Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is planning on opening its first in-store medical clinics under its own brand name after leasing space in dozens of stores to outside companies that operate the quick-service health stops.

According to the Associated Press, the world’s largest retailer is opening “The Clinic at Wal-Mart” as a joint venture with local hospital systems in Atlanta, Dallas and Little Rock, Ark., starting this spring.

Wal-Mart, based out of Bentonville, AR, is among several U.S. supermarket and drug store chains that have begun opening store-based health clinics, which are staffed mostly by nurse practitioners or physician assistants and offer quick service for routine conditions from colds and bladder infections to sunburn, AP said.

About 7 percent of Americans have tried a clinic at least once, according to an estimate by the Convenient Care Association, an industry trade group formed in 2006.

That number is expected to increase dramatically, as chains like Wal-Mart, CVS, Target and Walgreens partner with mini-clinic providers like RediClinic and MinuteClinic to expand operations. The trade group estimates there will be more than 1,500 by year-end, up from about 800 in November.

Along with the clinics, Wal-Mart has introduced $4 prescriptions for some generic medicines. Chief Executive Lee Scott has pledged to find other ways to help cut health care costs, including promoting the use of electronic health records instead of paper files, AP said.