Wal-Mart sees medical clinic boom in retail stores

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is forecasting more than 6,600 in-store medical clinics will open their doors in the next five years in retailers nationwide, a company official said on Thursday.

"I think it's an indication of how bullish individuals (chief executives of clinics and retailers) are," Alicia Ledlie, senior director for Wal-Mart's health business development, said at a health care retailers convention in Orlando.

With 75 clinics in Wal-Mart stores in 12 states, the company has ended its pilot program and plans a faster roll-out of additional clinics nationwide.

Ledlie said Wal-Mart is considering providing its in-store clinics with a common electronic medical records system so patient care can be tracked from store to store.

She said the system could ultimately be part of a universal electronic medical record system for the country.

"My vision is the different clinic operators could all be on a common platform," she said. "We are looking at it actively now."

Wal-Mart's move into retail health care also includes a program of providing certain generic drugs for $4 for a 30-day supply. In the program's first three months Wal-Mart said consumers and the government saved more than $200 million on prescriptions.