Walmart has decided to partner with UnitedHealth to have a greater presence in the health sector, but it has not been the only one. A couple of weeks ago Amazon acquired another company in the health sector and recently ByteDance bought a maternity hospital. What’s going on?
In the Bain & Company 2018 Global Private Equity Report, it was concluded that the health sector is a fragmented and high-margin sector with strong growth characteristics. It still has many opportunities for growth.
Walmart collaborates with United Health
The collaboration between Walmart and UnitedHealth will begin in 2023 with 15 Walmart Health locations in Florida and Georgia and will expand to new geographies over time, ultimately serving hundreds of thousands of seniors and Medicare beneficiaries in value-based deals across multiple Medicare Advantage plans.
Optimum, a UnitedHealth Group company, will help enable Walmart Health physicians through analytics and decision support tools to deliver comprehensive, value-based care that can help drive positive health outcomes for seniors and Medicare beneficiaries. These capabilities will enhance the care already provided at Walmart Health centers, which provide affordable, quality care through a collaborative, team-based delivery model, and will help accelerate the transition to value-based care by allowing clinicians to focus on patient outcomes.
“We are on a journey to transform healthcare, connecting more people to the right care at the right time, at a cost that makes sense.“, said Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart. “This collaboration puts the patient at the center of healthcare by leveraging the complementary strengths and skill sets of our two companies to accelerate access to quality care.”.
ByteDance acquired Amcare Healthcare
ByteDance acquired Amcare Healthcare, one of the largest private hospital chains in China, for $1.5 billion. This would not be the first purchase that ByteDance makes outside of the technology sector, it has already invested in a chain of coffee shops. However, this is the company’s largest acquisition to date.
Retailers after the pandemic have seen that health is one of the most important aspects for consumers. For this reason, since then we have seen countless associations between retailers and companies in the health sector. In addition, health is a delicate part and consumers are usually more careful with the choices they make in this sector, but since they already trust retailers in other aspects, it is easier for them to purchase health services through them.
However, for some consumers, accessing health services in grocery stores will be strange. Adding to some people’s concern, because retailers will now have access to a lot of “sensitive” data. Therefore, retailers will have to work on this if they want to grow in the health sector.
