Private Payers News

CVS Health Seeks to Increase Access to Chronic Disease Management

Project Health is tackling chronic disease management and access to care by expanding its footprint through 600 new events across the nation.

CVS, chronic disease management, access to care, healthcare spending

Source: CVS Health

By Kelsey Waddill

- CVS Health’s Project Health events are expanding their footprint to address chronic disease management and prevention and to enable access to care for free.

“Chronic conditions disproportionally affect people in underserved communities,” said Kevin Hourican, executive vice president of CVS Health and president of CVS Pharmacy. “Many of the people we see at Project Health events are unaware that they may have a chronic condition, which untreated can significantly impact their health. Through these screening events, we can empower people to better manage their health by knowing their numbers, and provide them with the necessary resources they need in the community to help achieve their best health.”

Project Health focuses on chronic diseases because of the high expenditures associated with these treatments, both on the part of the patient and the healthcare system.

Treatment costs for chronic conditions, along with drug spending increases and higher employee benefits utilization, could drive medical spending up six percentage points in 2020. Furthermore, while only 12 percent of Americans suffer from five or more chronic conditions, their healthcare costs contribute 41 percent to the overall healthcare spending.

To help members prevent and manage chronic conditions and to control healthcare costs, Project Health will conduct 600 community events over the course of the next four months that involve screenings and consultations. From Boston to Los Angeles, Detroit to Dallas, the events will take place in the diverse communities of 12 major metropolitan centers across the US.

No one is excluded from these events and no appointment is necessary. The typical format for a Project Health event is simple.

First, the patient undergoes a screening which will help determine if she is at risk for any conditions. Following the screening, a bilingual nurse practitioner or physician assistant will discuss the results with the individual and, where applicable, preventive measures that the patient can take to avoid developing a chronic disease.

In serious cases, the nurse practitioner or physician assistant may refer the patient to a no- or low-cost option for follow up care.

CVSHealth is also partnering with charitable organizations, including the LGBT Center in Los Angeles and the YMCA in Atlanta, to provide members of those communities with access to care.

After over 10 years of existence, Project Health has tackled the healthcare affordability problem by offering more than $127 million in free healthcare services.

But the primary goal of these events is to provide community members with access to care. Overall, Project Health has helped almost 1.7 million Americans receive healthcare.

These one-time visits can translate into longer-term healthier lifestyle choices, as 87 percent of Project Health attendees said they followed up with their primary care provider. Patients also reported more motivation to talk with their doctor about chronic disease prevention and management metrics such as blood pressure, body mass index, and blood sugar levels.

Chronic disease management and prevention have been a priority for CVS Health this year, especially as the healthcare company began acquiring Aetna as its payer arm last year, a long legal process which finally concluded in early September 2019.

CVS Health’s recent initiative with Unite Us—the first that CVS Health and Aetna embarked upon as a joint company—established a digital and personal support network for Aetna’s Medicaid and dual eligible members in the pilot program locations. The technology platform assesses the members’ needs and connects them to a provider for support.

Around the same time, the company also announced a major investment in affordable housing, targeted at individuals with chronic conditions, as well as those with mental health challenges, substance abuse disorders, and who were at-risk for homelessness.

“Since it was founded in 2006, CVS Health's Project Health has delivered chronic health screenings to millions in communities across the country,” Garth Graham, MD, president at Aetna Foundation, vice president, community health & impact at CVS Health, told HealthPayerIntelligence.com at the time. “And, of course, through Aetna's community investments and Medicaid programs have positively impacted hundreds of thousands of low-income individuals, families, and seniors. By strengthening our local support and community engagement, we can further improve the health of our communities.”