How CVS’s new engagement app is trying to change American healthcare
The pharmacy and drugstore chain plans to launch the app some time next year
CVS announced its plan to launch a new healthcare engagement platform in order to “uniquely reimagine health care through improved engagement and simplified experiences,” the chain said.
The first-of-its-kind platform will include data and services offered by CVS’s various health businesses, as well as those of participating industry partners, company executives said Tuesday during CVS’s investor day.
“CVS Health plans to bring together the various components of health care into one easy to use platform, anchored in a singular app,” the healthcare giant said in a press release.
The pharmacy chain hopes that the new app will generate revenue by increasing consumer interest in CVS products and services, Healthcare Dive reported.
The company has apparently been considering creating an “everything app” combining all of its services, like its pharmacy and health benefits, onto one convenient platform for years, according to Healthcare Dive.
Executives said that of CVS’s 185 million consumers, about 62 million engage with the company digitally, though that number would be expected to increase with the new platform.
The new engagement platform will include a comprehensive profile for each user, pulling data from their electronic health records, pharmacy orders and home health and wearable devices, according to the report.
The company says the app will also take the stress away from things like finding a new doctor or scheduling visits or tests.
Executives said the platform is being built with artificial intelligence and will include an agentic AI chatbot to help customers.
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The app is expected to launch some time next year. It was not immediately clear how much CVS was spending to build the platform, or how much revenue the company expects it will generate.
Leerink analyst Michael Cherny was optimistic that the app would drive growth, telling Healthcare Dive, “We look forward to hearing more but see the totality of the CVS enterprise as ripe for building out a platform like this.”
CVS’s push to improve customer engagement comes at a time when roughly one-third of Americans don’t have a healthcare provider, and as the country is facing physician shortages, rising healthcare costs and inadequate access to quality care.
It also comes as the Affordable Care Act, which allows between 22 and 24 million Americans to receive their health insurance, is set to expire for millions of Americans at the end of the month. The Senate is planning to vote on two healthcare-related bills Thursday – but both are expected to fail.
Given many Americans’ poor experiences with the healthcare system, CVS now hopes its new “engagement as a service” platform will be an improvement.
“Strong consumer engagement – a lot of companies have stood up here and said that they’re going to do that. It still remains elusive,” Prem Shah, CVS’s executive vice president and group president, said during investor day. “Our industry has chased engagement but no one has yet caught it.”
The Independent has reached out to CVS for comment.
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