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      Environmental health impact initiative

      Supporting people most vulnerable to extreme weather events

      Delivering personalized care ahead of extreme weather events

      At CVS Health®, we understand that extreme weather affects human health — and we know that severe weather events, like heat waves, are becoming more common and can contribute to environmental conditions like poor air quality. That’s why we launched a first-of-its-kind environmental health impact initiative, aimed at helping people most vulnerable to extreme weather.

      Our innovative climate solutions

      Care tailored to fit patients’ needs

      Based on real-time weather data, we can predict extreme weather events several days in advance. By combining that data with patients’ medical, pharmacy and demographic information, our Aetna registered nurse care managers can contact vulnerable patients and members ahead of extreme weather events to provide recommendations, including directing them to cooling centers and providing guidance for minimizing heat exhaustion or exposure to high levels of air pollution that can worsen lung function, asthma and cardiac problems.

      Frequently asked questions

      There is growing clinical evidence on the convergence between extreme heat, air quality and individual health. Extreme heat and poor air quality can worsen chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). For example, according to the American Heart Association, the risk of dying from a heart attack may double on days with both extremely high temperatures and excessive levels of pollution.

      Our nationwide Environmental Health Impact Initiative is the first of its kind to help people most vulnerable to extreme weather events.

      The initiative pairs real-time and highly localized forecasting data on heat, humidity, air quality, and other weather-related insights with a patient’s medical, pharmacy and demographic data.

      Using this information, our registered nurse care managers proactively contact our highest risk patients and members with personalized recommendations up to several days in advance of an extreme weather event.

      We use heat, humidity, air quality and other weather-related data that allows us to map the current and future state of our atmosphere at a specific location and time, providing accurate, real-time and highly localized weather insights. Our risk model can predict a heat wave exceeding 88 degrees Fahrenheit and identify patients living in areas with a concentration of particulate matter corresponding to an unhealthy air quality index (AQI) up to several days in advance.

      We then couple that information with patients’ medical, pharmacy, and demographic data, as well as data related to social determinants of health, to reach out to those most at-risk. Based on this information, our registered nurse care managers proactively reach out to vulnerable patients and members up to several days in advance of an extreme weather event and provide them personalized tips and resources.

      Our registered nurse care managers provide educational and/or action-based recommendations tailored to each patient’s profile. Recommendations range from checking in with vulnerable patients and members post-hospital care to provide general education about air quality, heat exhaustion and allergy mitigation strategies, to directing them to the company’s range of resources, like Oak Street Health® clinics available as cooling centers, health services provided at MinuteClinic® locations, medication management at CVS Pharmacy®, access to virtual or in-person mental health counseling through MinuteClinic in select states and more.  

      Recommendations may also include referring patients to allergy testing, if needed, and directing patients to community resources that provide access to transportation, nutritious food and other social determinants of health to increase access to health care services and improve health and well-being.   

      Abstracts

      1. Zaleski AL, Kusnadi J, Craig KJ, Fressin F, Nelson L, Simoni E, Knecht D, Verbrugge DJ, Chaguturu SK. Safeguarding Continuity of Care for Retail Pharmacy Consumers During Major Climate-Related Events. Status: Accepted 11/1/23; Presented as a poster at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement Forum 2023; December 10 – 13, 2023. Orlando, FL.
      2. Zaleski AL, Craig KJT, Fressin F, Kusnadi J, Nelson L, Simoni E, Knecht D, Verbrugge DJ, Chaguturu SK. Safeguarding Continuity of Care for Retail Pharmacy Consumers During Major Climate-Related Events. Status: Submitted 1/22/24; Accepted 1/22/24; Presented 2/6/24 as a poster at the 2024 CAFÉ Climate and Health Conference. February 6, 2024; Virtual.
      3. Zaleski AL, Craig KJT, Fressin F, Kusnadi J, Nelson L, Simoni E, Knecht D, Verbrugge DJ, Chaguturu SK. Climate Resiliency: Using Informatics to Safeguard the Continuity of Care for Retail Pharmacy Consumers During Major Hurricanes. Status: Submitted 11/29/23; Accepted 2/16/24 as a poster presentation at the American Medical Information Association (AMIA) 2024 Clinical Informatics Conference; May 21 – 23, 2024; Minneapolis, MN. 
      4. Zaleski AL, Craig KJT, Fressin F, Simoni E, Williams S, Wright J, Traxler JM, Verbrugge DJ, Chaguturu SK. Health “Climformatics”: Leveraging Clinical Informatics to Bridge Climate Resiliency and the Quintuple Aim of Healthcare. Status: Submitted 11/30/23; Accepted 2/16/24 as an Ignite-style talk at the American Medical Information Association (AMIA) 2024 Clinical Informatics Conference; May 21 – 23, 2024; Minneapolis, MN. 
      5. Zaleski AL, Hines AL, Craig KJT, Kulkarni SV, Simoni E, Verbrugge DJ, Hamilton E, Knecht D. Impact of Extreme Heat Days on Healthcare Utilization and Expenditures Among Members of a Large National Payor. Status: Submitted 3/18/24; Accepted 6/28/24 as a poster presentation to the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) 2024 Annual Symposium. Nov 9 – 13, 2024; San Francisco, CA. Presented and published 11/12/24.
      6. Zaleski AL, Craig KJT, Horman S, Getler P, Wright J, Beltz E, Williams S, Verbrugge DJ, Chaguturu S. Leveraging Geolocation Technology to Support Retail Pharmacy Consumers During Hurricane Beryl. Status: Submitted 11/1/24; Accepted 11/4/24 as a poster presentation to the Institute for Healthcare Improvement 2024 Forum; December 8-11, 2024; Orlando, FL. Presented and published 12/9/24.
      7. Zaleski AL, Craig KJT, Horman S, Getler P, Wright J, Beltz E, Williams S, Verbrugge DJ, Chaguturu S. Description and Real-World Outcomes of a Centralized Technology-based Solution to Improve Geospatial Data Capture and Enterprise Resiliency During Extreme Weather Events. Status: Submitted 9/17/24; Accepted 11/27/24 as a podium presentation to the AMIA 2025 Informatics Summit. March 10-13, 2025. Pittsburgh, PA.
      8. Sarabu C, Surio P, Zaleski AL, Weber W. Addressing Environmental Drivers of Health Using Patient-Level Data in EHRs and Other Information Systems. Status: Submitted 11/15/24 for consideration as a panel presentation to the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) 2025 Clinical Informatics Conference. May 20-22, 2025; Anaheim, CA. Under consideration.

       

      Manuscripts

      1. Schleyer T, Berenji M, Deck M, Chung H, Choi J, Cullen T, Burdick T, Zaleski AL, Craig KJT, Fayanju OA. Climate and health: How can informatics help? Status: Published online 1/16/24 as a preprint in ESS Open Archive.
      2. Schleyer T, Berenji M, Deck M, Chung H, Choi J, Cullen T, Burdick T, Zaleski AL, Craig KJT, Fayanju OA, AIslam MM. AMIA Climate, Health and Informatics Working Group. Status: A Call for the Informatics Community to Define Priority Practice and Research Areas at the Intersection of Climate and Health: Report from a Mini-Summit. Status: Submitted 8/26/2024; Accepted 11/10/24 to JAMIA. 

      Extreme weather resources