CVS-Aetna, Walgreens, Walmart, Amazon, Optum-United Health Group — they’re all buying primary care practices or hiring primary care practitioners (PCPs) directly. Never before have the titans of capitalism shown such interest in the humble family physician. And therein lies a story with huge but uncertain implications for American health care. This new trend could greatly bolster, or dangerously distort, U.S. primary care, a critical component of a healthy health care system.
Can New Players Revive U.S. Primary Care?
CVS-Aetna, Walgreens, Walmart, Amazon, and Optum-United Health Group are all buying practices or hiring PCPs directly.
January 07, 2022
Summary.
Primary care in the United States has long been undervalued. Can companies moving into this space address its chronic problem — namely, that it is undervalued and undercompensated? There are three strategies they could employ: use primary care as a loss leader for their mainstay business; make fee-for-service primary care more profitable by increasing its productivity; apply a capitation model and assume the financial risk of the cost of care.
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