Introducing this program to Wal-Mart came as a result of specific factors and events surrounding the HME industry. They are as follows:

• Worldwide, 138 million customers visit a Wal-Mart store weekly. On average, over 40 thousand of those customers visit one of over 1,700 Wal-Mart Supercenters each week. Each of these Wal-Mart Supercenters have specialty retail sites inside, further facilitating the one-stop shop concept for their customers.

• Eighty-four percent of U.S. households shop at Wal-Mart (acnielsen.com). The variety of goods sold by Wal-Mart stores is increasing to meet the needs of the country’s aging population and its current shoppers. A news release from Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. on October 5, 2004 details plans for expansion of the retail giant’s locations. Wal-Mart projects that it will open or relocate approximately 305 stores, at least 240 of them will be Super Centers, increasing specialty retail spaces in 2005 by more than 900 with a projection that the number of lease spaces will double within the next five years.

• Wal-Mart’s pharmacy recently entered into a contract with the office of the Inspector General and the Department of Health and Human Services to provide  medications through their new prescription drug card.
  

• With the changing environment around insurance coverage, especially with regards to Medicare, it is imperative that HME products become more accessible to the educated elderly customer base and referral sources. Limitations on coverage of certain medical equipment products such as scooters, wheel chairs and oxygen, create a growing need of establishing a way for customers to purchase these products. Retail vestibules inside Wal-Mart promote this access in a convenient, customer service-oriented fashion.
  
• Currently, Wal-Mart Supercenters offer a wide variety of products and services for their shoppers. These Supercenters, averaging about 150,000 square feet each offering 100,000 different products, feature general Wal-Mart merchandise as well as a full 30,000 item grocery area and market, a pharmacy, hearing and vision center, hair care salon, nail care salon, portrait studio, one-hour photo center, employment agencies, Tire & Lube Express, food court,  “Fun” center for children, full service banking facility, Avis and Budget Rent-a-Car (www.wal-mart.com) as well as the thriving HME retail program. Considering the weekly purchases that the average American family makes, Wal-Mart Supercenters have established a way for consumers to save time and money by creating a place where a majority of necessary goods and services can be purchased.