Wal-Mart Stores plans to enter the health information technology market, offering an electronic medical records service to small doctor’s offices, The New York Times reported.
The retail conglomerate’s move coincides with President Barack Obama’s $19 billion push to accelerate the adoption of digital medical records.
Wal-Mart’s Sam’s Club operation will team with Dell to offer computers and with eClinicalWorks for the software. Bundling hardware, software, installation, maintenance and training will make the offering cheaper and undercut rival HIT suppliers by as much as half, the company said.
Slated to debut this spring, the HIT package will cost under $25,000 for the first user in a practice and about $10,000 for each additional user. Annual costs for maintenance and support will be $4,000 to $6,500, the company estimated.