0
10
20
30
40
50
$60 billion
CVS AND AETNA QUARTERLY REVENUES MERGEDCOMPANY
$61.4
BILLION
AETNA CVS
Q1 2015 Q1 2017 Q1 2019
SOURCE: S&P GLOBAL
CVS AND AETNA CUMULATED QUARTERLY PROFITS
MERGED
COMPANY
Q1 2015 Q1 2017 Q1 2019
–1
0
1
2
$3 billionO
116
FORTUNE.COM // JUNE.1.19
usually found in warehouse stores.
The HealthHUB section at the far end
goes far beyond what you’d find at a typical
walk-in clinic. They offer testing and treat-
ment for chronic conditions, and boast four
consultation rooms equipped with exam
chairs and retinal cameras for diabetes
screening. Video screens display prices for
popular services: Today’s rates are $100 for
diabetic retinopathy imaging and $89 for a
cholesterol screening. Employees from the
Texas Department of Transportation get
full physicals here. At the pharmacy adja-
cent to the HealthHUB, pharmacist Alex
Ybarra counsels patients in a private office
as part of the new high-touch approach;
the previous day, she spent an hour advis-
ing a senior who needed help measuring
the effect of his six diabetes medications on
his blood sugar. The HealthHUB is Jacque-
line Haynes’s destination for wellness. She
was given a blood test for hypertension by
a nurse practitioner, who wrote a prescrip-
tion for beta-blocker Bystolic that Haynes
filled at the pharmacy, steps away. She
credits the full-time dietitian with helping
her shed 72 pounds since January. “ThatVER THE ENTRANCE of what looks
like a regular, aging CVS
drugstore outside Houston, a
billowing blue banner announces
“HealthHUB Come Inside!”
Greeting folks at the door is
Jesse Gonzalez, the care con-
cierge who, in his words, “navi-
gates” folks to the right aisle or
therapist. Sleep apnea problems?
Gonzalez dispatches the heavy
snorers to the respiratory thera-
pist, who can suggest a home-testing regimen and, if appropri-
ate, recommend a CPAP mask that’s in stock to stop the honking.
Fretting over excessive fatigue and weight gain? He’ll guide you to
a nurse practitioner who’ll draw blood to test for thyroid disorder
and, if that’s the finding, prescribe a hormone therapy you can pick
up at the pharmacy counter.
On an April morning, I followed Gonzalez down a curving
parquet pathway, through this stucco box that’s been repurposed
as health care’s new front door for America’s communities. This
store in Spring, a working-class neighborhood north of central
Houston, has eliminated aisles that once offered the likes of mops
and greeting cards so that a full one-fourth of its footprint is
now devoted to wellness. The entire left side features products
supporting the new mission, from health food—think turmeric
powder shakes—to mobile equipment, such as shower chairs,A MERGER THAT HAS NOT EQUALED PROFITS
The $70 billion merger with Aetna made CVS the world’s biggest health care company, with projected revenues of $250 billion in
- But so far it hasn’t paid off. In the first quarter of 2019, the new CVS posted profits one-third lower than the amount the two
companies had earned separately a year earlier. An integration plan targeting $750 million in savings should help lift profitability.