Amazon keeps trying to integrate healthcare and make One Medical work, using Pharmacy as leverage. Like CVS, Walmart, and Walgreens, Amazon succumbed in 2022 to the Gold Rush of buying up a health clinic network and attempting to integrate primary care delivery into its retail model–after stumbling badly and failing with Amazon Care (2019). While the former have either ditched (Walmart), pivoted (CVS–Oak Street), or spun off their primary care providers (Walgreens–VillageMD/Summit Health), Amazon is testing yet another integration with One Medical, their first being with Amazon Prime. In its latest tweak, Amazon is delivering limited onsite pharmacy services via... Continue Reading
Search Results for CVS-Aetna
Need to knows: Omada’s $158M IPO at flat valuation, AZ lawsuit on Centene plan’s ‘ghost network’ fatality, UHG shareholders OK reduced package for CEO Hemsley, new ASTP/HIT-ONC leader, NJ’s Cooper Health patient data breach, Net Health buys Limber Health
...of $339,000. Whether he will enjoy all of this based on 2024’s disappointing performance is not disclosed, as he resigned effective 13 May 2025 after Q1 results and a suspended forecast for 2025 were disclosed. Runner-up was Karen Lynch, who departed CVS Health last year but with a comp package of $23.4 million. FierceHealthcare 2 June, 12 May Short takes: The Trump Administration has named Thomas Keane, a software engineer and interventional radiologist, as Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy, formerly the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC). According to his ASTP bio, Dr. Keane previously served in... Continue Reading
Two other views on UnitedHealth Group’s annus horribilis, for your consideration
...Medicine and Stanford Graduate School of Business), and Dr. Adam Brown (emergency physician and founder of healthcare advisory firm ABIG Health). Mr. Gottleib focuses on UHG attributing its challenges to Medicare Advantage issues such as increased utilization. Yet other major insurers are stating they anticipated this and it’s trending about how they expected. He believes that UHG will manage their way out of this, much as (smaller, less complex) CVS Health apparently has, which was looking at a breakup in October 2024. But it will take time. Dr. Pearl hits upon a point that I had not thought of, which... Continue Reading
Should free-falling UnitedHealth Group be broken up? Or break itself up to survive, before it becomes another GE? (updated)
Breaking up is hard to do. But should be done if UHG wants to survive and thrive. Our proposition: UnitedHealth Group has become a victim of its own giantism, conflicts, and focus on financials–and its failure will drag down healthcare. How big? By far, it is the largest US health insurance company based on 2023 enrollments with a 15% market share, 29 million members, and $371.6 billion in revenue. It leads by far Elevance Health (formerly Anthem, 12%), CVS Health/Aetna (12%), Cigna (11%) and Health Care Service Corporation (7%). A more realistic picture of its size is that it is... Continue Reading
News roundup: Hinge Health public @$32/share, lower valuation. Is WeightWatchers game over? Calibrate replaces CEO, new prez for Oak Street, NMC gets ‘Smarter’ rolling up 3 portfolio companies, another splash of investor ‘cold water’
...(CT), retaining eight randomized controlled trials comprised of 2372 participants, all with a BMI ≥ 27 kg/m2, indicates that after discontinuing GLP-1 therapy, weight regain was proportional to the original weight loss. The regain varied by type of GLP-1 drug, but the study labels it ‘significant’. Obesity Reviews (Wiley) 4 April 2025 GLP-1 weight loss is not one course and done–actually good news for the teleprescribers and pharmas as in ‘they’ll be back’. Oak Street Health replaces its president. The CVS practice unit named Creagh Milford, DO, MPH as Oak Street’s new president. He comes from CVS’ Minute Clinic as... Continue Reading
News roundup: Omada Health files for IPO, UPMC-Redesign partner on chronic pain management, OK and PA AGs warn 23andMe users to delete data, Verily to build Parkinson’s dataset, what payers paid for exec security
...security costs. The largest cost was for executive protection for Optum CEO Heather Cianfrocco, $926,989. CEO Andrew Witty’s security costs, not included in the $1.7 million, totaled $150,951. He was also required to use the company’s corporate aircraft for business travel (cost not itemized) and was encouraged to do so for personal travel, should the plane be available. Witty did not use it for the latter in 2024. Brian Thompson unfortunately received no security. CVS Health did not itemize direct security costs for CEO David Joyner in 2024. His disclosed expenses from October on were $15,787 on personal use of... Continue Reading
News roundup: WeightWatchers in 45-day prepackaged Ch. 11, Neuralink BCI successful in ALS subject, telehealth VR reduced TMD pain–study, AliveCor maxes up KardiaMobile 6L, TytoCare-Allina Health partnership, UHG-Amedisys divest some more
...by Hims & Hers, Ro, LifeMD–now with prescription deals for Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy—and other telehealth providers and teleprescribers such as Teladoc, FuturHealth, RemedyMeds, Eden, and many others, made WW a latecomer. Even CVS Caremark got into the partnering act when it switched over to Wegovy from Lilly’s Zepbound in its standard formulary. This move may lure more members to its weight management program. As with Ro and LifeMD, the lowered cash pricing is $499/month. Healthcare Dive. For WW, is this a lasting cure or just kicking the can down the floor? Brain-computer interfaces (BCI) notch a big win. At the... Continue Reading
Midweek roundup: Transcarent closes Accolade; Walgreens beats Street; New Mountain Capital’s Office Ally buy-in; Neuralink Blindsight human trial coming up; PM Keir Starmer touts NHS data research; FTC’s PBM litigation break
...The UK government and the Wellcome Trust will invest up to £600 million. This is part of the government’s Plan for Change to set up a modern industrial strategy, unlocking the potential of the Oxford‑Cambridge growth corridor, and “pro-growth measures to build a strong, resilient economy with more well-paid jobs”. Gov.uk release A longish break for the major pharmacy benefit management (PBM) companies. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it was staying its insulin pricing litigation against the three major PBMs: Caremark (CVS), Express Scripts (Cigna), and Optum Rx (UnitedHealth Group). The long-running action initiated last year by the... Continue Reading
News roundup: Hinge Health may postpone IPO, Rite Aid may enter 2nd bankruptcy, Veterans Affairs committees want new EHR costs & timeline, fired Texas health plan head hired private eyes to spy on members, providers, lawmakers
...where they could have some market impact. They sold Elixir, their pharmacy benefits manager, and settled with major creditors. In March 2018, they had downsized by selling 1,932 store locations for $4.38 billion to Walgreens. Like Walgreens and CVS, they are also dealing with legal liabilities from opioid-related lawsuits. Reportedly, they are being advised by Big Law firm Paul Weiss to advise on options, such as what can still be sold and what kind of bankruptcy. Wall Street Journal, Chain Drug Review, Daily Mail The VA and Oracle have some ‘splainin’ to do to Congress. As VA has put stakes... Continue Reading
The $10 billion Walgreens take-private deal with Sycamore: what you need to know
...registers concentrated in a cattle chute design. CVS is generally (not always) easier to browse and slightly better organized especially at checkout with self-check and register options, as is their pharmacy experience. CVS also benefits from having insurer ties and Minute Clinics in many locations. What’s ahead for Walgreens? Right now, it has 12,500 retail pharmacy locations across the US, Europe and Latin America with 310,000 employees. Neither Walgreens nor Sycamore is talking, which is reasonable, but the Gimlet Eye can make certain educated guesses. Certainly by 2026 there will be major changes in their retail footprint. Their 5,000 scheduled... Continue Reading
Most Recent Comments