CVS Health Taps Physician To Lead Healthcare Delivery Business

CVS Health elevated Dr. Sreekanth Chaguturu to lead the company’s healthcare delivery business a year after the company spent more than $20 billion on homecare provider Signify Health and senior clinic operator Oak Street Health.

Leaving the company is Oak Street’s co-founder, Mike Pykosz, 42, who led the Chicago-based startup that CVS paid more than $10 billion for last year. Oak Street is amid a major expansion of its standalone senior clinics as well as centers integrated into drugstores that are next to pharmacies.

But new chief executive officer David Joyner said Chaguturu, 46, will now be president of CVS health care delivery, replacing Pykosz, in addition to the physician’s current role as executive vice president and chief medical officer of the entire company.

“Sree and I worked closely together when he started at CVS Health, serving as chief medical officer of CVS Caremark,” Joyner said. “In that role, and as the leader of medical affairs at our company, Sree has served as a trusted advisor to our clients, their members, and CVS Health colleagues, consistently demonstrating our commitment to patients.”

The added responsibilities don’t appear to be any indication that any of these medical care provider assets are going away. The company’s healthcare delivery business includes Signify, which CVS bought for more than $8 billion last year, Oak Street and more than 1,000 MinuteClinics staffed by nurse practitioners that are located inside drugstores.

In the announcement regarding Chaguturu, CVS reiterated “positive trends” in the healthcare delivery business that were disclosed on its third quarter earnings call earlier this month.

“Aetna members served by Signify have nearly doubled compared to last year, supported by our ability to use touchpoints across CVS Health,” CVS said of the synergy between its ownership of Aetna, the nation’s third largest health insurance company, and the home care business.

Signify Health has a national network of more than 10,000 clinicians across all 50 states. These physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants make visits into patient homes “to identify a patient’s clinical and social needs, and then connect them to appropriate follow-up care and community-based resources in order for the patient to have a more connected, effective care experience,” Signify and CVS have said.

Oak Street earlier this year launched a national expansion of new centers alongside pharmacies in reformatted drugstores. Joyner thanked Pykosz “for his leadership and all he has done to help create a connected experience for those we serve,” the CEO said. “Mike let us know earlier in the year that he planned to move on from the company and we appreciate him helping to lead a smooth transition.”

Aside from the new formats, Oak Street already has more than 200 standalone health centers in 25 states and is continuing to scale that model.

“Enterprise connections continue to accelerate patient growth at Oak Street,” CVS added. “At-risk membership is up 32 percent from the same quarter last year and the number of Aetna members enrolled at Oak Street has approximately quadrupled since the close of the acquisition. Oak Street Health, Signify Health, and MinuteClinic all represent ways the company is building a world of health around every consumer.”

Chaguturu has been executive vice president and chief medical officer of CVS Health where he leads medical affairs organization and is “focused on advancing the highest possible clinical quality standards, increasing access to care, improving patient outcomes and reducing overall health care costs across the CVS Health enterprise,” the company said.

Before joining CVS, Chaguturu was chief population health officer of Mass General Brigham in Boston, leading the accountable care organization and other clinical programs for the largest health system in Massachusetts.

“Health care delivery connects the dots for the people we care for, as we provide better care in our Oak Street Health clinics, in our pharmacies at MinuteClinic, and at home through Signify Health,” Chaguturu said. “We will continue to keep our patients front and center of every decision we make. As we succeed in our work, it means more than 185 million people in our country live better lives. This is what we are capable of at CVS Health when we stay focused on delivering the best care for our friends, family, and neighbors.”