Table of Contents
- Two top executives in Walmart’s healthcare business are switching roles amid a leadership shake-up.
- Lori Flees is no longer the chief operating officer of Walmart’s health and wellness division.
- Marcus Osborne, the former head of Walmart Health, is no longer overseeing medical clinics.
Two top executives in Walmart’s healthcare business are moving into new roles amid a leadership shake-up.
Lori Flees, who has been the chief operating officer of Walmart’s health and wellness division since August 2020, is no longer in her role and moving outside the company’s healthcare operations, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Meanwhile, Marcus Osborne, who previously headed up Walmart’s medical clinics, known as Walmart Health, has moved into a role involving health and wellness strategy and innovation and is no longer directly overseeing the clinics, two of the people said.
The leadership changes come amid a broader shake-up in Walmart’s healthcare business and as the retail giant seeks to stand up comprehensive medical clinics in Florida.
“We are focused on leveraging our strengths, delivering best in class healthcare and positioning leaders to help accelerate our strategy to be an integrated, omnichannel health delivery organization,” a Walmart spokesperson said in an email.
Walmart Health’s leadership shake-up
In April, Insider reported that at least eight leaders behind Walmart’s push into the health-clinic business had left since early last year. They included Sean Slovenski, a top Walmart Health executive who left in August 2020 after spearheading the creation of the clinics.
Dr. Thomas Van Gilder, Walmart’s former chief medical officer, left the company in May, Insider reported in March. He’s since joined the virtual-care startup BetterUp.
In December, Walmart brought in Dr. Cheryl Pegus to lead the entire health and wellness division, which includes the clinics, pharmacies, and other health bets. She previously served as the chief medical officer and president of consumer-health solutions at Cambia Health Solutions, a company that operates health plans in four states.
Pegus has made a number of leadership changes. Dr. John Wigneswaran, the former chief medical officer of the pharmacy-benefits manager Express Scripts, joined in August as the chief medical officer of Walmart’s health and wellness business, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Brian Setzer, a former executive vice president at Pittsburgh’s Highmark Health, also joined in August as the chief financial officer of the health and wellness division, according to his LinkedIn page.
Walmart’s health-clinics rollout has been slow
Walmart operates 20 medical clinics in Arkansas, Georgia, and Illinois and has plans to expand into Florida, where it’s been hiring primary-care doctors and dentists, according to job listings on Walmart’s website.
The clinics hope to offer an array of healthcare services at transparent prices.
But the rollout has slowed, and the clinic strategy has been in flux because of the leadership changes, the sheer complexity of the healthcare industry, and competing business priorities brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Walmart is also focusing on offering healthcare online. The retailer announced plans in May to buy the
telehealth
company MeMD, and it’s been filing to do business in dozens of states across the country.
https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-healthcare-business-shuffles-top-leadership-2021-9
