Name: Ed DeVaney
Previous title: Interim president, CVS Caremark
New title: President, CVS Caremark
DeVaney will lead CVS’ pharmacy benefit manager after roughly two months in the interim role, the healthcare giant said in a Monday press release.
Before serving as interim president at Caremark, DeVaney led sales and account management as president of employer and health plans at the PBM. He joined CVS in 2005, after working at human resources consultancy Hewitt Associates, according to CVS.
The appointment marks the latest in a spate of leadership changes at CVS as the company’s insurance segment struggles to manage increased medical costs. David Joyner, who previously led Caremark, was named CVS president and CEO in October, replacing previous chief executive Karen Lynch.
In November, the company appointed Steve Nelson, formerly the CEO of value-based primary care company ChenMed, to lead CVS’ insurer Aetna. The unit’s previous head was removed last summer.
The PBM business has faced its own challenges, as lawmakers and federal regulators ramp up scrutiny of the drug middlemen. Last year, the Federal Trade Commission sued the nation’s three largest PBMs, including Caremark, arguing they steered patients toward more expensive insulin medications to bring in larger rebates from pharmaceutical companies.
But PBMs say their efforts are key to negotiating lower costs for drugs and that they pass on the lion’s share of rebate savings to clients.
“Our work is a critical counterbalance to the monopolistic tendencies of drug manufacturers,” Joyner said on an earnings call with investors last week. “This is why PBMs are needed and why manufacturers fight so hard to limit our capabilities.”
Meanwhile, CVS saw its profits slashed nearly in half last year as Aetna wrestled with elevated medical spending, especially in Medicare Advantage and Medicaid. But the company showed signs of financial improvement in the fourth quarter, beating investor expectations on earnings and revenue.
