Walgreens: Don’t call us just a retailer

With CVS Health on the brink of acquiring health insurer Aetna, Walgreens wants to revamp its image as more than a retailer, according to a report by CNBC.

After the closure of the CVS-Aetna deal, Walgreens will still “be largely a pharmacy chain, though the company is trying to change that,” CNBC reported. Those changes include several recent partnerships with healthcare companies such as Humana and LabCorp, a diagnostics company.

The new direction will test some health services in Walgreens stores and underscores how Walgreens may be trying to keep up with its main competitor amid a consolidating marketplace.

"So you will see that in a few years our stores will be completely different and will give lot of prominence, even in front of stores, to health and beauty," Walgreens Boots Alliance CEO Stefano Pessina told CNBC.

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Amy Baxter

Amy joined TriMed Media as a Senior Writer for HealthExec after covering home care for three years. When not writing about all things healthcare, she fulfills her lifelong dream of becoming a pirate by sailing in regattas and enjoying rum. Fun fact: she sailed 333 miles across Lake Michigan in the Chicago Yacht Club "Race to Mackinac."

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