CheckUps says has closed Wal-Mart walk-in clinics

NEW YORK (Reuters) - CheckUps said on Tuesday that, as of January 19, it had closed the 23 walk-in medical clinics it was operating in Wal-Mart stores (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) in four U.S. southern states.

Wal-Mart, which confirmed the closings, began testing in-store health clinics in September 2005 as part of a push to offer cheaper health-care alternatives.

"It was necessary to do a restructuring on relatively short notice," CheckUps spokesman William Armstrong said of the closures.

The discount retailer said last year that it planned to open as many as 400 in-store health clinics in the next two to three years, and that number could jump to 2,000 nationwide in five to seven years.

Wal-Mart does not operate the clinics. Instead it leases in-store space to outside non-emergency medical operators, such as CheckUps. The clinics provide basic preventive and health services -- like cholesterol screenings or treatment for sore throats.

The closures were reported earlier today by the New York Times, which cited a lawyer for one of CheckUps' creditors as saying the clinic operator had fallen behind in paying its nurses and other vendors late last year.

CheckUps declined to confirm the reason for the closures cited in the newspaper report.

It said it still holds the leases to the clinic locations in the Wal-Mart stores where it operated, and it is working with investors on plans for going forward.

"They're hopeful to continue in as many of existing venues as they can," Armstrong said.