Walmart Health sees its first patients today: 6 things to know

Alia Paavola -

Walmart has opened its new, standalone health clinic in Dallas, Ga. Today, the first patients will walk through its doors. 

Six things to know:

1. The 10,000-square-foot health clinic, called Walmart Health, will offer primary care, imaging, lab, dental and behavioral health services. 

2. Walmart plans to offer visits, cleanings and lab tests at prices about 30 percent to 50 percent lower than what people are currently paying at physician offices and other retail health clinics. Walmart's clinic will take insurance. 

3. The primary care clinic in Dallas, Ga., is different from the other 19 Care Clinics Walmart already operates in Georgia, South Carolina and Texas. The Care Clinics are  inside a Walmart store and take up just 1,500 square feet, according to Forbes. 

4. Walmart plans to open another Walmart Health center in Calhoun, Ga., early next year, according to Business Insider. 

5. If the pilot clinics succeed, with a footprint so large, Walmart could quickly become the nation's largest provider of basic healthcare.

6. Walmart's health push mirrors that of CVS and Walgreens, which are working to offer more healthcare services as a way to remain competitive with online retailers like Amazon. But unlike other retail pharmacies, Walmart's new centers aren't designed to boost  foot traffic or customer volume, it said.

"We are trying to solve problems for our customers," Sean Slovenski, Walmart's president of health and wellness, told Forbes. "We already have the volume. We have the locations and the right people."

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