Health insurers are picking up some of Walgreens’ former care delivery businesses after the pharmacy chain’s multibillion-dollar push into primary care fell apart in 2024.
Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey said Oct. 21 it plans to acquire Summit Health’s New Jersey operations, including CityMD urgent care sites in the state. Harbor Health, an Austin, Texas-based startup that operates clinics and sells its own health plans, is buying 27 Village Medical primary care clinics in the Houston area, on top of 32 VillageMD clinics it acquired in Texas last year.
Walgreens invested $5.2 billion in VillageMD in 2021 to increase its ownership to 63%, part of the pharmacy chain’s bet on retail-based primary care. VillageMD then acquired Summit Health and CityMD in 2023 for $8.9 billion, while Cigna’s Evernorth took a minority stake. In 2024, Cigna disclosed it had determined its investment in VillageMD was “fully impaired” and recorded a $2.7 billion investment loss.
VillageMD’s clinics struggled to attract enough patients to be sustainable, and many of its locations inside Walgreens stores faced space constraints that limited the services they could offer. Walgreens closed at least 160 clinics and posted billions in losses before private equity firm Sycamore Partners acquired the company and took it private in August 2025. The deal was at up to $23.7 billion, including debt and potential contingent payments.
Following the acquisition, Walgreens, The Boots Group, Shields Health Solutions, CareCentrix and VillageMD began operating as five standalone companies. VillageMD includes the Village Medical, Summit Health and CityMD businesses.
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