From Wal-Mart’s senior director health business development on clinics within the store:
. . . keeping customers out of emergency rooms makes sense for Wal-Mart, whose lower-income shoppers are being squeezed by high gasoline prices and a slowing housing market.An unexpected emergency room trip could drain a shopper of dollars they would otherwise spend at Wal-Mart, he said.
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{ 5 comments }
Bwahahahahah!
So they actually admit it.
It is hard to shop when you are sitting around the ER. You can always pick up a few groceries and some motor oil after you get that transient loss of consciousness checked out.
Besides, they are skimming those folks who want convenience and have some money to pay for it. The no-pay folks can go to the ER. No blue-light specials for them.
And when the patient with meningococcal meningitis or C Difficele diarrhea comes in to your local WalMart clinic, who’s going to be responsible for notifying those people in the store who may have been inadvertantly exposed? I can see the lawyers drooling already…
My employer is planning to build a hospital inside of a mall by next year. They’ll build an outpatient surgery center initially, then add a 220 bed hospital. Barnes & Nobles, Crate & Barrel are some of the retail outlets they hope will “anchor” the mall.
anon 2:10
So someone gets meningitis and says “I think I should sue somebody” so they go to a lawyer who asks them to list everywhere they have been in the last week. Then they decide to subpoena all of walmart’s patient files (big deal nowadays with HIPPA) on the off chance that someone had this same disease that was treated there. Then they set out to meet the burden of proof that the walmart customer was the one who spread the disease. Then when they have done all these things, in order to make any worthwhile money from the case, they have to prove damages that were caused in addition to the cost of medical care received.
If I were Walmart, I think I’d be willing to take that chance, and if I were an attorney I don’t think I would be “drooling” over this prospect.
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