Florida has taken a beating in recent months, hit first on September 26 by Hurricane Helene and then just two weeks later by Hurricane Milton on October 9.

Florida hospitals were prepared, though, and are mostly back to normal, Florida Hospital Association president and CEO Mary Mayhew told Healthcare Brew.

“The lack of impact and damage is a testament to the critical investments, to the hardening of facilities, to the flood mitigation efforts,” she said. “Even if [hospitals] evacuated, the fact that they were able to reopen quickly because they didn’t sustain any damage is attributable to the physical plant investments they’ve been making.”

But there were still obstacles hospitals couldn’t anticipate that taught leaders important lessons for the future, she added, especially as climate change will make extreme weather events more likely for the area.

Keep reading here.—CC

Walgreens executives plan to close roughly 1,200 stores over the next few years in an attempt to right the business as it contends with declining drug reimbursement rates, competition from newer players like Amazon, and labor shortages.

CEO Tim Wentworth announced the closures during the company’s Q4 earnings call on October 15, in which the company reported a $3 billion net loss for the quarter, bringing the year’s total net loss to $8.6 billion—a 180% increase from the prior year.

Wentworth said during the call that the store closures “will realign our footprint to a healthier store base that we believe will enable us to respond more dynamically to shifts in consumer behavior and buying preferences.”

The closures don’t come as a total surprise, as Wentworth said in June during the Q3 earnings call that Walgreens could close up to 25% of the chain’s roughly 8,600 stores over the next three years. In the most recent earnings call, Wentworth said that about 6,000 of the company’s stores are profitable.

Keep reading here.—MA

CVS Health may be breaking up…with itself.

The board of directors at CVS Health—the parent company of CVS Pharmacy, pharmacy benefit manager CVS Caremark, and insurance unit Aetna—are working with a group of bankers to review the company’s strategy, which according to Reuters, may lead to a split between its pharmacy division and Aetna.

The company is also considering whether CVS Caremark should be under its retail or insurance arms, Reuters reported in early October, as it is facing pressure and in conversations with one of its investors, Glenview Capital.

Ultimately, the potential breakup could lead to two separate publicly traded companies, which could create more shareholder value and boost revenues, according to the Wall Street Journal.

According to the Journal, CVS’s shares have dropped about 20% year to date as of early October. This was largely due to Medicare challenges within Aetna as medical costs increased and 2024 Medicare Advantage star ratings fell, Healthcare Brew previously reported.

Keep reading here.—CM

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