Wal-Mart Stores Inc. was the first to offer $4 generic drugs. Now, the nation's largest retailer is making patient-care services like checkups and lab tests available to its employees and their families for the same low price as generics.

Wal-Mart will open a dozen Care Clinics in stores this year for customers and store associates, including two that open this week in Georgia and a third new clinic in Carrollton, South Carolina. Wal-Mart Care Clinics are a pilot program that began in April in Texas. Each primary-care clinic is corporately owned, and staffed by licensed nurse practitioners who work under the supervision of a licensed physician.

A customer or a Wal-Mart crew member can be evaluated at the new walk-in clinics for cold and flu symptoms, chronic illnesses or preventative medicine. A visit costs $40 to a customer, and just $4 to a Walmart store employee with health insurance. Associates and customers can expect low prices on services beyond the office visit, such as vaccines and lab tests, which carry separate charges, according to Wal-Mart spokesperson Danit Marquardt.