Dive Brief:
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CVS Health named emergency medicine physician Marc-David Munk as MinuteClinic’s new chief medical officer and CVS Health’s associate chief medical officer.
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Munk’s role will be to “lead and oversee MinuteClinic's patient care strategies with a focus on ensuring that MinuteClinic continues to provide high-quality clinical care to patients.”
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Most recently, Munk served as chief medical officer at primary care company Iora Health and was chief medical officer at Reliant Medical Group.
Dive Insight:
In announcing Munk’s hiring, CVS pointed to how MinuteClinic’s new CMO helped restructure Iora Health’s model of care, including integrating behavioral health. Iora Health has tried a few different care delivery systems, including health coaches, which could play a role in transforming MinuteClinic.
Martin Levine, another former Iora employee who ran Iora Health’s Seattle clinics, was recently scooped up by Amazon, which has announced it will form a healthcare company alongside J.P. Morgan and Berkshire Hathaway.
Munk joins CVS and MinuteClinic at a potentially company-transforming time. MinuteClinic will play a key role if the $69 billion CVS-Aetna merger goes through.
If the merger gets regulatory approval, expanding MinuteClinics could play a role in helping Aetna improve care coordination and patient access and health. The new company could also reduce healthcare costs by offering care at lower-cost locations. Payers across the country are nudging members to get care at less expensive locations than hospitals, whether it’s standalone imaging centers, urgent care centers, retail clinics or primary care physician offices. MinuteClinic expansion may be one way for Aetna to bend the cost curve.
CVS and Aetna officials recently appeared before Congress to defend the merger. CVS argued the deal will lead to better-integrated patient care by enabling pharmacists, equipped with both pharmacy and medical information, to play a bigger role between physician visits.