Dive Brief:
- Three healthcare companies grace the top ten list of the Fortune 500: McKesson, UnitedHealth Group, and CVS Health.
- The next insurer on the list, Anthem, comes in at number 33, with it's $54 billion proposed deal to buy Cigna still pending and a contract dispute with Express Scripts that lead to a lawsuit and then a countersuit in April.
- Overall, the Fortune 500 had total annual revenues of $12 trillion, a bit down (4%) from last year's $12.5 trillion, and represents about 66% the size of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to USA Today.
Dive Insight:
Several healthcare companies jumped more than 100 points on this year's list, including Kindred Healthcare, a home health and hospice organization (119 places up to No. 372), Molina Healthcare, a California-based managed care company (100 places up to No. 201), and Laboratory Corporation of America (115 places up to No. 325).
McKesson, the largest U.S. pharmaceutical distributor, has moved up in ranking from 11th to 5th place this year with $181 billion in revenues and more than 70,000 employees. It serves more than half of all U.S. hospitals and delivers 30% of all medications used daily across North America, according to the company website. The company also provides IT services, including EHRs, revenue cycle management, and health plan management.
UnitedHealth Group is now number 6, climbing up from 14th place last year. The company has made some broad changes, including leaving American's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the industry's largest trade group.
UnitedHealth also announced it will be leaving Obamacare marketplaces after big losses. It has boosted its health services platform, Optum and Optum Rx, through the $12.8 billion purchase of Catamaran,and a mail-order prescription drug agreement with Walgreens. The company has $157 billion in revenue and more than 100 million global customers.
CVS Health ranks just after UnitedHealth Group at number 7, up from 10th place last year. CVS took over 1,700 instore drugstores from Target and is launching order pickup this year. Revenue tops $153 billion.
Although the company is still feeling the repercussions from banning cigarette sales, it's gaining positive PR from that decision, which is helping to gain more customers for its Caremark pharmacy benefits manager.