Jeanine Jigantijoins Walmart at a time when health care lawyers are in huge demandacross the United States. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Pushing forward with plans to remake America's health care system, Walmart Inc. on Wednesdayannounced it has created the new legal position of senior vicepresident and general counsel for health and wellness. The companynamed Jeanine Jiganti, an experienced health care lawyer, to thepost.

Jiganti, who will report to company general counsel KarenRoberts, begins the new job June 3. She joins Walmart at a timewhen health care lawyers are in huge demand across the United States.

In a memo to Walmart associates, Roberts wrote, “As we look togrow and improve our health and wellness services, Jeanine'sknowledge and background in the health care industry will beinvaluable in this newly created role.”

Related: Walmart gets into the wellnessgame

She joins Walmart as it and several other corporate giants,including Google Inc., Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., areexploring ways to make health care more accessible, less expensiveand of higher quality.

Walmart, for instance, has more than 4,500 pharmacies across thecountry, nearly 3,000 vision centers offering eye care andoptometry services, and a growing number of walk-in health careclinics.

It reportedly is looking to expand its consumer offerings withan online pharmacy, plus a telehealth network for calling healthcare providers rather than making in-person visits.

In another innovation, Walmart created and is expanding its useof medical Centers of Excellence, such as the Mayo Clinic,for its 1.1 million employees and family members on the companymedical plan. Walmart has determined that these centers offerhigher quality health care, and it pays the travel and other coststo send its people to these centers when special treatment isneeded.

For example, the centers found that more than50 percent of 2,300 Walmart associates who had beendiagnosed as needing spine surgery really didn't need it.

Overall, patients treated at the centers have shorter hospitalstays, lower readmission rates and return to work sooner, Walmarthas reported.

According to her LinkedIn profile, Jiganti has been running herown legal and compliance consulting company in Chicago for the pastyear. Before that, she served as senior vice president and chiefcompliance officer of Fortune 200 health care company DaVita Inc.for six years in Denver.

She previously served seven years as chief compliance officerfor Takeda Pharmaceuticals, a year as general counsel of Near NorthInsurance Brokerage, and six years as vice president and head oflitigation for Caremark International Inc., all in the Chicagoarea.

Before that, she was in private practice with Jenner & Block in Chicago and with Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson inthe New York area. She earned her law degree from Loyola UniversityChicago School of Law.

In a statement, Jiganti said, “It's exciting to join a companythat is focused on helping people live better by providingaffordable and accessible health and wellness services to millionsof customers every week. Whether it's access to affordable medicinethrough its pharmacies, millions of free health screenings providedeach year or low-cost immunizations given to its U.S. customersannually, Walmart plays an important role in the health ofcustomers across the country.”

Read more: 

• Amazon & Co. venture finally has a name:Haven
• Can the retail market's giants revolutionize healthcare?
• Big Tech moving deeper into health care with latestApple watch