CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) said on Thursday that it plans to take another step into the home health care space.
The company laid out its strategy for the coming years at its 2021 investor day. Its at-home care strategy is no longer on the outskirts of its overall goals, leadership explained.
“Now is the time to undertake our next major evolution and capitalize on our role as the leading health solutions company in America,” CVS Health President and CEO Karen S. Lynch said during a presentation. “Ultimately, this plan is only possible with our unique combination of assets, which will allow us to lower costs, increase access to quality care and improve health outcomes for consumers, patients and members.”
In order to deliver on that strategy, it will be working more in the home.
Firstly, CVS will be launching new “all-payer health products and services” to diversify the company’s growth portfolio. Featured among those is the “expansion of home health services,” specifically.
The company also went on to state that its desire is to enhance omnichannel health services that meet the needs of consumers “at home, virtually and in the community.”
“We have a strategic financial approach that will focus on a combination of foundational business growth, new sources of incremental value and strategic capital deployment in order to reach our long-term growth targets and drive shareholder returns,” CVS Health CFO and EVP Shawn Guertin said.
The company will also be designating capital to accelerate specific areas that it has growth goals for. That could mean M&A deals down the road – and potentially home-based care ones.
“We will prudently manage our balance sheet, while deploying capital against growth areas such as capability-focused M&A targets that will fit with our unique collection of assets and help accelerate our vision,” Guertin said.
CVS Health – like Walgrens (Nasdaq: WBA), Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) and Walmart (NYSE: WMT) – has been steadily increasing its involvement in the home as a setting of care over the last couple of years.
Last year, it partnered with UCLA Health to enhance its in-home capabilities related to home infusion services. In January, it partnered with the Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) to offer in-home chemotherapy to cancer patients.
The following month, Adam Pellegrini, the SVP of enterprise virtual care and consumer health at CVS Health, told Home Health Care News that it wanted to begin connecting its existing devices to what he called a “home health hub.”
Thursday’s mention of home health as a focus area and a potential source of growth seems aligned with that mission to create that “home health hub” for consumers.
CVS Health has even begun advertising “home care” as part of its offerings to general consumers on podcasts and other mediums.