CVS to reportedly spend $20B to upgrade U.S. consumer healthcare experience
CVS Health is reportedly planning to spend $20 billion in the next 10 years to upgrade to a more tech-enabled consumer health experience, per a Yahool Finance report.
The investment will affect CVS and its vertically integrated businesses, including the pharmacy, health providers and insurer Aetna as well as competitors and other players in the sector, who will be able "to plug into the CVS system," per the report.
The report went on to say CVS's plan builds on the idea of interoperability, where all different parts of the system talk to each other, ideally through a single patient record, regardless of company brand.
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The report added that various administrations have attempted to encourage the industry to do this over the years, and a number of startups have attempted to develop platforms to host such an environment.
Tilak Mandadi, CVS Health’s chief experience and technology officer, who is leading this effort, told Yahoo Finance these companies haven't been successful because they have been unwilling to shake things up.
"The players that can truly change healthcare are the [incumbents]. The people that have the scope, size, reach, and a customer platform, and trust — that are willing to disrupt themselves," he said. "We know exactly what the friction points are. And all those friction points are addressable by having better connectivity, real-time decision making...and timely payment."
Mandadi compared the current healthcare system to an orchestra, with each musician playing their own tune and the audience members attempting to conduct. “It doesn’t work. The No. 1 complaint from customers is the healthcare experience is not integrated," he said.
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Mandadi said CVS envisions a more proactive approach to healthcare, rather than patients having to do all the research and make all the calls, the report said.