CVS Health partners with Carbon Health to expand primary care model
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Carbon Health, a hybrid health care company, announced that it has received a $100 million investment from CVS Health Ventures to expand accessibility to its primary care model “Connective Care.”
CVS Health will also pilot the model in some of its own locations, according to a press release.
Carbon Health announced that it has received a $100 million investment from CVS Health Ventures to expand accessibility to its primary care model “Connective Care.” Source: Adobe Stock
“This pilot will allow us to explore Carbon Health’s potential to advance the retail health experience, connecting consumers to care where and when they need it with a simple and engaging user-driven experience that can be adapted and delivered across our platform,” CVS Health Ventures managing partner Vijay Patel said in the release.
Carbon Health, which spans 125 physical locations across 13 states, noted on its website that the Connective Care model launched in Massachusetts during the first week of January and will continue to be rolled out in other locations throughout 2023.
The model utilizes both technology and integrated care, aiming to help providers establish relationships with their patients while monitoring their health remotely. According to Carbon Health, the core elements of the model include:
- goal setting, where providers work with patients to set health goals based on their lifestyle or conditions;
- measurement-led care, which is facilitated through an app that patients can use to report symptoms and metrics such as BP control in between visits;
- integrated care, with primary care providers working alongside mental health and chronic care specialists as needed; and
- in-person and virtual access.
“While health care has evolved tremendously over the past few years, there are still many ways in which care delivery and quality have not,” Carbon Health CEO Eren Bali said in the press release. “We're focusing on everyday touchpoints with an integrated care team to help patients achieve better health outcomes — because health care is not just what happens during a visit but also what happens in between. Now, with the support of CVS Health, we can further accelerate our goal of designing health care as it should be — simple, flexible and personal.”
In addition to expanding the Connective Care model, Carbon Health said the $100 million investment will also help the company sign new value-based care arrangements and advance innovative health care technology.
The partnership marks another step that CVS Health has taken to become a larger provider of health care services. In September, CVS Health announced its acquisition of Signify Health, a value-based care provider with a network of more than 10,000 clinicians across all 50 states. CVS Health also launched a virtual primary care platform in May. The company is one of several notable retail corporations to venture into the primary care field, with Amazon acquiring provider One Medical in July.
References:
- CVS Health to acquire Signify Health. https://www.cvshealth.com/news/company-news/cvs-health-to-acquire-signify-health.html. Published Sept. 5, 2022. Accessed Jan. 10, 2023.
- CVS Health to launch new virtual primary care solution on single digital platform. https://www.cvshealth.com/news/virtual-care/cvs-health-to-launch-new-virtual-primary-care-solution-on-single.html. Published May 26, 2022. Accessed Jan. 10, 2023.
- Carbon Health secures Series D investment to drive primary and urgent care expansion. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230109005615/en/Carbon-Health-Secures-Series-D-Investment-to-Drive-Primary-and-Urgent-Care-Expansion. Published Jan. 9, 2023. Accessed Jan. 10, 2023.
- Connective Care: A new model for primary care. https://carbonhealth.com/blog-post/connective-care-a-new-model-for-primary-care. Published Jan. 4, 2023. Accessed Jan. 10, 2023.
Perspective
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CVS and Aetna have been very clear that they see primary care as a critical foundation to improving the health of the American public, and so I’m not at all surprised at the number of investments they’re making in this area. This latest investment in Carbon Health makes a lot of sense because we need to think about all different kinds of ways to take care of patients and consumers. It might be face-to-face. It may be through a telehealth visit. It may be just a quick touch through a patient portal. It could be a group visit. I think where we want to get to is that the payment model’s agnostic about the way clinicians deliver care but in fact supports and frees up the primary care clinician and the patient to do whatever makes sense for them given the condition they’ve got and the modality they prefer.
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