Though the $77b merger between CVS and Aetna has market share implications for many industries, there’s a potential for a new era in healthcare data. CVS’s nearly 10,000 retail locations coupled with Aetna’s insurance records could mean a powerful new data bank for CVS partners, Epic Systems. Patients could see better services in their own homes as a result of more efficient systems delivering what conventional healthcare cannot. Information is coordinated, friction is reduced, and data is used to predict what might happen to a patient so that steps can be taken through targeted programs to prevent negative outcomes or costly episodes of care.
