Wegmans tests telehealth as the momentum for retail healthcare options picks up

September 8, 2015 

Grocers can’t afford to miss out on the growing market for retail healthcare, and the telehealth format is gaining acceptance from consumers, employers and others. This is exactly the type of large and fast-growing business category that retailers need to grab quickly to offset slower growth in other areas – and to prevent big chunks of business from being lost to competitors. Wegmans pilot offers some great food for thought.

Wegmans is testing Doctor on Demand, an application that enables its customers to use their own devices to make a virtual doctor visit for as little as $40. The first visit is free, and shoppers can use an in-store kiosk if they don’t have a device. Two things in particular struck us about thisSyracuse.com write-up:

• The diverse markets being tested – the four stores in the pilot are in Dewitt, NY, Niagara Falls, NY, Allentown, PA and Fairfax, VA.  
• The reasoning behind the program – Wegman’s decided to make this move as “a competitive reaction because many pharmacies around the country are opening in-store clinics for non-emergency healthcare needs.”

Wegmans may be thinking about competitors like Walgreens, which is expanding its telehealth program, MD Live, to 25 states. In a press release, Walgreens VP of Digital Health Adam Pelegrini says,  “With a growing need for access to affordable healthcare services, we believe telehealth solutions can play an important role in helping to improve patient outcomes and continues our mission to provide a seamless omnichannel digital health experience.”

The biggest players in healthcare are warming up to the concept according to Jane Sarasjohn-Kahn. In her blog Telehealth goes retail, she explains that Medicaid and Medicare have issued rules enabling telehealth in 80% of the new generation of “accountable care organizations,” and the American Medical Association recently postponed a decision on the medical ethics of telehealth after the Texas Medical Association lost a court decision that would have required face-to-face meetings before a doctor could prescribe medication to a patient.  Sarasjohn-Kahn points out that “Healthcare consumers are looking for both transparency and trust, and retail can deliver both” (particularly in terms of cost/prices).

BMC POV

If you have a pharmacy, there’s now an easy way to offer your customers more convenient, lower-cost access to a doctor for their acute, but non-emergency medical needs.  The AMA says that 70% of the visits to primary care doctors and 50% of visits to ERs and urgent care facilities can be handled by telehealth services, so the demand is big.

Consider offering your shoppers this option. Check out what the leaders like Wegmans and Walgreens are doing and decide if it’s worthwhile to test in your pharmacy. If so:

• Test it in a couple of stores.
• Be sure to measure both customer satisfaction and the impact on broader shopping patterns.