BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Wal-Mart's belief that it can have a positive impact on the nation's health care system, like its efforts to improve the environment, was inspired in part by Hurricane Katfina.
According to company president and chief executive officer Lee Scott, Wal-Mart realized after Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005 that it could leverage its business capabilities to address major problems. In October 2005, inspired by the impact it had made in the wake of the hurricane, Wal-Mart committed itself to a number of environmental and other goals.
In February 2007 Wal-Mart showed that it was concerned about the nation's health care system as well. The company joined with a number of organizations to launch Better Health Care Together, a coalition of corporations, unions and other organizations dedicated to reforming the nation's health care system by 2012.
In April the company announced a partnership with the University of Arkansas and Blue Cross/Blue Shield to create a research center that will investigate ways of improving health care through information technology. The retailer is donating $1 million to fund the center and will share its logistics expertise, a Wal-Mart spokesman said.
One goal of the center's work involves making sure physicians and nurses have the information they need to do their jobs effectively.
Currently the health care system has significant information gaps, John Menzer, then WalMart vice chairman, commented. The center's work will help address those issues.
'The best example of this need was Hurricane Katrina,' noted Menzer. 'Medical records, property records and court records were lost. Entire family histories--medical, cultural and otherwise--were gone in an instant, and the entire region is still recovering from this massive loss of information.'
