How CVS improves patient health

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — Improving patient care is constantly on the mind of CVS Health. In fact, this has been constantly on the mind of Stephen Gold, who has served as the retailer’s EVP and CIO since 2012.

Gold sat down for an interview with the Wall Street Journal where he talked in detail about patient care and patient health. Regarding what CVS has done to improve patient care, “Some of it is technological, some of it is process, and some of it is people and culture,” he told the newspaper. “At the tip of the spear would be what we’re doing in our innovation laboratory in Boston, where the goal is to basically operate in a mode that mimics a startup. A mind-set of experimentation, iteration, rapid testing and failure is part of the process. This laboratory is focused on bringing new digital products and services to market.”

As for sources of data related to patient health: “The data we get from patients’ prescription behaviors is key,” Gold said. “It’s the patient’s profile, their gender, their age, any allergies they may have, any disease state. All the information that is needed to appropriately care for the patient. We also have a proprietary platform that we call the health engagement engine, which is basically a very sophisticated, clinically focused customer-relationship management system that allows us to transform health-care data into actionable interventions that improve outcomes and reduce costs. We’re constantly expanding the number of interventions and use cases that can be delivered through this platform.”

To read the full interview, click here.