CVS Health said on Wednesday it will separate its retail pharmacy operations into a standalone business to be called CVS Pharmacy, in a restructuring that divides its drugstore and clinic network from its insurance and benefits units. The company, which the statement described as the largest U.S. healthcare conglomerate with a market value of about $117 billion, framed the move as a reorganisation of its operations.
Details of the new pharmacy unit
CVS Pharmacy will encompass the company’s roughly 9,000 retail pharmacies, its in-store clinics and its mail-order prescription business, according to the announcement. Those operations will be consolidated under the new business as part of the split.
What remains at CVS Health
The parent company will retain its major insurer Aetna and its pharmacy benefits manager, Caremark. Those businesses will remain within the CVS Health corporate structure following the separation of the pharmacy chain.
A shift in corporate structure
In its announcement, CVS presented the separation as a significant change to the group’s organisation, drawing a clearer line between frontline retail pharmacy services and insurance and benefits management. The company did not provide further detail in the release on timing, leadership or financial terms of the split.
The decision follows a period during which large healthcare companies combined retail, insurance and benefits services into integrated conglomerates; the CVS move restructures that integration by creating distinct operating units focused on different parts of the healthcare value chain.