Walmart Expands Bundled-Rate Centers Of Excellence Program In Its Employee Health Plan

On October 11, 2012, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced an expansion of its Centers of Excellence health care program--a feature of its employee health plans--in which Walmart pays a participating health care facility a bundled rate to cover all costs for selected surgical procedures. Starting in January 2013, the expansion will extend the program to cover selected heart, spine, and transplant surgeries provided by six facilities located across the United States. The company's employee health plans cover 1.1 million Walmart associates and their families. Walmart started the Centers of Excellence program in 1996 in a partnership . . .