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NEW YORK — In moves that underscored the opportunity mass retailers see to serve their customers better by positioning themselves as health and wellness destinations, Dollar General Corp. and Hy-Vee Inc. both added chief medical officers to their leadership ranks this month.
Hy-Vee has long been a pioneer in serving its customers’ health needs in a supermarket setting, hiring dietitians, operating speciality pharmacies as well as in-store prescription counters, and even dispatching mobile clinics to bring health care services to remote locations.
To take its efforts to the next level, the retailer added Dr. Daniel Fick to its leadership team as chief medical officer. In this role, Fick will help oversee Hy-Vee’s existing health and medical initiatives and the development of new services and offerings to improve the health and wellness of the retailer’s customers and employees. Fick comes to Hy-Vee from the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, where he is a clinical professor of family medicine and part of the provider group for the Executive Health Program at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, positions he will continue to hold alongside his new role at Hy-Vee.
“The past several months have shown us just how critical health care professionals are to our individual and public health, and how important it is that all residents of a community have access to the health care they need,” Hy-Vee chairman, president and chief executive officer Randy Edeker says. “With Dr. Fick on our team, our Hy-Vee locations can further expand their roles in making lives easier, healthier and happier for our customers through our pharmacy, health care and wellness offerings.”
Hy-Vee’s announcement came just days after Dollar General announced the appointment of Dr. Albert Wu to the newly created position of vice president and chief medical officer.
Wu will help develop Dollar General’s new health care services efforts by establishing and strengthening relationships with current and prospective health care product and service providers to build a comprehensive network of affordable services for Dollar General customers, according to the retailer.
“We’re excited to welcome Albert to our team and to put a greater emphasis on wellness in the communities we serve,” Dollar General CEO Todd Vasos says. “His impressive experience brings a unique perspective to our operations and will be critical as we look to develop our health care services offering.”
The retailer also said it will expand the assortment of cough and cold, dental, nutritional, medical, health aids and feminine hygiene products available across many of its stores.
“At Dollar General, we are always looking for new ways to serve, and our customers have told us that they would like to see increased access to affordable health care products and services in their communities,” Vasos says. “Our goal is to build and enhance affordable healthcare offerings for our customers, especially in the rural communities we serve.”
Wu, who reports to chief operating officer Jeff Owen, joined Dollar General from McKinsey & Co., where, since 2016, he led a team to create a total cost of care model for 250,000 rural health care patients; oversaw multiple hospital provider turnarounds totaling $2 billion to $5 billion in revenue; designed a digitally driven health care insurance product offering; and provided guidance to analysts modeling ventilation and pharmaceutical needs to support pandemic relief efforts.
Dollar General and Hy-Vee’s efforts are part of a trend among retailers — including such big names as Walmart, Kroger Co., CVS Health and Walgreens — stepping up to offer expanded health and wellness services.
“Delivering affordable, accessible health care is one of the biggest opportunities retailers have today,” notes Wendy Liebmann, founder, CEO and chief shopper at WSL Strategic Retail. “Many shoppers are increasingly focused on finding ways to take better control of their health and wellness. This is not new news driven by the pandemic. We’ve seen this in our How America Shops research since 2014. That said, the pandemic has clearly accelerated the importance of these efforts — and the opportunity they represent.”
