• Arkansas: Walmart has launched a new digital healthcare platform called Better Care Services, saying the "one-stop digital destination is designed to help empower millions of customers to take control of their health journeys with ease, transparency and confidence." The platform allows customers to access a curated network of third-party providers for urgent care and behavioral health. Customers will also be able to access Eli Lilly's telehealth platform LillyDirect. The platform also includes a nutrition hub that uses AI to provide personalized food and recipe recommendations. "We know that when heath care feels hard, many people don't get the care they need. We can fix that," said Kevin Host, SVP of health and wellness, pharmacy at Walmart. "Better Care Services is about making wellness simple and affordable to fit into your life; we're removing barriers so more people can get the care they deserve, right when they need it." The company also announced plans to reduce prices on over 1,000 wellness-focused items, including food, supplements, and fitness products. (Hamilton, Wall Street Journal, 1/8; Walmart news release, 1/8)
• Maryland: FDA has approved Abbott's Volt system, a new class of ablation device, to treat atrial fibrillation (AFib). The Volt system delivers high-energy electric pulses to certain areas of the heart to disrupt abnormal rhythms. According to Abbott, the system is designed to simplify ablation procedures, reduce patients' recovery time, and allow patients to be treated under conscious sedation instead of general anesthesia. FDA approved the device based on results on the VOLT-AF IDE study, which included 392 patients across 40 centers in the United States, Europe, Canada, and Australia. In the study, the device safely and effectively treated both paroxysmal and persistent forms of AFib. Abbott is currently planning to launch the Volt system commercially in the United States. The company will also work to expand access in Europe, which gave the device CE Mark approval in early 2025. (Jeffries, Becker's Hospital Review, 12/31/25)
• Utah: Utah has partnered with health-tech startup Doctronic to test a pilot program that allows an AI system to renew certain medical prescriptions for patients with chronic conditions. Currently, the program is limited to 190 commonly prescribed medications, with certain medications like those for pain management or ADHD excluded for safety reasons. According to Doctronic, its AI treatment plan matched physicians' 99.2% of the time in 500 urgent care cases. "The AI is actually better than doctors at doing this," said Adam Oskowitz, Doctronic cofounder and an associate professor of surgery at the University of California, San Francisco. "When you go see a doctor, it's not going to do all the checks that the AI is doing." The company is currently in discussions to expand the program to other states, including Texas, Arizona, and Missouri. It is also considering a national approval pathway instead of going through different rules in each state. (Khorram/Reader, Politico, 1/6)

This field guide displays the role of key healthcare stakeholders in the digital health market and unpacks who these players are now, who they want to be in the future, and their capabilities to achieve that goal.