The company’s announcement comes at a time when rivals Amazon and Walgreens are making similar efforts to expand into the primary care business. Just last week, Amazon announced its $3.9 billion acquisition of national primary care service provider OneMedical, which operates 188 locations across 25 markets. Walgreens, meanwhile, is working on opening hundreds of primary care offices in partnership with VillageMD.
Even retail store giant Walmart is making a push into healthcare by opening clinics where customers can see a doctor, get dental services, or speak with a therapist at an affordable price point.
CVS’ planned acquisition will add to its growing portfolio of healthcare-related businesses. The company is already the owner of insurance provider Aetna and benefits manager Caremark. It also operates MinuteClinic inside of its stores, where customers can seek urgent care or vaccines. More recently, the company has been pushing to enable access to mental health therapy at some of its store locations, CNBC reported.
Chief Executive Officer Karen Lynch noted that the company maintains a competitive edge over other players in the space because of its size. Some 4.8 million customers interact with CVS locations every day. Visits at the company’s MinuteClinic have also reportedly increased by 12% in Q2 2022.
