CVS Health announces environmental health impact initiative
CVS Health is notifying customers with chronic health conditions to the potential impact of environmental events.
CVS, which owns health insurance giant Aetna, is launching an initiative designed to help customers who are vulnerable to extreme weather events that can worsen existing chronic conditions. The initiative is focusing first on extreme heat events to provide timely excessive heat alerts and tailored outreach to at-risk customers.
How it works
Initially available to members of Aetna, a CVS Health company, the initiative pairs environmental data analytics that provide real-time and localized forecasting of air quality, wildfires, weather and other environmental factors paired with a patient's medical and pharmacy data.
Aetna care managers can contact vulnerable patients with personalized recommendations up to seven days in advance of an extreme weather event. Interventions include directing patients to resources including Oak Street Health clinics available as cooling centers, health services provided by the company's MinuteClinic locations, and medication management at CVS Pharmacy.
[Read more: CVS reportedly seeking investor to grow Oak Street clinics]
Care managers use several resources when making clinical recommendations to at-risk patients, including CDC clinical guidance documents. During the first two weeks of the initiative, CVS says care managers have connected with hundreds of at-risk patients across more than 20 states, including directing some to cooling centers and checking in with vulnerable patients post-hospital care to provide guidance to minimize heat exhaustion.
In addition to improved health, anticipated outcomes include reduced medical expenditures and minimized in-patient stays and emergency department visits.
In fall 2024, CVS plans to expand the program to customers susceptible to reduced lung function, asthma and cardiac problems resulting from exposure to high levels of air pollution. The pharmacy and health care services company also plans to eventually expand the program to its MinuteClinic and CVS Pharmacy locations.
"Extreme heat kills more Americans each year than all other weather events combined. In addition to fatalities driven by heat strokes, extreme heat can worsen chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease," said Dr. Dan Knecht, VP and chief clinical innovation officer for CVS Caremark, a division of CVS Health. "Most heat-related deaths are preventable with outreach and intervention. We are proud to introduce a new capability that advances our efforts to find innovative ways to deliver personalized health care to consumers."
Headquartered in Woonsocket, R.I., CVS Health operated 9,406 CVS Pharmacy stores across the U.S. as of Jan. 22, 2024.
This story originally appeared on Chain Store Age.
