CVS Health Hubs: Retail Clinics Will Offer More Care: Shots

With respect to changes in health care, CVS Health is not just tinkering. The company seeks to tackle the heart of how health care is delivered in the United States.

In November, the pharmacy chain concluded a $ 70 billion acquisition from health insurance giant Aetna which, according to CVS, will change the company and, as a result, change the way consumers perceive the Health care.

"We are trying to transform the industry," said Alan Lotvin, executive vice president of corporate transformation. The health care sector, he says, is now organized to help doctors, hospitals and other care providers. "I think there is an opportunity to organize around the consumer," Lotvin says.

According to CVS, which has nearly 10,000 retail stores across the country, is already where consumers are. Now, with the addition of Aetna, CVS is also providing health coverage to 22 million people.

CVS plans to turn some of its existing stores and retail clinics into hubs that offer more health services and products. The company has set up its first test sites in areas frequented by many Aetna patients, hoping to move them away from costly emergency rooms to cheaper MinuteClinics in the stores.

The company says this retail approach will help people, especially those with chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and asthma, manage their illness more easily and at a lower cost.

However, the company faces challenges in combining an insurance company and a chain of pharmacies. In a statement on quarterly financial results released Wednesday, CVS chief executive Larry Merlo said: "2019 will be a year of transition as we integrate Aetna and focus on the pillars of our growth strategy."

Some areas of CVS activity have recently suffered, including providing drugs to long-term care facilities. CVS shares fell 8% on Wednesday after the company recorded a $ 2.2 billion loss for the fourth quarter and lowered its earnings outlook for 2019. The pressure is on CVS for the addition of Aetna is paying off quickly.

CVS Health began talking about the idea of ​​health care centers at the end of 2017 by launching its purchase offer for Aetna. At the time, Merlo had asked Steve Inskeep of NPR to imagine a world where [a] the patient can enter a CVS medication[y]they can talk with a nutritionist about their diet. They can talk to a nurse practitioner, maybe have their blood glucose checked, talk to their pharmacist about medication. "

But there was little detail about how the company was going to get out of it, until now. CVS has opened three test sites in Texas, including one in the Houston suburb of Spring.

At first glance, it's not that different from other CVSs. There are aisles filled with candies and dressings, refrigerators filled with soda and at the back a very lively pharmacy counter.

But on the side, there are sliding doors with the word "WELLNESS" in giant letters and behind them, a dozen elders are taking a free yoga class.

Rosita Rodriguez, 68, is one of them. "I did yoga," she says. "And it was such a joy."

She says she learned about the existence of the yoga class when she came to the store to find painkillers for arthritis that would not nausea. Jesse Gonzalez, the store's "caretaker", helped her choose a medication and told her about the yoga class and how she could get her diabetes checked.

"Whenever I need something, I see Jesse here," she says. "I'm talking to him and, you know, he's here for me."

Rodriguez says the store is easier to access than his doctor's office, located about 30 miles from downtown Houston.

The MinuteClinic is a major department. In addition to the caretaker's concierge, there are three examination rooms, a dietitian, a respiratory therapist and a laboratory where people can have their blood drawn.

A recent afternoon, a patient who came to see the nurse practitioner was rushed to the nearby hospital.

"They did not feel well and were about to have an important cardiac event," said Kevin Hourican, president of CVS Pharmacy, who oversees all of the company's retail operations. "They were sent to the emergency room."

This incident, he says, shows why it is good to have retail clinics all over the country. About 1,000 CVS sites currently own a small version of the MinuteClinic, and 85% of Americans live within 4 miles (4 miles) of a CVS store. The need for emergency care for this patient also shows the limitations of what a retail clinic can do.

To help people manage their chronic illnesses, CVS will expand its services to include eye and foot exams for diabetic patients and a monitoring of airflow for people suffering from chronic diseases. ;asthma.

"I see several benefits for patients," said Dora Hughes, physician and associate professor of health policy at George Washington University.

"Managing chronic illness, I mean, it's hard work," said Hughes. "Having CVS and their large community footprint, vendors you can see at night and on weekends, to do your blood work when you want – I mean, it could be extremely beneficial to patients. "

But Hughes said the company would do the best if it located "health centers" where the need was greatest – people with chronic diseases such as diabetes do not have easy access to a doctor.

The company has chosen the locations of its top three test stores, which include a large number of patients covered by Aetna, including its commercial enterprises, Medicare and Medicaid, as well as many people with diabetes.

Hughes adds that another question is whether CVS can communicate well with the primary care physicians of patients. Some research shows that people with a regular primary care physician are generally healthier, and others show that diabetics receive better care from a regular basic care doctor than when they receive episodic care from other physicians or nurse practitioners.

"I can see some people's concerns that this could have an effect on the connection to the primary care home," says Kosali Simon, a health economist at Indiana University in New York. Bloomington. " a primary care physician connected to a hospital. "

In fact, a study by J.D. Power found that 45% of respondents said they would consider taking their primary care at a CVS clinic. Older people were more hesitant to try a MinuteClinic, the survey reveals. Only 36% of people aged 65 and over said that they would go to SVC for primary care.

But, as the survey confirms, confirms Simon, increased convenience is likely to attract people.

After the purchase of Aetna, CVS expects these new clinics to help keep some Aetna patients out of the hospital and allow the company's insurance industry to avoid the high costs of hospital care .

At the same time, the expanded stores will gain money at treating patients at MinuteClinic and selling a range of health care products. The Spring Shop, in addition to the usual CVS products, has a walkway equipped with wheelchairs, walkers and CPAP machines that help people with sleep apnea. There are yoga equipment, diabetic snacks and electronic activity monitors.

CVS indicates that health services will be available to patients with any type of insurance.

The company will not say how many stores it plans to convert to health centers. Hourican, from CVS, says the company wants to see firsthand how it will be at three test sites in Texas.