2019 will be a transition year for CVS, amid drug pricing pressures
CVS Health chief executive Larry Merlo said 2019 will be a year of product launches with the addition of Aetna, while grappling with some serious prescription reimbursement pressures as U.S. drug pricing evolves.
CVS is integrating its $70 billion acquisition of Aetna, the nation’s third-largest health insurer that ended 2018 with 22 million members. The deal offers opportunities Merlo said will include offering new products to existing health plan enrollees as well as other insurers and employer clients by via an “open platform model” CVS will unveil in the 2021 selling season.
“We view 2019 as a bridge to the future,” CVS CEO Merlo told analysts on a 78-minute call to discuss the company's fourth quarter 2018 earnings call Wednesday morning.
In the meantime, however, CVS expects some “headwinds” including the introduction of new generics, uncertainty surrounding rebates and an underperforming Omnicare long-term care business. Read more from Forbes contributor Bruce Japsen.
MAKING THE ROUNDS
More on CVS: Wall Street analysts are beginning to question whether Omnicare is still “strategic to the company” following CVS’ disclosure Wednesday that the long-term care business triggered a “$2.2 billion goodwill impairment charge.” CVS bought Omnicare in 2015 in a deal valued at nearly $13 billion.
The FDA issued a warning about "establishments in several states" that are selling "young blood" plasma transfusions as supposed treatments for conditions like normal aging, memory loss, dementia, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, heart disease, or post-traumatic stress disorder.
National health spending is expected to reach nearly $6 trillion in less than 10 years, accounting for 19% of gross domestic product, the federal government said Wednesday. The projections don’t include potential changes in U.S. health policy such as the shift to value-based care models or the increasing role of private insurers.
NEWS YOU CAN USE
Most people have no doubt heard that sitting is the new smoking—sedentarism is linked to all kinds of undesirable outcomes, like cancer, thinning of certain brain regions, and mortality. It’s also linked to heart disease, and a new study from the University of California, San Diego confirms the connection in aging women.
Not only does the total amount of sedentary time seem to confer heart risk over the years, but the length of each bout of sitting also seems to matter. The bottom line is as it has been: Get up and move as often as you can. Read more.
Did someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.
