Customers may soon be able to see a therapist or social worker by stopping in at their local CVS.
A pilot program that placed licensed mental and behavioral health specialists at CVS HealthHubs in certain metropolitan areas is meeting with positive feedback, CVS Health officials told analysts during a first-quarter earnings call Tuesday, and could eventually be expanded to other HealthHub locations throughout the country.
CVS Health President and CEO Karen S. Lynch said the new services were designed and rolled out in response to concerns about worsening mental health, substance abuse and domestic violence amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
“What we are trying to do is connect physical health with mental health,” she said.
At locations offering mental and behavioral care, patients are typically screened through a MinuteClinic and then referred to the HealthHub. Costs are covered for Aetna-insured patients, and the company is working with other insurers to help reduce expenses for other customers.
Lynch said patients were typically seen three times in the month following their first contact with CVS mental and behavioral health specialists, indicating pent-up demand at a time when many therapists are overbooked and patients face daunting wait times.
“Clearly there’s a need to make those connections,” she said. “It’s a differentiator for us.”
Lynch also touched on CVS’s ongoing efforts to reenter several public health insurance exchanges next year. Those plans, first announced in February, would see the conglomerate offer CVS-Aetna-branded health insurance products on Affordable Care Act marketplaces in eight states.
The company has taken a “disciplined and deliberate approach” to selecting those states and is in the process of filing rates, Lynch said.
CVS Health reported net income of $2.2 billion, or $1.68 per share, for the first three months of the year, up from $2 billion, or $1.53 per share, in the year-ago period. Total revenues grew from $66.7 billion in the first quarter of 2020 to $69 billion in the first quarter of 2021.
Company officials attributed those gains to strong performance in CVS’s government services segment, improved purchasing economics and effective cost-saving measures.
The conglomerate also saw modest growth in its retail segment, though the unit did face headwinds in the form of a dramatically weaker cough, cold and flu season, likely as a result of masking and social distancing rules.