Uniting companies from two different industries, the merger presents a new model of healthcare delivery.

CVS Health recently announced its plan to buy Aetna for about $69 billion in a deal that would combine the massive drugstore chain with one of the nation’s biggest health insurers. It is one of the largest deals of the year, and it offers one of the clearest examples of blurring lines between different segments of the healthcare industry. With federal officials blocking traditional mergers, such as the mega-merger of Anthem and Cigna, and one of Aetna and Humana, companies are looking beyond their own spheres of business.

Transformation has been ongoing in healthcare, accompanied by an uncertainty that is deepening as insurers, hospitals and pharmacies brace for disruption to Medicare and the Affordable Care Act. Employers and consumers continue to struggle with high medical costs, notably in prescription drugs. Adding to this complex state of affairs is the usual suspect: technology. News of Amazon’s foray into healthcare tech surfaced over the summer, and the industry is watching closely.

A merger between CVS and Aetna adds an interesting wrinkle, as such an entity could set up a new model for consumer healthcare delivery. The companies’ common ground is their day-to-day presence in peoples’ lives: They have a hand in many of the basic healthcare services that people regularly use. Their vision for the merger is to transform CVS’s 10,000 locations into community-based clinics, with nurses, pharmacists and others available to counsel people on their health conditions or do lab work. “We think of it as creating a new front door to health care in America,” said CVS Health’s Chief Executive, Larry J. Merlo. For employers, the merged company could offer a one-stop shop for employee health insurance.

According to the New York Times, the development of community-based clinics, enabled with the technology and health information available to both CVS and Aetna, could prove to be the biggest change brought about the deal. “If they can drive the adoption of the care delivery model, that’s a big deal,” said Ana Gupte, a senior healthcare analyst for Leerink Partners.

Many analysts see the deal, which is expected to close in the second half of 2018, as a defensive manoeuvre. CVS needs to protect its business with Aetna in the presence of rivals such as UnitedHealth Group’s OptumRx. CVS also signed an agreement with another insurer, Anthem, to help the latter set up an internal pharmacy benefit manager. For its part, Aetna is looking for new ways to expand its business following its failed attempt to acquire Humana.

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