The power of one rings loud and clear at CVS Caremark's 2013 Analyst Day

Top CVS Caremark executives gathered in New York City on Wednesday for its 2013 Analyst Day to outline the company’s strategies to drive long-term enterprise growth through its vast pool of assets and its nimbleness in responding to the evolving healthcare landscape.



It marked the third year that the Woonsocket, R.I.-based company has hosted its Analyst Day meeting in December, but this year’s event no doubt proved especially timely since we’re just days away from the start of the New Year when health reform will begin to significantly alter U.S. health care.



CVS Caremark has long stressed the importance and uniqueness of its integrated business model but that message has perhaps never been louder or as clear prior to Wednesday’s meeting. For CVS Caremark it isn’t about driving just pharmacy sales or front-end sales or bolstering revenues of its PBM business. It is about all of the above — and then some. It is about driving enterprise growth and capitalizing on the opportunities created by the evolving healthcare landscape to help improve health outcomes and lower costs.



Whether it was Helena Foulkes, incoming president of CVS/pharmacy, discussing its retail operations or Andy Sussman, SVP and associate chief medical offering and president of MinuteClinic, speaking on the MinuteClinic business, it all tied back to driving enterprise growth and leveraging the opportunities created by the evolving marketplace. In other words, the power of one.



“I get incredibly excited about the opportunities the changing health care landscape creates for us. We’ve given a lot of thought to how we can capitalize on these changes to grow our business,” Foulkes told analysts. “First, as Larry [Merlo] mentioned, there’s what we’re calling the retailization of health care. We know that consumers are looking for health, navigating the complexities and the confusion of the health care system.”



There’s no denying that the company’s vast enterprise — comprised of 7,600 retail locations, the PBM and about 800 MinuteClinic locations — creates a sustainable competitive advantage for the company.



“We’re focused on enhancing access, lowering costs and improving health outcomes and our consumer driven, channel-agnostic solutions are creating real value for patients, customers and clients. 
And this is how we’ll continue to win share in the marketplace,” Merlo told analysts.