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Partnering across the Health System to Lower Costs and Improve Quality

March 01, 2018 | Prescription Savings

Effectively addressing the nation’s health care needs requires collaboration and coordination across the health care system. By entering into innovative partnerships with other organizations who share our goals, CVS Health is able to work more efficiently and effectively to improve health outcomes and reduce health care costs.

From empowering providers with greater visibility into drug benefits at the point of prescribing to partnering with payors to help patients access the right care they need at the right time, CVS Health is driving integration and connectivity in the health care system. Some of our innovative collaborations include:

  • CVS Caremark, the company’s pharmacy benefits manager, is providing access to actionable information across all points of care through “Real-Time Benefits.” This enhanced visibility into member-specific medication costs and available lower-cost therapeutic alternatives at the point-of-prescribing and the pharmacy can help streamline the patient experience and improve health outcomes while also lowering costs.
  • Our recently expanded affiliation with Cleveland Clinic is one of a number of clinical network affiliations with world-class institutions that facilitate better patient care. The Cleveland Clinic collaboration advances care by defining and aligning quality measures and facilitating more comprehensive information sharing through EHRs so clinicians can more effectively help patients manage their chronic conditions and improve health outcomes as a result.
  • Through Cigna Health Workssm, a collaboration between CVS Health and health insurer Cigna, patients are offered convenient and affordable access to needed health care services at MinuteClinic, which in many instances can serve as a an effective and appropriate alternative to Urgent Care and Emergency Room visits. Cigna data show that roughly 45 percent of their customers' Urgent Care facility visits could have been conducted at retail health care clinics, potentially reducing their health care costs by 81 percent per visit.Cigna Next Gen Access Opportunity Analysis Report, Greater South Florida, 1/2015 12/2015

These collaborations do more than facilitate access to care – they play important roles in driving down costs and improving quality. Partnerships are one of the multiple strategies we employ to help patients access high-quality, low-cost care.

For more information about how CVS Health is working to ensure patients have access to affordable health care, visit our Cost of Care information center and the CVS Health Impact Dashboard. And to stay informed about the most talked-about topics in health care, register for content alerts and our bi-weekly health care newsletter.