CVS/Oak Street: acquisition will take time to pay off
One study found that up to $935bn, or about a quarter of total US healthcare spending, is wasted every year. CVS thinks it has a prescription for a small improvement to this notoriously inefficient healthcare system.
The US government is pushing to lower costs and improve outcomes. The pharmacy chain hopes to do its bit — while protecting margins — by buying primary care centre operator Oak Street Health for $10.6bn in cash, including debt.
The move will accelerate CVS’s push into other parts of the healthcare chain. But coming just five months after it agreed to acquire home healthcare services company Signify Health for $8bn, Oak Street should attract antitrust scrutiny.
This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Faqs of Insurances
