Dollar General Takes Next Steps in Building Health Care Services

Dollar General Corp. has taken the next steps in its journey to provide services to health care deserts by establishing a health care advisory panel. The industry subject-matter experts appointed to the panel will serve as thought partners and strategists to Dollar General regarding its developing approach on how best to invest its resources in the context of the health-and-wellness landscape.

“Dollar General is excited to take these next bold steps on our health care journey and welcomes these talented and respected professionals to our new advisory panel,” said Dr. Albert Wu, Dollar General’s chief medical officer, who was appointed last year in the first major step in the retailer’s plan to establish itself as a health care destination. “With a belief in furthering our mission of Serving Others, the panel will provide guidance and prioritization of efforts in the areas of health and wellness at DG. We are proud to have a diversity of perspectives and experience represented on the panel, helping us better understand our customers and provide meaningful solutions to the complex problems of health care.”

According to The Washington Post, the federal government now designates nearly 80% of rural America as “medically underserved.” Dollar General is in a prime position to provide services to these health care deserts across the nation, as approximately 75% of its 18,000 stores serve markets of 20,000 or fewer people. Wu and the health care panel will be seeking to create solutions and partnerships that yield meaningful industry-leading health-and-wellness improvements to these operating regions.

Dollar General’s health care advisory panel comprises the following subject-matter experts:

• Dr. Patrick Carroll is a physician leader with experience across retail health, managed care and integrated delivery networks. He is currently chief medical officer of Vida Health. Previously,  Carroll held roles as chief medical officer at Walgreens, Hims & Hers, and Hartford Healthcare. His various responsibilities included overseeing strategic initiatives, clinical and quality programs, and provider groups relationships. He earned his bachelor of arts from College of the Holy Cross, in Worcester, Mass., and his medical doctorate from Dartmouth Medical School, in Hanover, N.H.
• Dr. Katy Lanz is a health care executive and entrepreneur with 20 years of experience in designing, implementing and scaling care delivery models. She is currently chief strategy and product officer at Personal Care Medical Associates and  a national board director for the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. She was previously chief clinical officer at Aspire Health, which was acquired by Anthem in 2018. Lanz earned a bachelor and master of science from UNC at Greensboro, a doctor of nursing practice from Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, Tenn., and completed a health care leadership fellowship at North Carolina’s Duke University.
• Dr. Von Nguyen is a physician, population health expert, and public health leader with experience in building successful collaborations across organizations to improve the health and well-being of populations. He is currently clinical lead of public and population health at Google. Prior to joining Google, Nguyen was chief medical officer and SVP at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, and held roles of increasing responsibility in policy and strategy at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Nguyen earned a bachelor of arts from Rice University, in Houston; a master of public health from the University of Texas School of public health; and a medical doctorate from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School.
• Dr. Yolanda Hill Wimberly has created a presence on the national health care scene based on her innovative organizational skills and her prolific development of responsive clinical organizations and educational programs. A board-certified physician in both pediatrics and adolescent medicine, Wimberly is the SVP and chief health equity officer at Grady Health Systems. In this inaugural role, she is charged with leading the development of the vision and strategic direction of Grady Health System in the area of health equity. Wimberly is also professor of pediatrics at Morehouse School of Medicine, in Atlanta. She earned her doctor of medicine from Tennessee’s Meharry Medical College, in Nashville, Tenn., and her master of science in epidemiology from the University of Cincinnati. She completed her pediatric residency at Northwestern Children’s Hospital and an adolescent medicine fellowship at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.

Dollar General’s journey to improving access to health care services comes at a time when consumers are more receptive to the idea of obtaining these types of services from local retailers. For instance, J.D. Power’s “2022 U.S. Pharmacy Study” found that in the wake of large-scale COVID-19 and flu vaccination drives, U.S. consumers have grown used to the idea of receiving health-and-wellness services at their local retail pharmacies.

Goodlettsville, Tenn.-based Dollar General operated 18,356 stores in 47 states as of April 29. The company is No. 15 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.