brings my weight to 167.7,” says Haynes,
who frequents a CVS “gentle yoga” class
on Tuesdays. “I was addicted to avocados
and chocolate. He got me eating healthy by
doing things like substituting low-cal cacao
nibs when I craved candy bars.”
The HealthHUB concept marks a
forward leap in what’s already a revolu-
tion in health care: bringing treatment
once dominated by giant hospitals and
overbooked doctors’ offices to America’s
neighborhoods via urgent care outlets,
outpatient surgery centers, and quick care
outlets in pharmacies. CVS Health claims to be both the most local
and the most comprehensive.
To bolster that strategy, CVS—which has been building its
own walk-in clinics for over a decade, providing simple treat-
ments like vaccinations and flu shots—just became the first major
drug retailer to combine with an insurer. In late November, CVS
bought Aetna, America’s third-largest insurance carrier, in a
$70 billion megadeal that made the new CVS the world’s larg-
est publicly traded health care company, a distinction that, until
now, had gone largely unnoticed. CVS ranks eighth on the Fortune
500 list, but look for it to make a big jump on next year’s roster.
Had Aetna’s revenues been included for the entire year, instead of
just the one month it was owned by CVS, the combined companyL ARRY MERLO :CEO
PEOPLE
PICK UP
PRESCRIP-
TIONS
A LOT MORE
OF TEN
THAN THEY
SEE A
PHYSICIAN.Ó
FORTUNE 500
RX FOR SUCCESS?
CEO Larry Merlo
is working to
transform CVS into
a wellness pioneer—
far from its origins
as a drugstore.