CVS Health has announced the official opening of its Digital Innovation Lab in Boston, with the aim to develop digital services and personalized capabilities that offer an accessible and integrated personal pharmacy and health experience.
According to CVS officials, primary focuses of the lab will include the exploration of breakthroughs for digital health through innovation in mobile, personalization, multi-channel e-commerce, connected health and digital therapeutics. CVS Health will also enter partnerships with startups and other mature companies in the digital and healthcare space. The lab, which will ultimately employ up to 100 team members, will serve as a hub for the growing digital team at CVS Health, which will remain headquartered in Woonsocket, R.I.
“Digital technologies are ubiquitous and highly configurable —a powerful combination, because it allows us to empower our customers anytime and anywhere,” Brian Tilzer, senior vice president and chief digital officer for CVS Health, said in a statement. “That's why we are doubling our digital investment, anticipating our customers' increasing preference to manage their health digitally. The opening of this Innovation Lab is a significant step forward on this path."
CVS says that the Digital Innovation Lab will embody the CVS Health digital team's mission to run like a startup, accelerating speed-to-market and impact of digital innovation across the enterprise, by using the resources of the lab to rapidly test, improve and implement new programs. The company has made moves of late to show its dedication to digital and personalized health. Just recently, it partnered with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to promote an online tool that provides recommendations for the personalized preventive services patients should receive based on their age and gender.
Interesting enough, at the New York State Chapter miniHIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) conference on June 17, Judy Murphy, R.N., chief nursing officer and director, Global Business Services, at IBM Healthcare, mentioned this new business model that is emerging for care delivery, providing people with more transparency and choice. “The CVS's and Walmart's are emerging due to the convenience factor for people, she said.”The number one thing my mom worries about when going to the doctor is parking. Retail behaviors are now creeping in," Murphy said in her keynote presentation at the conference.
