The Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath have exposed the flaws in health care delivery in the United States and many other nations, including rapidly rising costs, variable quality, and insufficient and unequal access to primary and other types of treatment. However, if retailers and health systems form solid collaborations, they could play an important role in tackling these megachallenges. While some retail-health care collaborations exist—for example,
Target and Kaiser Permanente in Southern California formed in 2014—they are uncommon and have merely scratched the surface of their potential. More of these partnerships are required to radically alter how health care is delivered, and many of those that now exist must be refocused on a different aim.
Rather than focusing on the direct-to-consumer model, which retailers have mostly used to supply a few basic services, the partnerships must provide far more comprehensive care. They should, of course, address the requirements of consumers, but they must also assist employers and insurers in managing the overall health—and health-care spending—of the populations they serve. This paper makes the case for these collaborations and identifies four critical activities that retailers and health systems must take to attain the greater goal.
