During the Covid-19 pandemic, retail pharmacies including CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, and Walmart saw increased foot traffic as customers flocked to the stores for medications and household items like toilet paper and hand sanitizer. Plus, with the help of government funding, chains earned billions from distributing Covid vaccines, collectively pulling in $7.5+ billion by the end of 2021, according to pharmaceutical research firm Drug Channels Institute.

CVS, for example, reported $66.9 billion in revenue at the end of its 2019 fiscal year. By the end of the 2021 fiscal year, that increased to $76.6 billion.

But things seemed to change for the sector by the end of 2022 when fewer people were getting Covid vaccines and tests. Rite Aid filed for bankruptcy last October, and CVS and Walgreens reported steep losses over 2024.

So, what went wrong?

Experts say there are several factors, including changing consumer habits, increased competition, and a string of multibillion-dollar acquisitions that haven’t paid off.

Keep reading here.—MA, CM

Following a series of lawsuits from some of the country’s largest insurers, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said it’s changing how it determines the quality of Medicare Advantage plans.

Speaking at economic think tank the Milken Institute’s 2024 Future of Health Summit in Washington, DC, on November 13, Meena Seshamani, CMS deputy administrator and director, said the agency is downgrading the weight of what’s known as the call center metric, which has been at the heart of multiple lawsuits.

The call center metric is one of the metrics CMS uses to determine star ratings, which rank Medicare Advantage plans from one to five stars (five being the best). The goal of the rankings is to help beneficiaries compare plans, but insurers that receive higher scores also get bonus payments from CMS, so when their scores fall, they stand to lose millions of dollars.

CMS paid insurers more than $12.8 billion in bonus payments in 2023, nearly a 30% increase from 2022, according to health policy research firm KFF.

Keep reading here.—MA

Welcome to November’s On Rotation!

We keep our fingers on the pulse of who’s moving where in the healthcare world, from small startups bringing in new leadership to big orgs trading seasoned execs. Each month, we highlight some of the major job changes in the healthcare sector.

Spoiler: There’s another CVS leadership change afoot.

Here’s a noncomprehensive roundup of the past month’s career shifts.

Have a job announcement to share? Drop Caroline or Cassie an email at [email protected] or [email protected].

Brian Alexander: As the newly appointed CEO of Valo Health, a tech company working to accelerate drug discovery, Alexander will also be CEO partner at parent company biotech venture capital firm Flagship Pioneering with Craig Williams.

Deb Autor: Telehealth platform Hims & Hers appointed Autor, a former FDA deputy commissioner, to its board of directors.

Sreekanth Chaguturu: CVS Health hired Chaguturu as its next president of healthcare delivery, which includes the urgent care Minute Clinic, Oak Street Health primary care services, home care provider Signify Health, and its health plan Aetna.

Keep reading here.—CM