Tranforming retailer into a national health care brand

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — Kristin Williams has played a leading role in the evolution of Hy-Vee’s health and wellness operations as it’s transformed from a regional pharmacy chain into a nationally recognized health care brand.

Serving as Hy-Vee’s executive vice president and chief health strategy/policy officer, as well as president of Amber Specialty Pharmacy (a Hy-Vee subsidiary), Williams has touched nearly every aspect of the retailer’s health care operations throughout her 30-year career at Hy-Vee, which began as a part-time job and progressed into a number of roles including pharmacy supervisor, vice president of health and wellness and senior vice president and chief health officer.

Williams’ extensive health care knowledge and strategic approach have helped guide Hy-Vee’s growth in several areas, which is why she is being recognized as one of MMR’s Health Executives of the Year.

Investing in nutrition

Hy-Vee has long been a leading grocer and pharmacy provider across the Midwest. In recent years, the retailer has expanded into new areas of health and wellness with a focus on service, affordability and accessibility. According to Williams, Food as Medicine is the next major initiative on the horizon for Hy-Vee.

“Six in 10 Americans live with at least one chronic condition that can be improved by making simple dietary changes,” Williams says. “That’s why we’ve invested in a team of retail dietitians and pharmacists to collaborate and help guide individuals in their health and wellness.”

Hy-Vee is no stranger to the Food as Medicine concept and has long been a pioneer in this space. The retailer hired its first in-store dietitians in 2000 and opened its first in-store HealthMarket department in 2001 to offer specialty food options that support different lifestyles and dietary needs. Over the past two decades, the retailer has expanded its dietitian services even further to include personalized nutritional counseling, health screenings, diabetes and weight management courses, personalized shopping and menu programs. In 2021, Hy-Vee increased access to its dietitian services by introducing virtual dietitian services available in English and Spanish.

Most recently, Hy-Vee has transferred its nutritional expertise to its other divisions and subsidiaries, including Amber Specialty Pharmacy, which now offers virtual dietitian services to its patients. This allows patients across the country to access specialized nutritional counseling based on their specific disease state.

Removing barriers to care

According to Williams, increasing access to care is a cornerstone of Hy-Vee’s health care strategy. The retailer is especially focused on reaching rural and diverse populations.

To advance this initiative, Williams helped introduce Hy-Vee’s first mobile health units in 2013. Today, the retailer operates 28 mobile health units that are routinely deployed across Hy-Vee’s eight-state region — and beyond — to reach individuals where they’re at in the community with vaccina0tions and health screenings.

These efforts received national attention during the COVID-19 pandemic, as Hy-Vee served in the Federal Retail Pharmacy program and partnered with businesses, schools, nonprofits and government entities to host pop-up COVID-19 vaccination clinics across the Midwest.

“We were always known as a great community pharmacy, but COVID-19 really elevated our presence in the communities we were serving,” Williams says.

And COVID-19 was just the beginning.

In 2022, Hy-Vee was one of only two grocery retailers invited to attend the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. There, Hy-Vee announced a commitment to provide nutrition education to 100,000 Americans in low food access areas, as well as provide 30 million meals to vulnerable communities by 2025.

As part of this commitment, Hy-Vee joined forces with Old El Paso this past year to host the Hy-Vee Healthy You Wellness Tour, traveling across the Midwest to promote healthy eating habits and nutrition to families in need. Each family received a meal kit, along with budget-friendly meal guides and other nutritional resources.

Serving the patient

Service is at the core of Hy-Vee’s brand, and Williams has helped promote this commitment throughout Hy-Vee’s health care operations.

In 2013, Williams oversaw the opening of Hy-Vee’s first pharmacy fulfillment center, with the goal of reducing the workload for Hy-Vee’s retail pharmacies. This facility, which was considered ahead of its time when it first opened, was a strategic move for the company’s future. Today, Hy-Vee operates six of these facilities, which support its pharmacy operations, allowing pharmacy staff at retail to dedicate their time to serving patients.

Williams and the team at Hy-Vee have continued to build out more specialized services to help individuals manage their health.

In 2014, Hy-Vee acquired the national Amber Specialty Pharmacy 0chain, which is led by Williams. Amber Specialty Pharmacy is a premier transplant provider that operates locations from coast to coast, treating patients with some of the most chronic and complex conditions. Most recently, Hy-Vee expanded further into specialty care with the opening of its first Hy-Vee Health ambulatory infusion clinics, which provide affordable and convenient infusion therapy for patients in Chicago and West Des Moines, Iowa.

Hy-Vee also introduced a new kind of pharmacy benefit manager called Vivid Clear Rx. Created with transparency in mind, Vivid Clear Rx offers a 100% pass-through operating model with a “no spread pricing guarantee” to help employers maximize their benefit spend. Hy-Vee also introduced the free VCRx prescription discount card and app that allows consumers to save up to 80% on thousands of prescriptions at pharmacies nationwide.

In an effort to expand its reach and increase health care access, Hy-Vee formed RedBox Rx, a national telehealth and online pharmacy that treats a variety of conditions at a low cost and ships prescr00ibed treatments discreetly to patients’ doors.

WholeLotta Good, a Hy-Vee-owned e-commerce site, is a further extension of Hy-Vee’s HealthMarket departments and dietitian services. The site features specialty and dietitian-recommended products that can be shipped nationwide.

As the company ventures further into health care services, Williams says that Hy-Vee’s goal remains rooted in its mission of making lives easier, healthier and happier — one patient at a time.