Courtesy CVS Health
A CVS Pharmacy store in Houston that's been turned into a Health Hub.
- CVS Health, the largest pharmacy chain in the US, set up its first three "HealthHUBs" in Houston in February.
- The stores have an increased focus on health services, including a wellness center and more chronic care management for diseases like diabetes.
- Take a look inside one of the new stores that could change how Americans get their healthcare.
CVS Health and Aetna officially merged at the end of 2018, combining a chain of nearly 10,000 pharmacies that also owns a drug benefits business with one of the biggest US health insurers.
The result is an entirely new healthcare company that can wield a tremendous amount of power over how healthcare gets paid for and provided to patients.
One of the ways CVS is focusing that power is through new "HealthHUB" stores, the first three of which opened in Houston in February. The stores have an increased focus on health services, including a wellness center and more chronic care management for diseases like diabetes, committing about 20% of the physical store space to health endeavors rather than snacks or other convenient store supplies.
The strategy also helps CVS find new use for the floor space in its 9,800 locations, as customers increasingly shop for everyday goods on websites like Amazon. And providing more care in stores can help CVS counter forays by rivals like Amazon into healthcare. Amazon, for its part, acquired the pharmacy startup PillPack last year, marking its entry into the drug-delivery business.
Read more: CVS Health just revealed a key piece of its plan to change how Americans get healthcare