Connect
To Top

CVS Pharmacy Partners Up With Aetna; Virtual Medicine Marketing Game Is On

Medical Conditions

This week, the CEO of CVS Health Larry Merlo, together with the chairman and CEO of Aetna Mark Bertolini announced in an interview that CVS acquired Aetna for about $69 billion in cash as well as in stock to match up on health care and retail against tech giants Apple and Amazon. It has actually been considered as one of the biggest deals this year. According to experts insurance companies as well as drug retailers seems to be very threatened by how companies like Apple and Amazon are taking over health care, which is why they took this huge risk to be able to lower medical costs. It has been reported that the Aetna stockholders agreed to receive $207 per share and three of the Aetna directors, including their chairman, must join the board of directors of CVS. Aetna will serve as a smaller but stand-alone business unit that will be under CV and will be led by some of the members of Aetna’s management team.

CVS AND AETNA

It was also reported that the joining of this two companies will definitely change things for the better when it comes to the healthcare experience of the consumers. This is because CVS is at risk because of Amazon going in as a pharmacy competitor. So by putting Aetna in the picture, it would give them a better opportunity to bargain for better prices when it comes to prescription drugs since Aetna has the ability to create and offer the consumers cheaper co-payments specifically in CVS stores. This would also be a great opportunity for the consumers to be able to access expensive and specialty drugs, this would then be the highest profit for their industry. According to the CEO of Vivio Health, which is a pharmacy management firm for specialty drugs, Pramod John, this deal that CVS has with Aetna will be known as vertical integration, wherein it would be less threatening for the authorities.

AIMS TO REDUCE HEALTH COSTS

In a sit down interview with CNBC, The current CEO of CVS Larry Merlo along with the CEO and Chairman of Aetna Mark Bertolini said that consumers will be able to see a dramatic difference when it comes to better service offers as well as better products for the benefit of the people’s journey to a better health. These two companies will be working together to create a much better platform so that it will be more convenient and cheaper for their consumers. Merlo even said that this is indeed the perfect time since they will have the ability to bend the cost curve and with that, they will be able to help their consumers achieve a better health.

HOW IT COULD CHANGE HEALTHCARE

A pharmacy company partnering up with a health insurance company is indeed a huge deal when it comes to the healthcare industry. It would definitely make a huge impact on the way people could get health checkups. Although it remains unclear when all of these changes will occur for both companies, it will surely transform the healthcare of the entire American nation.

 

According to a professor at Northwestern University, Amanda Starc, this merge will most likely help benefit drug costs since the prices of drugs will surely change and everyone is just concerned about the prices rising all the time, but with this merger between these two companies, it will most likely favor the consumers. The rising healthcare costs are basically one of the major problems of the people which is why it would benefit not only the two companies but also their consumers once they will be able to provide a lower cost health care service and drugs. Starc also believes that the insurance company will now focus on not just what the consumers are spending on drugs but also what they’re spending on the utilization of their overall healthcare.

This merge could also eliminate all of the unnecessary complexities whenever people would see a new doctor. CVS-Aetna could actually provide what they call “Minute Clinics” wherein consumers could actually avoid the busy emergency rooms for those sick patients who are in need of medical care that doesn’t require any serious action such as those who wouldn’t need surgery right away or aren’t exactly dying. They will have a more integrated system which will be easier for doctors to treat their patients as work as monitor their health status all at once.

More in Medical Conditions

Related Items

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply