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If this turns every CVS into a uniform, inexpensive office/urgent care/etc., particularly with telemedicine, I'll be happy -- the "minute clinic" stuff already
by rdl 9y ago
If this turns every CVS into a uniform, inexpensive office/urgent care/etc., particularly with telemedicine, I'll be happy -- the "minute clinic" stuff already provides cheaper and more convenient access to care, but CVS+Aetna+some kind of EHR could do something amazing.
- maxerickson 9y agoGiven that currently around 1 out of 9 locations has a minute clinic that seems unlikely. https://cvshealth.com/about/facts-and-company-information https://cvshealth.com/about/facts-and-company-information When I had Aetna, they didn't even cover getting a flu shot at the pharmacy. Maybe they changed that, but it's dumb, they covered it 100% using primary care.
- dr_ 9y agoI can attest to the fact that Aetna does cover flu shots now.
- quadrangle 9y agoFlu shots are required to be covered in all U.S. insurance per the ACA. The point was that Aetna was requiring the more expensive (for them!) visit to a doctor's office for them to cover it and wouldn't cover it happening at a pharmacy.
- astura 9y agoWhen I had Atena they did cover pharmacy flu shot but only at one specific pharmacy. It's been years but if my memory serves right think I had to go to CVS to get the flu shot rather than my usual Walgreens.
- rgbrenner 9y agoprobably not more expensive for them... to go to your doctors office, you need to make an appointment, take time off work, etc. To go to a pharmacy, you can stop by on your way home or do it on the weekend. By making it inconvenient, you reduce the number of people getting a flu shot... and I would bet that more people drop out from the inconvenience, than the extra amount it costs aetna when you go to the doctors office.
- greenyoda 9y agoBut if just one of the people insured by Aetna ended up in the hospital due to complications from the flu due to not getting a flu shot, the amount of money they'd have to pay for the hospital stay would pay for hundreds of flu shots.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- Consultant32452 9y agoThe insurance provider doesn't care how much it costs. The ACA states that the insurance provider must spend 80% on services. So as far as they're concerned, the higher the costs of healthcare the more money they get to keep. They just can't let costs skyrocket faster than they're able to increase your premiums.
- quadrangle 9y agoThe market is a horrible contrivance, and insurance is fundamentally unworkable in a market, unlike actual services and products where you know what you're getting and when you'll need it… But that said, do you have even the tiniest bit of evidence that insurers actually do what you're saying in order to keep their costs up per ACA requirements?? There's all sorts of shenanigans in the industry, but your speculation sounds far-fetched. Remember Hanlon's Razor…
- Consultant32452 9y agoOccam's razor is a better fit here. In a world where they have to return any cost savings to the insured, what is the incentive to reduce costs?
- maxerickson 9y agoIn theory, competitive rate setting for premiums. Hasn't worked out that way in many places though.
- Consultant32452 9y agoThe ACA states that your insurance provider must spend 80% of their premiums on health care. The doctor is more expensive, so the health insurance provider is allowed to keep more nominal dollars.
- refurb 9y agoAlthough true, I doubt that's the reason since stuff like this was common pre-ACA. The truth is that everything that a payer pays for is done through contracts. Payers will often default to a specific provider because the contract covers it and they don't have a contract for other providers. In terms of the cost, back-end rebates often bring it down. Also, this particular contract may cost more for a flu shot, but save them even more for other procedures.
- astura 9y agoI'm sure Atena has/had a ton of different plans (especially in different states). Theres PPOs, HMOs, POSes, EPOs, high deductible, etc. so any general comments about what Atena does and doesn't cover won't always apply.
- itissid 9y agoAnd I do like that the pharmacy is next to the docs office.
- mbesto 9y agoAetna is a healthcare payer (or commonly known as a 'carrier') and CVS is a healthcare provider (specifically 'pharmacy') and minute clinic's are also providers (specifically 'care'). Aetna doesn't add any more to the equation of CVS other than streamlining payments. It's only interesting if you use Aetna I guess, but you can generally use CVS pharmacy + minute clinic with your insurance provider today. General high level overview of this: https://www.bcg.com/en-us/industries/health-care-payers-providers/payer-provider-collaboration-vertical-integration.aspx https://www.bcg.com/en-us/industries/health-care-payers-prov...
- etskinner 9y agoIsn't it possible that the two companies being under the same management could have a second-order effect of expanding their Minute Clinic business? That is, because Aetna is part of the same company, it would be less costly for patients to visit MC since the prices that insurance providers usually have to negotiate with providers would go down enormously (to cost + profit instead of cost + MC profit + Aetna profit), thereby bringing more patients into the fold.
- dd36 9y agoThat’s only if MC has huge margins, which is doubtful. They already have to negotiate with every carrier.
- mrfusion 9y agoIs there a good way to do telemedicine now? I can’t get over the awkward factor but if it saves money.
- just1nn 9y agoI have used amwell with great success, recently. I have no affiliation with them, and I am paying them for their services, but my experience was top notch, and I have a PCP through them. I have yet to get my insurance to process automatically, but I just paid with their FSA VISA card and I'm doing an offline bill to submit. Many states REQUIRE covering telemedicine, even for Medicare/Medicaid in some cases.
- rdl 9y agoTelemed from a minute clinic to a specialist is different than telemed from home to a primary care provider. The former is a lot easier to make work.