CVS Health, DSN and Mack Elevation convene health innovation summit
WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Health, in partnership with Drug Store News and Mack Elevation, is hosting an innovation summit Tuesday, bringing together leaders from such major healthcare, technology and consumer brands as Facebook, Under Armour, Google and IBM, among others, for a discussion about emerging trends that are helping reshape the healthcare industry.
During the all-day summit at the Omni Hotel in Providence, R.I., attendees will explore theories about where the industry is headed and how today’s innovations are shaping future healthcare solutions. Specific focus areas include connected health technology, social media’s impact on the industry and empowered healthcare for consumers. The summit also is aimed at establishing a collaborative platform for senior representatives from each company to share predictions and brainstorm new approaches that could impact the future of how consumers manage their health and access convenient, holistic health-and-wellness products and service.
Speakers at the event include: Facebook senior client partner Aaron Calloway; futurist and economist Jane Sarasohn-Kahn; IBM VP and GM – global consumer industry Steve Laughlin; Chris MacAulay, Connected Fitness Media, Under Armour; Mack Elevation’s Dan Mack; and Google’s national industry director, healthcare, Ryan Olohan; as well as speakers from CVS Health.
“At CVS Health, we are committed to identifying innovative new solutions to further enhance the healthcare experience for our customers and patients,” CVS Health EVP and CVS Pharmacy president Helena Foulkes said. “Today's summit successfully brought together some of the brightest minds from industry-leading consumer brands, health and technology giants, and innovative start-ups that all share our interest in exploring what the future of healthcare should look like and how we can all play a role in helping people on their path to better health.”
In addition to serving as a “think tank” to assist the broader industry in uncovering emerging trends that could improve health care for consumers in the future, the summit also will address current trends that are having a real impact on the quality of health care today. Specifically, the shift consumers are making from “sick care” to “self care” will be discussed as a trend that is already impacting some of the changes CVS Pharmacy recently announced it is making in its retail business. As more consumers are looking for technology, wearables, health services, food and supplement selections and over-the-counter products that help them care proactively for their health and wellness, retailers and service providers alike have a huge opportunity to empower their customers and answer this need with new and unexpected options.
“We are seeing a strong customer movement from ‘sick care to self-care’ in consumer health care, which signals a shift toward preventive health and proactive wellness versus acute care or treatment,” CVS Pharmacy VP merchandising George Coleman said. “This summit will shed new light on a variety of innovative solutions that could not only help us enhance the customer experience at CVS Pharmacy, but would also impact the entire healthcare ecosystem in the near future.”
To build on today’s collaborative discussions, CVS Health said it has plans to continue networking and hosting similar forums with local and national partners in the future to remain a catalyst for innovation within the consumer healthcare industry.