CVS Plans To Expand With Dietitians, Medical Equipment, Yoga

(AP) – CVS Health is pushing deeper into health services with plans to add dietitians, medical equipment and space for the occasional yoga class to 1,500 stores over the next few years. The drugstore chain that quit selling tobacco several years ago said Tuesday it will expand a store model it recently tested. Its HealthHub stores will have about twice as much space devoted to health care as other locations and will aim to help people with chronic conditions like diabetes. The expansion comes as rival Walgreens experiments with adding primary care offices and as the U.S. health care system turns its focus to keeping patients healthy instead of waiting to treat them once they become sick. Insurers and other payers have started covering things like dietitian visits with the hope that such care keeps patients out of expensive hospitals. CVS leaders think the company can play a key role in this movement by making health care routine instead of something people think about only when they visit a doctor. “The ultimate goal is bring more health services into people’s communities where they can access them as part of their daily life,” Executive Vice President Dr. Alan Lotvin said. But the drugstores may face questions about their motive, never mind competition from major doctor groups and hospital systems that have their own support staff working to keep patients healthy. The management of chronic illnesses has become a big source of health care spending, not...
Source: WBZ-TV - Breaking News, Weather and Sports for Boston, Worcester and New Hampshire - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Boston News Health CVS Source Type: news