CVS Health just revealed plans to dramatically expand its strategy to upend how Americans get healthcare
- CVS Health is planning to take its HealthHub stores national, by building out 1,500 locations across the US by 2021.
- The largest pharmacy chain in the US set up its first three HealthHubs in Houston pharmacies in February. By the end of 2019, it plans to open up more locations in Houston, as well as in Atlanta, Philadelphia and southern New Jersey, and Tampa, Florida.
- The stores have an increased focus on health services, including a wellness center and more chronic care management for diseases like diabetes.
- CVS has been expanding its healthcare offerings since acquiring the health insurer Aetna late last year.
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CVS Health just laid out how it plans to make its pharmacies your go-to place to get healthcare.
By the end of 2021, the company plans to turn 1,500 pharmacies into locations that can provide an array of healthcare services, the company said Tuesday. The announcement came as part of CVS's investor day, its first strategic deep dive since the acquisition of the health insurer Aetna late last year.
When CVS acquired Aetna, it combined 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 the new HealthHubs in its pharmacies, the first 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. In those stores, CVS is committing about 20% of the physical store space to health endeavors rather than snacks or other convenient store supplies.
CVS said Tuesday that it plans to open more hubs in Houston, as well as locations in Atlanta, Philadelphia and southern New Jersey, and Tampa, Florida by the end of 2019.
The strategy also helps CVS find new use for the floor space in its 9,900 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.
The HealthHub stores have a "care concierge," whose job is to guide individuals to different types of care, or explain how their health insurance works. They also feature an expanded space for clinics, where patients are typically seen by by nurse practitioners or physician assistants.
"Our goal is to fundamentally transform the consumer health experience for the millions of Americans we interact with every day," CVS CEO Larry Merlo said in a statement announcing the expansion.
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