Trying To Keep Up With Walgreens, CVS Expands Health Care Choices

As health care costs keep skyrocketing, CVS Pharmacy announced Tuesday morning an initiative to expand its drug stores into "health hubs."

According to ABC News, CVS plans is "to add dietitians, medical equipment and space for the occasional yoga class to 1,500 stores over the next few years." This follows CVS' decision to stop selling tobacco products several years ago.

Competitor Walgreen's is testing getting into primary care at its stores.

The expansion comes as rival Walgreens experiments with adding primary care offices and as the U.S. health care system turns its focus to keeping patients healthy instead of waiting to treat them once they become sick. Insurers and other payers have started covering things like dietitian visits with the hope that such care keeps patients out of expensive hospitals. - ABC News

While keeping people healthy (especially as the population ages) is a noble goal, there is not much here that is altruistic, as having doctors in the stores (Walgreens) or CVS in the process of buying a giant insurance company (Aetna) is primary still all about keeping profits up and creating new sources of revenue.

CVS has a half dozen locations in southwest Michigan, including three in Kalamazoo and two in Battle Creek. It has almost 10,000 location nationwide.