CVS Health CEO Karen Lynch said two things can help prepare America for the coming Medicare "tsunami": technology and value-based care, Fortune reported April 26.
"We're thinking about how do we engage people that are now using technology in various ways, so that people have a connected and seamless experience for the ultimate goal of making Americans healthy," Ms. Lynch said April 25 at the Fortune Brainstorm Health conference in Marina del Rey, Calif.
To that end, CVS Health recently acquired tech-driven home health company Signify Health for $8 billion and has agreed to buy Oak Street Health, a chain of clinics serving Medicare Advantage patients, for $10.6 billion.
The number of Americans aged 65 and older is expected to more than double in the next four decades, according to the Urban Institute. "There's like a tsunami of people coming into Medicare," Ms. Lynch said at the conference.
Telehealth is meeting some of that need. CVS' virtual mental health visits have grown from 9,000 a year before the pandemic to nearly 20 million today, Ms. Lynch said at the event.