Update: Another—and Unlikely—Retailer Moves Closer to Offering Walk-In Care

First they hired a physician to serve as chief medical officer. Then they brought on another MD who had previously served as CMO for Walgreens. Now they’re sending out vans to store parking lots, where healthcare providers will offer many services typically available in drugstore clinics and urgent care centers. We should mention that the “they” in those sentences does not refer to an up-and-coming pharmacy clinic provider or a big-box store. It refers to Dollar General, most famous for selling goods on the cheap in underserved rural communities. JUCM News readers may recall that the company laid out a strategy years ago to do the same with healthcare offerings. Now, as reported by Healthcare Dive, DG Wellbeing is actually launching a pilot program with the mobile health provider DocGo, wherein providers will perform physical exams, administers vaccines, and offer disease management services for patients with diabetes and other chronic conditions. In addition, the company says it is adding more health-related products inside the store. It’s a major undertaking that reflects a commitment to the notion that opportunities in rural communities abound. An article in the JUCM archive, Rural and Tertiary Markets: The Next Urgent Care Frontier, offers insights into what opportunities could lay there for urgent care.