CVS is buying primary care provider Oak Street Health for $10.6 billion, giving the drugstore giant a deeper footprint in the medical services business.
Oak Street employs about 600 primary care providers at 169 medical centers across 21 states. Its urgent care centers primarily serve lower-to middle-income clients on Medicare Advantage plans, the companies said in Wednesday’s announcement. More than half of its patients have a food, housing, or isolation risk factor.
For CVS, the deal expands on a suite of health care goods and services that includes its expansive network of drugstores and the health insurer Aetna, which it acquired for $78 billion five years ago. It also gives it access to Oak Street’s user interface, Canopy, that is used to coordinate care, similar to the platform used by Amazon’s One Medical.
Oak Street will be folded into a new health care delivery organization within CVS, and will continue to be led by chief executive Mike Pykosz.
The all-cash deal is expected to close later this year.
This is a developing story and will be updated.