It’s been a hectic news cycle in the wake of the Midterm elections, but CVS Health’s announcement that it will split into two companies in 2028 dominated healthcare news this week.
One business will include Aetna, CVS Caremark, CVS Specialty, Oak Street Health and Signify Health. This will be referred to as CVS Health and will be led by David Joyner, the current chairman and CEO of CVS Health. A second business will be branded CVS Pharmacy – a national retail pharmacy and community healthcare company that includes about 9,000 pharmacies, mail pharmacy, MinuteClinic and the Health100 technology services business. Prem Shah, the current group president of CVS Health, will lead this company.
From Blind Spots to Better Outcomes: How SNF Data Transparency Strengthens LTSS
What if health plans could identify member decline before an avoidable hospitalization occurs? Real-time clinical visibility into long-stay SNF members uncovers risk earlier and drives better outcomes.
Although the restructure was supposedly announced to reduce concerns over vertical integration and conflict of interest, Debunked Co-Hosts Arundhati Parmar, MedCity News editor-in-chief and Samir Batra, managing partner of Health Innovation Pitch, noted that the business plans incentivize increasing profits, benefitting shareholders more than their customers. Mark Cuban, co-founder of prescription drug company Cost Plus Drugs, called the move “brilliant financial engineering”.
Samir said the split made him think of the Break Up Big Medicine Act from Senators Elizabeth Warren and Josh Hawley. The development reflects a broader trend by some states seeking to ban PBMs from owning and operating pharmacies, while federal bills have been introduced seeking to break up large healthcare companies
AI was also a big part of the discussion. The second edition of Bessemer Venture Partners’ Healthcare AI ROI Scorecard, which surveyed healthcare executives, revealed that returns on investment are highest in areas such as revenue cycle management. Only 46% trust AI generated tools to support clinical decision-making and 77% override AI suggestions more than half the time.
The FDA will soon publish a final rule on how generative AI-enabled medical devices will be regulated. The regulatory body published a discussion paper on the topic earlier this year, which generated more than 300 comments. Arundhati attended AdvaMed’s MedTech conference in Boston last month and referenced comments made there by Rick Abramson, director of FDA’s Digital Health Center of Excellence. He noted that generative AI tools may need to be evaluated similarly to a physician who is routinely evaluated for competency — a departure from how the agency has traditionally evaluated the safety and efficacy of software as a medical device.
Closing the Quality-Affordability Gap in Workplace Mental Health
In an interview, Kyan Health Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer Konstantin Struck discussed how Kyan gives mid-market and enterprise employers access to premium workforce mental healthcare, at a price point that is affordable.
Speaking of regulators, the Federal Trade Commission slapped 24 healthcare organizations with warning letters linked to inadequate price transparency last month. Samir likened them to a soccer referee issuing yellow cards to players.
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