CVS Health alerts vulnerable customers to extreme weather

CVS Health is notifying customers with chronic health conditions to the potential impact of environmental events.

CVS, which owns health insurance giant Aetna, is launching an initiative designed to help customers who are vulnerable to extreme weather events that can worsen existing chronic conditions. The initiative is focusing first on extreme heat events to provide timely excessive heat alerts and tailored outreach to at-risk customers.

How it works

Initially available to members of Aetna, a CVS Health company, the initiative pairs environmental data analytics that provide real-time and localized forecasting of air quality, wildfires, weather and other environmental factors paired with a patient's medical and pharmacy data. 

Aetna care managers can contact vulnerable patients with personalized recommendations up to seven days in advance of an extreme weather event. Interventions include directing patients to resources including Oak Street Health clinics available as cooling centers, health services provided by the company's MinuteClinic locations, and medication management at CVS Pharmacy. 

[READ MORE: CVS Health in $10.6 billion deal to buy primary care provider Oak Street Health]

Care managers use several resources when making clinical recommendations to at-risk patients, including CDC clinical guidance documents. During the first two weeks of the initiative, CVS says care managers have connected with hundreds of at-risk patients across more than 20 states, including directing some to cooling centers and checking in with vulnerable patients post-hospital care to provide guidance to minimize heat exhaustion. 

In addition to improved health, anticipated outcomes include reduced medical expenditures and minimized in-patient stays and emergency department visits.