UnitedHealth & CVS Pharmacy Partner To Improve Healthcare

In keeping with the intention to provide convenient and low healthcare option to customers, UnitedHealth Group Inc.’s (NYSE:UNH) pharmacy care services business – OptumRx – recently joined forces with CVS Pharmacy.

This partnership will strengthen the existing relationship between these two as traditional pharmacy network partners. Also, the deal ensures a new pharmacy network solution for employers. Under this new network, eligible OptumRx members can avail 90-day prescriptions at the same price as home delivery co-pay levels offered at all CVS locations across the nation or OptumRx home delivery. The involved companies expect the new 90-day pharmacy solution to be available to OptumRx commercial clients opting for the latest 90-day prescription benefit designs. The new solution will be available from Jul 1, 2017.

With this strategic alliance, both OptumRx and CVS pharmacy will be able to operate on a common pharmacy platform and introduce new pharmacy, health and wellness programs by integrating their capabilities. This partnership is also likely to enhance consumer engagement with better health outcomes for both companies.

CVS Pharmacy is the retail division of CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) Corporation – one of the leading retail pharmacies of the U.S with more than 9,600 retail pharmacies nationwide. Hence, the aforesaid partnership will highly benefit OptumRx with CVS Pharmacy's leading in-store health and wellness capabilities.

UNITEDHEALTH GP Price

UNITEDHEALTH GP Price | UNITEDHEALTH GP Quote

UnitedHealth remains committed to help its members achieve optimal health by providing innovative and value-added solutions that cater to customers’ changing healthcare needs. Hence, the deal with CVS Pharmacy will open up immense opportunities for OptumRx and further innovate and modernize its healthcare services.

UnitedHealth’s regular product upgrades and innovations have helped it retain investors’ confidence. Year to date, the stock has gained 33.96%, which is much higher than 18.44% gained by the Zacks-categorized Health Maintenance Organization Industry.

UnitedHealth presently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Other Stocks to Consider

Investors can also look at other well-ranked medical sector stocks like WellCare Health Plans Inc. (NYSE:WCG) , Magellan Health Inc. (NASDAQ:MGLN) and Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM)

WellCare sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. The company delivered positive surprise in the last four quarters with an average beat of 40.01%

Magellan delivered positive surprise in three of the last four quarters with an average beat of 42.58%. It also sports a Zacks Rank #1.

Humana carries a Zacks Rank #2. The company delivered positive surprises in three of the last four quarters with an average beat of 1.94%.

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