Once CVS closes their $69 billion purchase of Aetna, they intend to open concept stores to debut programs that make the best use of the newly combined company’s resources.
According to CNBC, CVS intends to close their acquisition before Thanksgiving, and to open its first concept stores early next year.
CVS CEO Larry Merlo said that the company’s focus will be reducing medical costs. He gave four examples: managing common chronic conditions, managing complex chronic diseases, optimizing and extending primary care, and reducing avoidable hospital readmissions.
CVS could offer more preventative care services and screenings to Aetna customers in its clinics. For instance, they could enable diabetes patients to monitor blood sugar levels, avoiding visits to doctors or emergency rooms.
CVS will pilot those programs at the concept stores with the intent of finding out which programs are effective and scalable across their 10,000 stores and 1,100 MinuteClinics.
According to Reuters, CVS believes that the Aetna deal will help it save more than $750 million in costs in the second year after closing the deal. The combination is expected to reduce corporate expenses and produce some cuts in medical costs from decreased emergency room visits.
“We are hard at work creating a plan to differentiate CVS Health in these patient journeys with the goal of making them simpler and more personalized while making care more accessible,” said Merlo.
These programs will focus on Aetna members at first, Merlo said, but the end goal is to create an open platform model where it can partner broadly and provide their services to more customers.
