32
POPULATION HEALTH
32
CEO/STRATEGY
Walmart steering employees to 800 imaging
centers to avoid misdiagnoses
By Morgan Haefner
W
almart is recommending its employees use one of 800
imaging centers found to provide more accurate diag-
noses, according to Kaiser Health News.
The move came after Walmart officials discovered that about half
of the company's workers who underwent back surgery in the past
few years actually didn't need those operations due to misdiagno-
sis. A large issue was employees' diagnostic imaging like CT scans
and MRIs had high error rates, Lisa Woods, senior director of ben-
efits design for Walmart, told Kaiser Health News.
Since March, Walmart has been steering workers to specific im-
aging providers based on diagnostic accuracy, not price, to curb
misdiagnoses. Employer health experts believe Walmart is among
the first retail giant to do so, according to the report.
While Walmart workers don't have to use the 800 centers marked
off as higher quality by the retailer, they could face additional
cost-sharing if they go to a different location. The list of high-qual-
ity centers was curated for Walmart by New York City-based health
analytics firm Covera Health. Covera Health uses data to designate
which imaging centers will be the most accurate for conditions
from cancer to torn knee ligaments.
Walmart's imaging strategy mirrors its other cost-saving efforts to
steer employees to certain hospitals and providers for high-cost
health procedures. n
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