How H-E-B grew its employee wellness program into healthcare for y’all

H-E-B opened its first primary care clinic for employees about a dozen years ago in San Antonio.

But in the last year or so, H-E-B—a grocer well known for the shopper loyalty and trust it has built in Texas—has been transforming shoppers into patients as it opens H-E-B Wellness Primary Care Clinics around the state.

The grocer now has four clinics in San Antonio and recently opened four in Houston, for a total of five there. A third clinic in Austin is scheduled to open soon.

“We set this up originally for our employee population,” Brooke Brownlow, H-E-B’s group VP of wellness, who has been with the company for nearly 32 years, told WGB.

But now Brownlow is increasingly focused on bringing those healthcare services to H-E-B shoppers.

“Food is a critical piece of managing or avoiding diabetes,” Brownlow said. “We feel like we are uniquely positioned to help people with food choices, as well as health care. … We feel like we have a unique position here because food is what we do first. We benefit from Texans living healthier and longer. It’s a very virtuous cycle.”

Healthcare has become a growing area of interest for retailers in recent years. Walmart, for example, announced this spring that it plans to operate 75 Walmart Health centers around the country by the end of 2024. The retail giant launched its health initiative in 2019. Delivery providers such as Instacart and Uber have debuted programs that expand access to nutritious foods and medications. And regional grocer Hy-Vee last month rolled out a $99-a-month health-and-wellness subscription program called Hy-Vee Healthy You. The offering includes a suite of nutrition counseling programs and wellness screenings.

A unique company culture

In her decades with H-E-B, Brownlow has discovered that the grocer’s culture is distinct.

An employee would get sick, and “we had nurses all over Texas trying to help when people got into crisis,” she said. “Because there’s a stronger trust relationship, culturally, our employees rely on us for things that employees at other companies might not.”

When H-E-B opened its first clinic in San Antonio for workers and their families, it was run by an outside vendor. But about five years ago, H-E-B decided to move the operation in-house.

“When we opened our very first clinic, and the vendor was running it, my biggest fear was that our employees would not accept that what happened in the clinic was confidential and private,” she said. “We didn’t know if they would trust that. The community trusts us, but our employees also trust us. You probably couldn’t have one without the other.”

H-E-B’s clinics have grown organically, Brownlow said, largely based on where the grocer has the largest concentration of employees.

A full suite of services

H-E-B Wellness Primary Care Clinics, like the ones that recently opened near Houston in Katy and Cypress, offer full-service primary care with a “food-first philosophy rooted in science,” the company said.

A food-first philosophy guides H-E-B's primary care services. / Photo courtesy: H-E-B

In addition to primary care services, the clinics offer physical therapy, health and nutrition coaching, pharmacy, referrals to specialists, and lab services. They are staffed by doctors, nurses and other licensed medical professionals. Insurance is not accepted.

“We don’t take fee-for-service insurance. That’s very deliberate on our part,” Brownlow said. “We schedule 30 minutes, up to an hour, with each patient. … One of the challenges of our healthcare system is that most providers get paid a fee to treat someone. You get paid to meet with a diabetic once they’re diagnosed. But what we’re trying to do is get to people before they’re prediabetic or diabetic and change the course of their health.”

H-E-B offers its healthcare services for a monthly fee or by cash pay per visit. For $99 a month, patients receive unlimited primary care visits and basic lab tests, medication management and routine vaccines. For $20 more, customers get physical therapy, mental health counseling and up to three dietitian visits per month.

An a la carte “get well visit” is $60 for treatment of minor illness and infections, and a “stay well visit” is $80 and up for general wellness exams and school physicals.

H-E-B also has a robust pipeline of specialists for referrals, she said.

Brownlow declined to provide any metrics on how well H-E-B’s healthcare program has been received by non-employees but said, “We are really happy with our model and the financials around our model.”

Easy access

All of the new H-E-B clinics are either in front of or directly next to the supermarket.

“Our research told us people wanted an outside entrance,” Brownlow said, adding that there’s a backdoor into each clinic so dietitians can take patients on store tours.

The largest of H-E-B’s clinics have eight to 12 exam rooms, plus ample space for physical therapy. Smaller healthcare offices have four exam rooms.

An exam room at an H-E-B wellness center. / Photo courtesy: H-E-B

A physician is always on-site, she said.

The grocer is currently in “deep discussions” about where in Texas to expand the program, though Brownlow emphasized the healthcare services have always followed the greatest concentration of employees.

Offering employee healthcare in this manner “increases retention and loyalty in a really dramatic way,” she said.

She said she has attended many company events in which someone will raise their hand and say, “'Thank you. I will never leave H-E-B because you took care of my child, my spouse, me’ … It is a little bit hard to measure. But when we have leadership events, I am always so proud of the work we’re doing.”

Whether caring for employees or customers, though, H-E-B focuses on one thing: Trust.

“It’s incredibly important we maintain that trust,” Brownlow said. “It’s something at H-E-B we talk a lot about. It’s something that’s very perishable … Your health status and care and conditions, I don’t know what could be more private than that. We take it very seriously.”