CVS HealthHUB
The next big thing in retail pharmacy
Retail pharmacy chains are continuously innovating and coming up with ways to differentiate themselves in the competitive pharmacy market today. Companies like CVS and Walgreens are now finding themselves competing with Amazon (PillPack) along with various other types of mail order pharmacies and services. CVS has come up with a way to transform the setting of retail pharmacy and offer an expanded range of health services along with wellness products. This new project is being called CVS HealthHUB and they will be transforming different stores around the country to this new format.
These new HealthHUB stores will have expanded minute clinic offerings including screening and monitoring for chronic conditions like blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes. These stores will have a variety of nurse practitioners, physician assistants, licensed practical nurses, and pharmacists. This really invokes the concept of patient centered care. HealthHUB stores will also have Wellness rooms which gives patients a chance to take a well-being class, listen to a nutrition seminar, get help with insurance navigation, or attend community events. These stores will also offer expanded wellness products for nutrition and fitness essentials as well as chronic condition support and durable medical equipment. These stores will be open every day including evenings and weekends. Pharmacists will also have a consultation room where they can take an expanded role on counseling patients on medications as well as medical devices like CPAP machines.
It is going to be interesting to see how effective these new stores are given the changing environment today especially with COVID-19 sweeping the country. The consensus is that healthcare in general will shift from in-person visits to virtual and online care. CVS HealthHUB stores are aimed at doing the opposite and making the in-store experience more important. I have spoken to various pharmacists about this new change and one of the concerns they have is not having enough time to partake in the expanded role and emphasis on consultation. Given the busy atmosphere in retail pharmacy, pharmacists often only have a couple of minutes to counsel a patient on their new medication. Therefore, it will be a lot harder to counsel a patient for up to 15 minutes without additional pharmacist hours or multiple pharmacists working at the same time. Overall, this is a great and innovative idea CVS Health has taken to compete in the market and I believe they will be successful in the long run.
Thanks for reading,
Dennys Tapia III
