Health is Primary campaign taps CVS Health as its retail face

WASHINGTON — The Health is Primary campaign on Friday announced a collaboration with CVS Health to increase coordination of care between primary care providers and retail pharmacies and clinics, including CVS/pharmacy and MinuteClinic.

 

This initiative will advocate for patient access to coordinated, continuous care and help to ensure that all consumers have access to a primary care provider. Together, Health is Primary and CVS Health will work to educate consumers about the medical neighborhood and how the different parts of the health care system — primary care, pharmacy, retail clinics, acute and post-acute care, diagnostic services, public health, and community and social services — play a role in keeping patients healthy.

 

“We cannot address the biggest health care problems in this country without a strong primary care foundation and true collaboration across the health care system,” stated Glen Stream, president and board chair of Family Medicine for America's Health, the organization behind the Health is Primary campaign. “Patients need a regular source of care and they need to know that, wherever they access care, they can be assured of a system that is coordinated and working together to keep them healthy. Across the country, CVS Health and its MinuteClinic are already working with primary care providers to strengthen the medical neighborhood. We want to elevate this model of collaboration to ensure that all patients understand and have access to continuous, coordinated care.”

 

The Health is Primary campaign will work with CVS Health to disseminate patient materials that provide a roadmap for understanding the various resources available through the medical neighborhood while helping them know when and where to access these services. In addition, the campaign will highlight models of collaboration that can help accelerate a shift to a primary care-based health care system.

 

“Patients should expect both convenient access as well as high-quality health care,” said Andrew Sussman, EVP and associate chief medical officer of CVS Health and president, CVS/minuteclinic. “We know that patient health and outcomes improve when patients utilize the resources available to them throughout the medical neighborhood and when providers across the health care system are working together. By partnering with primary care and family medicine, we will continue to improve provider collaboration and help ensure all patients have access to primary care within a coordinated medical neighborhood.”