast cereal that might be a good treat or something that, you know, is a healthier option.
• 13:43
  And so we continue to make those choices throughout that journey.
• 13:46
  And so if you think about how we might be able to, um, make influence on those by just making people think more about their health, um, while they're there, I think that alone could, could create a lot of value.
• 13:56
  And then from a pro, you know, putting my provider hat on, having all those resources for my patients literally within sight of where I'm delivering care
• 14:05
  is, is, is a really exciting proposition and one that, you know, I think our providers get, get pretty excited about as they take care of our patients.
• 14:12
  Um, Dorothy Goldman from Oritel Diagnostics, uh, would love to, uh, hear your question if you can come off of mute. Okay. Well, uh, Oritel Diagnostics is focused on, uh, fertility issues in women.
• 14:25
  Um, but what I'm curious about is who are the customers that come for healthcare to Walmart? What are their main interests, and where has been your main focus up until now? Thanks, Dorothy. Yeah. It's great.
• 14:39
  It's great to meet you, Dorothy. Um, I think that so the customer that comes in, if you think, the... I'll limit my answer to primary care for a moment, but then it really expands beyond that to the other services.
• 14:49
  But I think where, where most people start to think is around primary care. And so what comes to mind when you think retail health is this small footprint clinic.
• 14:55
  Maybe I'm going there for my annual physical, or I need to get a strep test. We intentionally are building a full s- full service primary care offering.
• 15:03
  And what we're seeing is e-exactly what we had hoped for, which is patients are coming to us to be their primary care provider. So we're still very early days.
• 15:12
  It's, it's im- I think important to recognize that we're, we're just over a year old, um, in terms of our, our Walmart Health offering, but we're already seeing a significant number of our patients who come to us to manage their chronic conditions.
• 15:23
  Um, and that's, you know, across the board if you were to drop a pin in a community in which we operate, it looks a lot like the health of that community, um, which isn't surprising to us because our customers tend to look like the communities in which we operate.
• 15:37
  Um, we don't tend to over-index in a certain population or another. It's we look like the folks who live near us. Um, and so, so people are coming to see us.
• 15:45
  Sure, they're coming for acute needs, but also to manage their chronic conditions, which really excites us about the future and about the opportunity there.
• 15:52
  Um, and I would say similarly as I look across different business lines, so we've got the full practice dentist office, for example, and, you know, we're, we're doing everything a, a regular general dentist would be doing, and patients are using all those services across the board.
• 16:07
  Thanks for the question, Dorothy. Um, I want to jump, uh, to a question by, uh, Missy Lavender from Renalis. Um, if you could come off of mute.
• 16:14
  This kind of builds off of what I was gonna ask as my next question, which was kind of a more general question about how, uh, Walmart partners with startups. And Missy, I feel like yours is a good sort of lead into that.
• 16:25
  So could you, could you hop off and, and ask your question? Sure. Thank you, Logan. Hey, Evan.
• 16:29
  Um, so Renalis is focused on creating digital therapeutics for pelvic health, so we're starting with, uh, a big bladder condition called overactive bladder.
• 16:38
  And I was just curious to know how the company is envisioning partnering with the digital therapeutic space, either as that traditional digital wrapper or, in our case, we're developing a monotherapy that is very relevant to increasing access to patients like you would be touching.
• 16:56
  So, um, it's a great, great question that we've, we've certainly started to think about both from a Walmart Health standpoint, but also from the fact that we're, you know, one of the largest pharmacies, um, and what does distribution look like.
• 17:07
  Frankly, I would say I would love to hear how you think we might partner, um, because we, we don't know the answer.
• 17:13
  Um, but we're excited at the way in which those tools can become, um, you know, potentially make care more accessible, especially for specific conditions in areas where care might not otherwise be available.
• 17:25
  There might not be other treatment. So definitely don't know the right answer when it comes to digital therapeutics. We've thought a lot about it. Um, it's an area I'm, I'm personally interested in.
• 17:33
  Um, but I think there's a lot of room for us to learn with you. Uh, Beth Sanders from LifeBio, uh, you've got a question about social determinants of health and, uh, phone-based support systems.
• 17:43
  Could you, uh, come off of mute and ask your question? Yes. Hi, um, Evan. Hey. For someone who ordered her eighty-four-year-old aunt's groceries from Walmart and helped her with her pharma, pharma needs, thank you.
• 17:57
  Um, I'm in a small town, and I get that people go there, that it's a go-to place. Anyway, w-I have a, a service called My Hello.
• 18:05
  We do loneliness interventions with people because we're worried that they're, you know, isolated and lonely, especially 65 and older.
• 18:13
  Uh, and I, I just think about how you're maybe addressing social determinants of health. You're talking about prevention.
• 18:19
  Um, just, you know, when somebody's lonely, are they having trouble also ordering their groceries, getting their pharma?
• 18:26
  And, um, just one more thing, I think it's cool that you're becoming like a senior center as well as a, as a pharmacy, so. Well, well, first, thank you for, uh, and you're famous for being a customer.
• 18:35
  I'm glad that we could be there to serve. Uh, that's, that's exciting to hear, and I, I think we're, um, hearing so many of those stories right now with, with folks accessing...
• 18:45
  You know, whether it's, uh, from us or otherwise, I think for all of us, it's exciting of the way in which other populations are engaging digitally.
• 18:51
  Um, to get to your question around the social determinants, I think that-- So one thing we, we did very early on, um, and this is one of those areas I think we know it's important, um, but we don't know-- we also don't know the right answer, which feels like a consistent answer to questions here.
• 19:07
  Um, but with social determinants in particular, we, um, we do have a position in the clinics that we call community health worker.
• 19:14
  So that community health worker is engaging, you know, they are responsible for social determinants, to, to put it simply. Um- Right... so today they engage with our primary care patients.
• 19:24
  They're helping make assessments, helping refer to community resources. But, um, you know, just like everything, I think there's always room to, room to improve and scale that program.
• 19:32
  As I-- maybe just as a, an answer kind of across many questions, we're, we're really focused on what are the ways in which, um, we can deliver the best customer experience and do it in a way in which we scale-- can scale quickly and efficiently.
• 19:45
  And so I think, as I think about going back to that focus question, solutions that help with that are always really important.
• 19:52
  Um, you know, we've kind of talked around it, but I wonder if you could just sort of talk, uh, more broadly about how Walmart works with innovative startup- startups.
• 20:00
  I mean, we've got, uh, dozens and dozens of, of founders on here, and just sort of outlining what does that look like?
• 20:07
  I mean, you've got small companies, you know, giant retailer, maybe a, an example of, of a way it's worked in the past. Yeah.
• 20:15
  I, I think we're at a really good point in Walmart Health's, um, journey to think about partnering with companies kind of independent of size generally, right?
• 20:24
  Because we're not at the point in which we, we used to, you know, as I put my old kind of retail hat on, we would always worry about turning on the switch and overwhelming someone.
• 20:33
  Um, but I think because we have a relatively small footprint in health right now, and there is an opportunity still to think pretty small and, and think about partners kind of independent of size.
• 20:43
  Um, there are some things that are important in terms of like life cycle of a company, you know, the far...
• 20:48
  Especially for things that need approvals and things, we're, we're pretty conservative on where we're going to engage, where, you know, within that cycle.
• 20:54
  Um, but generally speaking, I think we're, you know, we, we aren't overly concerned. What is important to us is outcomes.
• 21:01
  So if you, you know, are a company that's delivering something on the clinical spectrum, having really good outcomes in my, uh, although I'm not joined by my clinical partners today, they would, they would lead with that, right?
• 21:13
  We need to be able to see that data.
• 21:15
  Um, we're probably not the best partner to help you go find those outcomes for the first time, um, kind of thinking to the life cycle, but we're, you know, happy to engage once, once those results kind of come through.
• 21:27
  Um, aside from that, you know, it's...
• 21:30
  Working with any big company is, it does take a long time and, and sometimes it may feel tough, but know that we're a team of folks who are really committed to solving some of these same problems you're probably thinking about.
• 21:43
  Um, and so that's, that's where I think we find a lot of opportunity when we find like-minded, um, entrepreneurs and innovators and we can, um, you know, we can find ways to work together in the clinics.
• 21:54
  And we're also trying to be more nimble in this space. Going back to some of our first-- the first part of our discussion, Logan, about innovation and where it comes from.
• 22:01
  We recognize that, you know, we're not going to come up with every innovation that occurs in the Walmart Health center of the future, and we need really smart folks like you, um, to help us get there.
• 22:10
  And so we're, we're always trying to be more efficient and find ways in which we can partner. Maybe it's a small scale to start, but an exciting way to, to start trying, trying it out out.
• 22:20
  Are, are there any specific areas of innovation that you think have part- particular opportunity right now in terms of plugging into what you're doing? Um, that's a great, yeah, a great question.
• 22:31
  I think one thing we're really interested in is like, is highly efficient ways in which to, um, deliver kind of more traditional thing, uh, in the spaces of like care management and disease management.
• 22:43
  So which are-- what are ways that, you know, we can do that much more efficiently than it's been done before?
• 22:47
  When you think about our potential future scale, and I'm kind of independent of, of the disease state, though one that's generally prevalent is always helpful. Um, but that's an area that comes to mind.
• 22:59
  I think, you know, the other things to think about would be, um, we have this customer base that, like I said, kind of looks like the community, and in a lot of ways, we might be serving at scale a population that would otherwise maybe not warrant kind of having a solution for.
• 23:15
  But when you start to have one or two patients in each location that have a certain need, how can we think about kind of aggregating that and bringing it together at scale?
• 23:24
  Um, the breadth of these questions, Evan, uh, kind of just reminds me of the number of touchpoints that Walmart has and kind of the, and, and the potential of a business of this size.
• 23:36
  And, and I wonder sort of how you, I don't know, how do you think about your role when there are so many things that you could try to do? How do you focus? How do you make those priorities? Yeah.
• 23:51
  It, I mean, it all starts with the customer, and so it gets back to, I think it was Dorothy's question at first, and why do people come see us?
• 23:57
  And so I think right now there's, there's a focus on how do we make sure that that experience is really good, so we can see a lot of customers and figure out, you know, what, what our priorities might be as a result.
• 24:09
  Um, but definitely starting with the customer is the, you know, first and foremost way that we think about anything.
• 24:13
  And then, you know, beyond that, it's how does it fit into theUm, the care model that we have, how does it fit into the kind of forward-looking, um, plans that we have to, to grow in different ways, both in terms of scale, but also in terms of operations.
• 24:27
  Um, and so it gets back to those first comments around focus. As you can, you know, you can imagine, there's always, there's always something that we can do.
• 24:34
  And keeping it within, you know, who are the types of customers either we're serving today or think we might want to serve in the future are, you know, the first lenses that we look at. Yeah.
• 24:45
  I think that's a fantastic, um, insight. You just have to have that radical focus on the patient when you realize there are so many things you can do.
• 24:53
  Um, making those decisions of what you don't do are, are critical, uh, in order to focus on, on the most important things. Um, let's go back to the chat.
• 25:01
  Uh, Jim from Fixable has got a question, uh, about MSK movement screens. Jim, uh, why don't you come over? All right. Hey, guys. Hey, great fireside chat, by the way. Uh, Jim from Fixable.
• 25:14
  We're, uh, a virtual pain and prevention, injury prevention solution.
• 25:18
  And, uh, my question to you, let's-- uh, you started the conversation of talking about MSK and getting, like, a bi- I'm guessing, a biological clock on, uh, how people are doing. Um, I guess this follows
• 25:32
  a question, I guess, leading to some of your mandates. What are the things that you really wanna see some outcomes on?
• 25:37
  And, uh, what are some of the mandates or maybe KPIs on your book that, you know, uh, that mark success for you? Yeah. Thanks, Jim. Um, we-- you know, I think,
• 25:49
  again, there's, there's gonna be an answer that varies based on what's the problem we're trying to solve. But if generally, you know, it is, it's gonna be some combination of clinical cost and experience, right?
• 26:03
  And so if, if you're driving clinical outcome, like, we have to have that.
• 26:07
  Is the thing that we're doing together, like in, you know, in the example of your company, is that a better experience than what's available to patients today?
• 26:15
  And can we do that in a way that either lowers the out-of-pocket cost for the patient, makes it more affordable, or lowers the total cost of care?
• 26:22
  Um, so those probably aren't overly surprising, um, buckets, but that's kind of the way and then the order that we, we wanna think about it.
• 26:30
  Um, if we can deliver on those three things, you know, we feel like that's generally a, a home run for the patient and for the model, and those are things we wanna explore. Yeah. A hundred percent.
• 26:41
  I like how concise that is as well. And as simplistic as it may be, twelve years of clinical experience, I mean, that's exactly what you wanna deliver. [laughs] Thanks, Jim.
• 26:51
  Uh, Christian Waitman, uh, you've got a question about selling digital products, uh, on the shelf or through the, the retail, uh, pathway, which I think is a great, uh, topic for us to transition to.
• 27:02
  So, Christian, can you ask your question? Yes. Thank you, Evan. Thank you for sharing.
• 27:07
  Well, my question is related to how it's gonna to transition from selling physical products like you do on shelves to, uh, start selling these digital products, uh, uh, in stores.
• 27:22
  And what is the, the, what, the process that... I think you, you, you went a little bit, uh, on it. I have a very, um, particular, um, example is tomorrow that they do behavioral change. So how, how does it work?
• 27:35
  Um, it's a, it's a great question, and certainly one that is top of mind for us in the healthcare space.
• 27:41
  Um, I'm sure there are a lot of other folks at, at Walmart that think about how, you know, how we might sell services outside of the healthcare, uh, spectrum, and there are some really great examples where we've made that work well.
• 27:51
  Um, we've, we've started some work in healthcare. We started, uh... and I take no credit for this.
• 27:57
  There's a really great team working in our e-commerce group that was able to, you know, try this out with our first service online around smoking cessation, and it's exactly what you described, which is, how do you take, um, how do you take a service and use our retail distribution channels to get it in the hands of customers?
• 28:16
  And so that's like a very early, "Hey, let's try this and see if it works."
• 28:19
  But I think there's still a lot of interest in, it's not just about, you know, putting something online, but how do you really make it accessible to consumers?
• 28:26
  And I think you touched on that with your question about thinking about it on the shelf.
• 28:30
  Um, I would say I spend most, like, from my perspective, I spend most of my time thinking about, how do I connect it back to the health experience, and what are ways in which those services can, um, improve either the mix of services I'm offering or help me scale faster and to get into the hands of patients.
• 28:47
  So I would say there's not an, an easy answer today of how do you sell a service in a Walmart Health, um, long, long term, a digital service, uh, but it is something that is definitely, like, it's, it's one that's important to us and one that we're thinking about.
• 29:01
  So how do we create a robust offering for our patients that they have really good choice, really good transparency?
• 29:07
  We haven't talked a lot about cost transparency, but that's a huge part of what we're trying to do as well. And so as I think about digital services, that's a big opportunity in my mind.
• 29:14
  How do you bring those to patients, like direct to consumer, um, and put them together online?
• 29:20
  So I would say more to come on that one over, you know, over the next few quarters, um, but a lot of interesting opportunity there in the future. Appreciate the, appreciate the question, Christian.
• 29:31
  Uh, Mehmet from Cleexa, we've got a question about patient engagement, kind of what the vision is there for, um, Walmart clinics. So why don't you hop off mute? Hi. Thanks. Thanks, Logan, and nice to meet you, Evan.
• 29:45
  Um, I've been actually talking to a lot of, um, companies like any others also mentioned on the call, um, but with kind of like patient engagement, kind of vision that you might have. I'm sure you have plans already.
• 29:57
  Um, our company does the patient engagement integrated options. We partn- we, we actually partner with Particle Health to provide solutions to clinics, uh, with an integrated model.
• 30:08
  My question is this specifically, um, what are your, like, let's say like three top, uh, priority projects you have in mind?
• 30:17
  And it doesn't have to be super specific, but engaging the patients just coming to Walmart and pharmacy and other services, like on the preventive care model, for example.That you're trying to introduce to engage them more, to do the right things, engage with your pharmacy platform and others, and I'm sure you do a lot of other things.
• 30:35
  How do you engage with them on a technology basis, what your plans are, um, maybe a snapshot of your strategic ideas that you're trying to release maybe the next six to twelve months maybe, um, high level, if you don't mind.
• 30:51
  Yeah, um, certainly I think engagement is a key to our success. And it-- some of that goes back to the traffic conversation we were having earlier about the number of times people come in the store.
• 30:59
  And so I think about, you know, just as we look at our overall business and think about it from an omni-channel standpoint, that's how we really wanna-- we, we wanna put that same framework and same thinking towards healthcare.
• 31:11
  And so if you think about our grocery business as an example which, like so many digital things, has been accelerated recently, um, you know, we're really agnostic to where you get your groceries from.
• 31:20
  We don't mind if you walk in the store, you get them online, we bring them to your house, or we put them in your car. We're happy that we were there to serve you as a customer and take care of you.
• 31:28
  And I think to the extent that that's where we can ultimately land, um, with healthcare, we would certainly consider that a success.
• 31:36
  Um, I don't probably have a lot of specifics over the next six to twelve months, um, but know that I think a digital experience for our patients to engage with us is something that we would view as generally table stakes in a successful offer.
• 31:51
  All right. Awesome. Thanks for the question. Uh, we're just-- we've got a ton of questions for you, Evan.
• 31:57
  I know it's, uh, it, it's, it's a lot and it's a, it's a range, so, uh, appreciate you, um, being willing to take all of these.
• 32:04
  Um, similar to the patient engagement, uh, Natalie from MedHaul's got a question about kind of extending beyond the store to, uh, look at access challenges, uh, that could involve, you know, uh, transportation, et cetera.
• 32:19
  So, um, Natalie, if you could come off mute and ask your question. Yeah. Um, hi, Evan. Uh, my name is Natalie Oshin.
• 32:26
  I work for MedHaul, where we connect, um, transport for healthcare organizations to our network of specialized non-emergency medical transportation providers.
• 32:34
  And so yeah, my question is around what other access points Walmart Health is looking to address, and we're specifically interested in anything you're looking for, for our transportation, um, services.
• 32:45
  Um, I, I would say that we, we certainly see the, the value and the opportunity of figuring out the transportation challenges for our customers.
• 32:53
  One of the acute opportunities we have is that people do, and, and I recognize I'm overgeneralizing here, but people do tend to find their way to us.
• 33:02
  Um, and in fact, it's, it's interesting we hear that even when we're talking to other local provider groups that, that see significant transportation challenges in their patients, um,
• 33:11
  as, as it relates to coming to Walmart, they, they find a way to get there, um, which is great.
• 33:14
  But that, but that doesn't solve for and why I don't wanna, I don't wanna just overgeneralize and not address the real problem.
• 33:20
  If they can't find their way to other healthcare facilities, then we have the same, same challenges. So we do recognize that is, is like a problem that, that is one we need to figure out.
• 33:29
  I don't think we have thought through exactly what the answer is to your, to your question around what's our strategy around transportation.
• 33:35
  Um, but it a little bit goes back to some of the earlier question around social determinants, and that's kind of how we're thinking about it right now, is how do we, just as we're assessing other, um, insecurities and vulnerabilities, how do we make sure that folks can get from point A to point B, especially in those cases where we might be asking them to go to point B, you know, whether that's a referral or, um, another service that they need.
• 33:54
  So certainly an opportunity. Thanks, Natalie. That's actually a really good lead into a question from Shereen from Yumlish about underserved populations and, uh, and, and just the different strategies there. So Shereen?
• 34:10
  Yes. Thanks, Logan. Um, hi, Evan. So Shereen from Yumlish.
• 34:14
  Uh, we provide cultural nutrition therapy to Latinos with diabetes, um, and really delivering sort of this nutrition education using apps that they already have on their phones, so sort of lowering those barriers to adoption.
• 34:27
  Uh, we're in Texas, uh, Tennessee and also Illinois currently. Um, my question to you is specifically looking at minority health and addressing health disparities as, as they exist, is that on the horizon?
• 34:39
  Sort of how are you going about that, especially as we look at uninsured, low-income individuals, uh, what has that looked like for you? Yeah. Um, I think it's, it's always been an...
• 34:52
  something that we recognize as incredibly important and, and something that we wanna look at.
• 34:56
  I think acutely, um, as a, as a company, I'm really excited because one of our-- one of the commitments we've made, um, as we-- as our leadership team explored the opportunities, um, for Walmart to influence racial equity, um, healthcare came out as one of the top four initiatives there.
• 35:16
  And so our entire executive team is thinking very much acutely about, about the question that you're asking, and we've got a, a group of folks that are, you know, right now working, working to identify kind of what are the best ways, not just within Walmart Health and the sites that we have, but really across the enterprise, make a difference as it relates to, um, uh, inequities that exist in healthcare.
• 35:38
  Um, so I think it's a work in progress, and certainly we'll have, always have room to, to make things better and improve.
• 35:45
  Um, but as we're putting back my Walmart Health hat on, as we're starting to grow a healthcare offering, I think it's re-- you know, we recognize it's really critical that we're not contributing to the challenges there, and instead we're helping to be a part of that solution.
• 35:57
  Um, so you have to think about it in both sides. One, it's this open question, which is how can we as an enterprise really make an impact on, on health equity?
• 36:04
  But then acutely as we're building, building more resources, how do we make sure that those, um, serve the communities in which we operate?
• 36:12
  And I think that's, you know, for us, that's kind of step one, making sure we're hiring locally, um, getting, you know, getting folks, our associates that are in, um, in those facilities that can serve the patients that we, we serve.
• 36:23
  And we've seen now through the diversity of locations that we've opened both in rural and urban areas, uh, how m-- just how important that is.Um, but kind of an overarching question I wanted to, to, uh, leave you with, Evan, or, or to kind of close out my questions with i- is thinking about what you're look- what you look for and what Walmart looks for in a, a partner.
• 36:46
  You mentioned, you know, outcomes, table stakes. It's gotta be, you know, you gotta be proving your outcomes already. Um, it's got to, um, have that c- patient engagement piece, like you said.
• 36:57
  Um, when you think about, when you think about CEOs and founders and teams, uh, uh, who you want to partner with, uh, what are some of the things that you're looking for?
• 37:08
  I think, um, beyond the things that you mentioned there that we've, we've covered, I think the other one that, that has to be acknowledged is that we're not a traditional healthcare player, and so a lot of times we're gonna look at a problem maybe very differently than your other customers look at a problem.
• 37:21
  Um, it also means that we don't necessarily have the same mix of, um, uh, you know, challenges across the spectrum, but we may not also have the resources at our disposal either.
• 37:33
  We're, you know, we're not a large health system with multi-specialties, for example.
• 37:37
  Um, so it's, it's being thoughtful about kind of how do you, how do you find, find teams that are passionate about changing the healthcare system and not kind of, you know, uh, re-entrenching where we're at today because I think we realize that we wanna move beyond that and, and past that.
• 37:52
  And so folks who are excited about that, companies that have solutions that help us get there, um, are, are always exciting and, and always partners that we think are valuable.
• 38:01
  Um, Evan, I wanted to, you know, [laughs] this has been such a, a broad-ranging Q&A.
• 38:07
  I wanted to give you an opportunity to kind of reflect on the range of questions, and I wonder if kind of hearing them t- together, if it calls to mind any sort of, sort of wisdom that you would impart to, you know, today's healthcare founders.
• 38:25
  Uh, you know, you, you've heard some of the pain points that some of these folks are trying to address.
• 38:29
  Um, and kind of seeing that all together, you know, is there, is there sort of a, a word of wisdom, uh, or strategy that you would, you'd wanna share in sort of, uh, uh, in closing?
• 38:40
  That's a, that's a tall order, Logan, but a good question nonetheless.
• 38:43
  Um, surrounded by so much, uh, so many great innovative thinkers here that, um, I don't, I don't know if imparting wisdom is probably best for me to do. It's, but it's more to gain from you all.
• 38:53
  But, you know, I think that the, um, the takeaway for me continues to just be its excitement, right? All of, all of you and, and us, we're like, we're all in this together.
• 39:04
  There's a lot of room for us [laughs] to make some really cool improvements in the way that each of us gets healthcare.
• 39:10
  And as I think about, you know, what drives me personally, it's, it's just personal experiences, and it's those personal experiences that we probably all collectively have in the healthcare system that drive us to make it better.
• 39:21
  And so it, it gets back to that focus on the patient. Um, in this case, sometimes that patient's us, and that's a great way to learn from.
• 39:28
  Um, and that's how I, I like to kind of focus my thinking and, and move innovation forward.
• 39:33
  Well, it's wonderful to hear that from, you know, a spokesperson from an institution as, as large as Walmart, that it really still comes down to those patient stories and those real, uh, interactions with patients.
• 39:44
  I'm going to, uh, cherry-pick a note from the chat from Beth Sanders from LifeBio who says, uh, and I'll paraphrase, "What are the chances of, of getting a walking track into Walmart [laughs] for people to exercise while they're shopping?"
• 39:59
  We already have it. We call it Action Alley. It's all around the store, and it has all the greatest items and, you know, probably a quarter-mile loop. So, um, I, I, I...
• 40:08
  in all honesty, I remember working in the pharmacy, and you would see, you'd look right out on it, and you'd see a certain group of patient, or customers that would make that loop every day. So I think we've got it.
• 40:17
  A- as exercise? You, they would walk the store. As exercise, absolutely. It... okay. They'd walk the store loop. Like the mall walkers, but, you know, small town, no mall. It's a Walmart walker. It's a Walmart walker.
• 40:25
  Okay. Thank you all so much for the time. It was really great to, to meet so many of you and, and get to interact with you, and, um, look forward to continuing the dialogue. All right, Evan.
• 40:34
  We appreciate your time taking this, uh, moment to, to not only have a conversation but also answer a, a, a lot of, uh, ranging questions and, uh, you handled them very well.
• 40:45
  So, uh, appreciate your, your time and your, like, passion for, [upbeat music] uh, health innovation within this very impactful s- uh, space of the Walmart clinic. So thank you for joining us, Evan.
• 40:57
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• 41:11
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• 41:23
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