Walmart Healthcare: If not humans, why not dogs?

Walmart made big news in April of this year when they announced they would be closing all 51 Walmart Health clinics – this only one month after stating that they would be opening an additional 22 clinics in 2024. In addition to their ongoing challenges in the healthcare space, Walmart (and others) were plagued by staffing shortages – difficulties in securing primary care physicians to staff their clinics.

Instead, Walmart recently announced that they were expanding their efforts into pet care. Walmart currently operates six Pet Services Centers in the Atlanta and Phoenix markets, with plans to continuing expanding. Walmart believes that their Pet Services Centers can be operated profitably, and are also banking on synergistic sales of pet foods and supplies as they become a player in the pet services market.

At first blush, this push would seem to face the same challenges plaguing their efforts in the primary care space – the lack of qualified medical personnel. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that over 40,000 new veterinarian jobs and over 150,000 vet technician positions will open up before the end of this decade. Fewer than 5,000 U.S. citizens graduate as veterinarians each year (including both U.S. and international programs) – it doesn’t take a math major to see that labor shortages will continue to plague the veterinary services industry for some time to come. If this is the case, why is Walmart deciding to take this push now?

There are two reasons that may make this a more compelling opportunity than primary care. First, Walmart’s Pet Services Centers offers a number of services – including dog grooming, dog bathing, self-serve dog bathing, and teeth cleaning – that do not require a specialized degree. Secondly, Walmart has outsourced their vet staffing needs to PetIQ, a veterinary manufacturing and staffing company (recently acquired by Bansk Group, a private equity firm). Outsourcing human resources won’t eliminate the shortage of veterinarians, but at least Walmart has turned to a partner with significant experience in this space.