Walmart is changing how we pay for healthcare

-Source-Beckers CFO Report- With nearly 1.5 million employees across 4700 stores Bentonville Ark.-based Walmart is the nations largest private employer. And with nearly 1 million of those employees self-insured its also a heavy influencer on the U.S. healthcare market according to a MarketWatch analysis. Here are five things to know about Walmarts influence on healthcare payment: 1. Direct contracting between large employers and health systems is changing how healthcare is priced and paid for in the U.S. Employers are increasingly holding providers responsible for delivering better outcomes to their workers at lower prices. 2. Walmarts first partnership with a provider started roughly two decades ago for workers requiring organ transplants. Other partnerships have expanded to include flat rates for spine and cardiac surgeries joint replacements weight-loss procedures and cancer care. Under one three-year program eligible Walmart employees diagnosed with breast lung or colorectal cancers can visit Rochester Minn.-based Mayo Clinic for treatment with Walmart covering all expenses.