Walmart partners with AI startup that connects patients with high-value providers
Walmart is partnering with a San Jose, California, startup that uses artificial intelligence to help health plan beneficiaries pinpoint high-value providers, the two announced Monday.
The Bentonville, Arkansas-based retail giant will work alongside Health at Scale to offer associates and their families personalized recommendations across 25 medical specialties, 34 procedures and imaging. Walmart plans to incorporate the company’s technology into its health plan search engine and virtual care referrals, steering beneficiaries to providers that match their “unique health needs and care history.”
“Customizing services and treatments to individual needs is the next frontier in healthcare and is a major part of Walmart’s commitment to helping associates and their family members find great doctors who consistently deliver the best value and quality care in their community,” Lisa Woods, VP of Walmart U.S. Benefits, said in a statement.
Walmart said the offering will be available to its health plan users in select geographies. It currently does not use the service for imaging, but that may change in the future, according to a spokeswoman. Health at Scale’s Precision Navigation service utilizes an “industry leading” AI and machine learning to model variations in provider outcomes. The results in “deeply personalized” patient guidance, simplifying the referral process and steering patients to a “shortlist of high-value providers,” the company said on its website. Health at Scale was first founded in 2015 and scored $16 million in financing from UnitedHealth Group’s Optum unit in 2019.
Walmart previously made news in radiology, adding several new health centers offering X-rays and other services. The retailer also teamed with New York startup Covera Health in 2019, hoping to help its associates avoid unnecessary treatment stemming from inaccurate radiology diagnoses.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.