CVS Health is reportedly planning to spend $20 billion over the next 10 years to offer a more tech-driven consumer health experience and improve interoperability within the healthcare industry.
First reported by Yahoo Finance, the investment will impact CVS’ vertically-integrated business units, including its health providers, Aetna health insurance company and retail pharmacies, and will allow CVS competitors and other stakeholders to plug into CVS’ new system.
The aim is to improve interoperability by allowing various stakeholders, including doctors offices and pharmacies, regardless of company brand, to talk to each other through a single patient record that gives them a full picture of what is going on with patient.
Additionally, CVS said it wants to empower patients with a proactive approach, where patients receive texts, calls or app notifications about their care, including when a claim is denied. Instead of a patient having to call to check on a claim, the goal is to empower the patient to receive a notification before they need to call to check the status.
The initiative also aims to address insurance claims and cost estimates as well, and CVS told Yahoo Finance that it anticipates the plan will result in a significant change to the consumer health experience in as little as five years.
“CVS Health is investing $20 billion over the next decade to simplify the U.S. health system for the American consumer. Specifically, we’re committed to advancing interoperability between members, patients/caregivers, providers and appropriate community resource entities to foster collaboration, improve member outcomes, increase satisfaction and enhance efficiencies,” a CVS spokesperson told MobiHealthNews via email.
“We are focused on getting the right information at the right time for a member, provider, payer – anyone in the care continuum – to have the right information to support their health care decision making, including outreach, automating actions that are currently manual so time can be spent on more complex/critical activities; filling information gaps; and improved processes along the member journey – supporting workflows that may not be supported today.”
THE LARGER TREND
Earlier this month, CVS closed five stories in the state of New York as part of a restructuring plan to shut down 271 locations in the U.S. in 2025. The company has already closed around 900 of its locations between 2022 and 2024. It has more than 9,000 stores across the U.S.
In May, CVS Pharmacy participated in a bankruptcy court approved bidding process, where it acquired 625 Rite Aid pharmacies’ prescription files across 15 states. It also agreed to acquire and operate 64 Rite Aid stores in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.
The transition now must be approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey and receive applicable regulatory approvals and other closing conditions.
Rite Aid filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May, marking its second bankruptcy filing in the last few years. The store has steadily increased its list of stores set to be closed to more than 500 locations since its filing.
