Walmart to Add 80 HIV-Specialty Pharmacies by End of 2023

Walmart plans to make a tenfold increase in the number of HIV-specialty pharmacies it offers.

The retailer launched about half a dozen of these facilities in 2021 and now plans to build the total up to 80 by the end of 2023, CNBC reported Friday (June 9).

“We can see from the data that there’s a need here — there’s a higher incidence of HIV,” Walmart Pharmacy Senior Vice President Kevin Host told the media outlet.

Pharmacists at these Walmart locations receive specialized training about the drugs used to prevent and treat the virus, according to the report.

CVS and Walgreens have also partnered with the Department of Health and Human Services to make antiviral medications and support services more widely available, the report said.

For example, CVS offers HIV testing at its MinuteClinics, and Walgreens has provided HIV-focused training to 3,000 of its own pharmacists, per the report.

Walmart’s Host told CNBC: “When [communities] know that we’ve got additional training and services to help their patients, we’ll start to see them come in, and that’s when we get to engage with them. It’s really been a great marriage between community and business.”

Walmart said in a December press release that it launched its HIV-specialty pharmacies to make education, services and resources more accessible and affordable.

These Specialty Pharmacies of the Community make it easier for patients to adhere to medicine schedules, the retailer said.

Both Walmart and its rival, Amazon, have been building their abilities to deliver healthcare of all sorts.

For example, in 2022, Amazon made a $3.9 billion acquisition of One Medical, a membership-based primary healthcare provider that today operates 88 locations in 29 cities. Later in the year, it also looked to acquire home health company Signify Health but ultimately lost its bid to CVS Health.

For its part, Walmart said in March that it would be doubling the number of its health centers with 28 new locations in the first quarter of next year and more than 75 by the end of 2024.

“With 90% of the U.S. population located within 10 miles of a Walmart, Walmart Health is in a unique position to provide quality, affordable health and wellness services where our neighbors already live and shop,” Dr. David Carmouche, Walmart’s senior vice president for omnichannel care, said at the time.

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