NBC News - Wal-Mart has played it safe when it comes to retail clinics, partnering with regional hospitals to offer services like flu shots. But now, the retailer is taking a more aggressive tack, with in-store branded clinics offering primary care at a price competitors may find hard to match.

"It was important to Wal-Mart that we be able to maintain or be a price leader in this space," said Jennifer LaPerre, Wal-Mart U.S. senior director for health and wellness, who is overseeing the rollout of the company's new Walmart Care Clinics.

LaPerre was in Carrollton, Georgia, in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains, to open the ninth Walmart Care Clinic. Three more are planned this year as part of a pilot program to offer primary care services such as health screenings and disease management of conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure in stores.

The price? Just $4 for employees and dependents on the company's health plan. For customers, the price is $40about the same as an online consultation with a doctor.

"We wanted to be able to monitor and manage and control price. We wanted to be able to focus on a scope of services that were meaningful to our customers and associates," LaPerre said.

Wal-Mart is able to price it that low, in part, because the clinics are staffed by nurse practitioners from Quadmed, a provider of on-site workplace clinics.

"These particular set of services that are going to be provided are really ideal for a nurse practitioner to manage," said Dr. David Severance, corporate medical director for Quadmed, though each clinic is overseen by a supervising physician.

Severance said he expects the low price could make a big difference for patients with conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure, who need to get check-ups every three to six months.

"If a patient has a fairly sizable co-pay, just to see the provider for each one of those visits, there's a much greater likelihood that they won't follow through with what the prescribed treatment is," he said.

Offering its employees a visit with a nurse practioner for the price of a latte at Starbucks could also help Wal-Mart control its own health-care expenses. Recently, the retailer revealed its health costs were expected to increase by $500 million this year because more of its workers than expected are signing up for its health-insurance benefits.

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Big Box Health Care: Are You Ready for Walmart Care Clinics?