CVS Health plans to significantly extend health services at its brick-and-mortar pharmacies if it closes a potential $66 billion-plus bid for Aetna, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Here are four things to know.
1. The expansion would aim to cut emergency room use for Aetna's approximately 23 million members by enhancing preventative care access across CVS Health's 9,700 outlets. The move could save more than $1 billion each year, the sources said.
2. Savings from this strategy could take years to surface, as it would require billions of dollars in investments to expand CVS Health's clinics. Staff and equipment costs would also require large investments, according to the report.
3. However, the sources said funds for planned investments at CVS retail facilities would be diverted toward health service expansion instead, should the deal surface and succeed.
4. A deal between CVS Health and Aetna could arrive as early as Monday, sources familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal Thursday. The deal may also be pushed back or may never materialize, the sources told Reuters.
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