CVS Health shook up its executive suite, adding new responsibilities for several members of the company’s executive leadership team, effective Thursday amid Wall Street scrutiny of the company’s healthcare strategy.
The moves, made by CVS president and chief executive officer Karen S. Lynch, come at a difficult time for retail pharmacies, which have seen their stock prices battered on Wall Street in recent weeks. The CVS announcement also comes less than a week after rival Walgreens Boots Alliance chief executive officer Roz Brewer stepped down after less than three years on the job.
In CVS Health’s case, Lynch said the company is “advancing leaders who are driving patient-centric innovation.”
“Our leaders are deploying the full set of our capabilities to improve overall health, lower costs, and provide broad access to care for the people and communities we serve,” Lynch said in a statement.
The following moves were made:
* Shawn Guertin will continue as chief financial officer, adding the new role of president of health services. “As President of Health Services, Guertin will be responsible for unifying the company’s care delivery assets, driving innovative strategies while expanding products and services, and delivering results across these growth businesses,” CVS said. “Oak Street Health and Signify Health will continue to be aligned under Health Services. These recently acquired assets bring core capabilities to the company’s value-based care platform that drive optimal patient engagement with health services across multiple channels.”
For CVS, the acquisition of Oak Street, an operator of health clinics for seniors, and Signify, which provides home care, is part of Lynch’s strategy to have CVS and its companies touch the “entire spectrum of someone’s health journey.”
* – Prem Shah will continue as the healthcare company’s Chief Pharmacy Officer but will now become “President of Pharmacy and Consumer Wellness.”
* – Michelle Peluso, who is CVS Health’s chief customer and experience officer, “will expand her focus to create a superior end-to-end patient experience across all of the company’s care delivery and customer service channels,” the company said.
* Brian Kane, formerly chief financial officer at rival health insurance company Humana, joined CVS just this week as president of Aetna, which is the nation’s third largest health insurance company with more than 25 million health plan members. CVS bought Aetna in 2018.