Walmart Reports Healthcare Center-of-Excellence Results: Unnecessary Surgery Down 20-50%

Walmart Has 500,000 Employees on Their Health Plan and a Total of 1 Million Members. Walmart Spends Approximately $5 Billion Per Year on Healthcare for These Plan Members.
In a Presentation Entitled 'The End of Provider Entitlement,' Walmart Executives Announced at the 2018 HLTH Conference that Their Centers of Excellence (COE) Reduced Inappropriate Joint and Spine Surgery by 20-50% and Reduced Readmission Rates by 70-95%.
In the Same Talk, those Walmart Executives Called Out 1) Doctors, 2) Hospitals, 3) Insurance Carriers and 4) Employer Coalitions as Barriers to Improvement of Their Employee Health Plan.
Accordingly, Walmart Says They Are Moving Forward on Their Quest to Improve Their Employee Health Plan Independently.
Walmart's Words Are Telling... One Would Imagine They Already Had Walmart Health in Mind When They Presented.
Note: The Whiteboard Says 2019 in Error... It Should Be 2018.
Sources: • General Session: Lisa ... , fortune.com/fortune500/search/
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[@RonnieBraly]

Great video ! I have been with Walmart for 8 1/2 yrs . I am also lucky to be a C.O.E. participant. It truly is life changing !

[@ahealthcarez]

Thank you for watching and for your feedback.

[@msh4470]

Thanks for your videos Dr Bricker.
I can't help but wonder about the irony of Wal-Mart health being such a COE while their pharmacies are among the big 3 offenders of over pricing for Rx (the other 2 are CVS & Walgreens).

[@ahealthcarez]

Great point. Organizations are frequently heterogeneous with varying goals and incentives. Potentially more the rule than the exception.
Appreciate you watching.

[@daves2756]

Is it assumed that the drop in spine surgeries, for example, is because those additional surgeries were unnecessary? Or are they denying surgeries to patients who need them because they want to lower their overall number of surgeries?

[@SteveSchutzer]

My understanding from reading the articles in the HBR and conversations with Ruth Coleman is that these patients, even when they returned to their local communities, never had spinal surgery. Point made, clearly.

[@ahealthcarez]

Thank you for watching and for your questions.

[@ahealthcarez]

Thank you for responding. ‘Unnecessary’ is ultimately an opinion. The opinion of salaried expert physicians at top medical centers like Mayo and Cleveland Clinic was the basis for the decision.

[@samuelcrees]

Dr. Bricker, 1st of all who are you, you could be anybody (even paid for by WalMart) but why would I trust information from the very person (Lisa Woods) who says I have to go to one of their centers in order to be evaluated, and worked on by their doctors, when I live hundreds of miles away. I have to essentially drive for my knee tests on one visit, for 7 hours, and then return over and over again. 1st of all most WalMart employees (like myself are poor) I have just one car. So my wife has to also take off work, for just the preliminaries to be done, and then take off for my surgery which I then have to drive 7 hours home (bet I would have to be super doped up to do that) NO, Dr. Bricker or who ever you are, this is a scam where Walmart is bundling certain services and payouts in order to make millions... it is always about the money... I am sure if I sat on a payout from an insurance Under Writer that was say a few million, and invested it I would make alot