As CVS ramps up its strategy to be a force in the consumer health market, the retail giant has hired a former Fitbit executive to lead its consumer health efforts.
Adam Pellegrini will join CVS Monday as senior vice president of transformation consumer health products, CNBC reported, citing an Aug. 28 memo from CVS Chief Transformation Officer Alan Lotvin.
CVS spokesperson Joseph Goode confirmed the hire to FierceHealthcare. Pellegrini will "lead the ideation and incubation of consumer-focused health products and services that drive enterprise value and growth" for CVS Health, Goode said.
At Fitbit, Pellegrini served as senior vice president and general manager for Fitbit Health Solutions for the past three years. Fitbit confirmed Pellegrini's departure in an internal blog post Friday. Amy McDonough, chief operating officer for Fitbit Health Solutions, said in a blog post that she would be taking the reins as SVP and general manager.
"Having had the pleasure of working with Adam over the past three years co-leading FHS as COO, I’d like to wish him all the best as he moves on to pursue his next endeavor in consumer health," McDonough wrote.
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Prior to Fitbit, Pellegrini led digital health efforts at Walgreens Boots Alliance including designing a mobile telemedicine strategy. He also led product strategy and management at Microsoft for the company's HealthVault and MyHealthInfo products.
CVS, which just merged with Aetna, is striving to become an integrated healthcare provider and has been rapidly expanding its influence in transforming healthcare delivery. As part of that strategy, CVS is renovating 1,500 of its stores into HealthHUBs to focus more on health services. These HealthHUB locations have more than 20% of store space dedicated to health services including "new product categories, digital tools, and on-demand health kiosks, trusted advice and personalized care," according to CVS.
Its goal is for its locations to serve as “community-based health hubs” that can answer patients’ questions about prescription drugs, insurance coverage and their own health conditions.
CVS' strategy also is part of a race by rival retail pharmacy giants to capture the space of consumer healthcare, such as Walgreens, which has also been aggressively working to establish itself as a force in the consumer health market.
Retail pharmacy companies also are feeling the heat from digital disrupters like Amazon, which acquired online pharmacy PillPack.
CVS has stepped up its digital health offerings, including providing the option of virtual visits through its MinuteClinic locations and through a mobile app. It also launched a new platform to help its payer clients sift through digital therapeutic tools.
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CVS plans to spend between $325 million and $350 million on digital healthcare technology this year, company executives said during the company's full-year 2018 earnings call back in February, according to Digital Commerce 360.
The company plans to focus on mobile commerce and offering consumers more mobile access to healthcare services such as telehealth.
“Investments are being made to further our analytics and digital capabilities, develop new programs such as chronic kidney care, and enhance Aetna’s clinical platform,” CVS Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Eva Boratto told analysts during the call, according to Digital Commerce 360.