The Retailers are Coming (Part 2): CVS Health’s Chief Strategy & Business Development Officer

In the United States, 85% of the population resides within 10
miles of a CVS Pharmacy. Through continued growth and expansion
since its founding as a health and beauty products retailer in
the early 1960s, CVS Health has now become America’s largest
health services company. That expansion accelerated over the last
two decades through acquisitions of companies like MinuteClinic,
Caremark and Aetna that embedded CVS even more deeply into the
U.S. healthcare system and communities across the country.

Josh Flum has played key roles in CVS Health’s transformation and
healthcare strategy for nearly 20 years. After Yale Law School
and a few years as a white-collar criminal defense attorney in
Washington, DC, Josh decided on a career change and landed a job
at Boston Consulting Group where he first crossed paths with CVS.
In this episode of Healthcare is Hard, Josh tells Keith Figlioli
about one project at BCG where he was begrudgingly selected to
spend two weeks virtually living at CVS pharmacies learning
everything there is to know about how they operate. That
assignment proved invaluable for the rest of Josh’s career. Since
joining CVS in 2004, he has held several senior roles including
leading pharmacy operations and overseeing Enterprise Product
Innovation and Development teams. He also co-founded and leads
CVS Health Ventures, and is currently CVS Health’s Chief Strategy
& Business Development Officer.

Josh and Keith covered several pressing topics during this
Healthcare is Hard interview including:


 The next evolution in pharmacy. Josh talks about
fundamental shifts in the pharmacy business that have occurred in
his career and what he thinks is in store for the future. While
the deeply personal connection between people, families and
pharmacists has always persisted – and will be integral for the
future – the pharmacy business has moved from being about
medication fulfilment, to clinical pharmacy care including
medication adherence, to other aspects of medical care such as
testing and immunizations. Josh says the future will be about
pharmacists practicing at the top of their license and balancing
clinical care interventions with new technology and the consumer
relationships that pharmacists have always maintained.


The retail threat. Keith posed the same question to Josh
that he asked Walgreen’s CMO on last month’s Healthcare is Hard
episode: how should incumbent healthcare delivery players think
about the emerging role of retailers? To Josh, it comes down to
how a company fits into three trends: patient as consumer; care
in community, home and virtual settings; and technology. Josh
says CVS feels very well positioned to play a big role in the
future of healthcare as these trends continue to evolve, while
recognizing that the company still has much more to do and will
need to work in partnership with the broader healthcare system
to make the kind of change that is necessary.


The flip side of innovation. Through his role at CVS
Health Ventures, Josh sees many of the exciting developments
that are going to make care easier and more ubiquitous, but
sometimes wonders if the pace of advancement could overwhelm
consumers. Putting himself in the consumer’s shoes, he says
it’s all about trust. He believes consumers will turn to the
people and organizations they know and trust to help navigate
new experiences – organizations like CVS Health. For its part
in the innovation ecosystem, Josh says CVS Health Ventures is
currently focusing on investment themes including care
delivery, consumer centric healthcare, whole person care and
disruptive tech enablement that crosses all these domains.



To hear Josh and Keith talk about these topics and more, listen
to this episode of Healthcare is Hard.