CVS Health to Invest $20 Billion to Build ‘Tech-Enabled Consumer Health Experience’

CVS Health reportedly plans to invest $20 billion over the next 10 years to build a “tech-enabled consumer health experience” that will encompass the company, its vertically integrated businesses, and other companies, including competitors, who want to join.

The project planned by CVS aims to create interoperability that enables different players in the healthcare sector to talk to each other, ideally through a single patient record, Yahoo Finance reported Tuesday (June 3), citing an interview with CVS Health Chief Experience and Technology Officer Tilak Mandadi.

“We know exactly what the friction points are,” Mandadi said in the report. “And all those friction points are addressable by having better connectivity, real-time decision making … and timely payment.”

Mandadi said the current lack of integration in the healthcare sector is customers’ “No. 1 complaint.”

Greater interoperability could, for example, let patients know about potential issues with a claim as the claim is being processed, rather than after it has been denied, according to the report.

The CVS solution could also include a dashboard that would give doctors’ offices or CVS pharmacies a full picture of the patient’s healthcare journey, rather than a single visit or prescription, the report said.

The company also aims to use technology to more proactively share cost estimates with customers, per the report.

Such a system will require approval by consumers and regulators, according to the report.

“Consumers are willing to share and give permission to trusted brands if that makes their experience a lot better,” Mandadi said in the report. “That’s pretty well established. So I don’t think consumers [are] the problem.”

Healthcare providers are pressed to address patients’ needs for transparent and easy access to critical health-related information and the ability to perform patient care-related tasks via digital channels, according to the PYMNTS Intelligence and Experian Health collaboration, “The Digital Healthcare Gap: Streamlining the Patient Journey.”

The report found that 18% of consumers said selecting healthcare professionals and asking questions was problematic, and 15% reported difficulties obtaining accurate cost estimates for appointments. It also found that 32% of consumers who are not using patient portals would be very or extremely interested in using one if their providers offered them.

CVS Health CEO David Joyner said in February that advancing digital strategies is one of four priorities for 2025 and that the company’s newly designed app will help “drive simplicity and efficiency while delivering better experiences for the people we serve.”