CVS Wants to Be a Healthcare Provider. So Why Doesn’t It Have Any Doctors?

Late last year, CVS Health CEO Karen Lynch unveiled a new strategy: Rather than remain simply a pit stop for toilet paper and flu shots, CVS stores would become a place that Americans—particularly older ones—go to see their doctor. 

It was an appealing plan, one that would take advantage of the company’s breadth of vertically integrated assets, which include a major health insurer; the country’s largest pharmacy benefit manager, or PBM; and a sprawling network of stores. Lynch said the company aimed to add yet another powerful link by acquiring a primary-care provider, a move that could boost earnings and, ideally, improve healthcare for seniors along the way.