CVS Says Covid-19 Test Delays Are Abating -- 3rd Update
August 05 2020 - 6:46PM
Dow Jones News
By Sharon Terlep
CVS Health Corp. said delays getting Covid-19 test results to
customers are abating after backlogs led to extended wait times
that threatened to hamper efforts to contain the coronavirus
pandemic.
The drugstore giant, the biggest retail chain conducting
Covid-19 tests in the U.S., said it temporarily reduced the amount
of new tests it administered while adding additional labs to
process backlogged results.
CEO Larry Merlo said in an interview on Wednesday that wait
times have vastly improved, though one of four labs CVS contracts
with to process results is still experiencing significant delays.
He declined to name the lab and said that, within a week or so, all
results for tests administered by CVS should be available in three
to four days.
For much of July, people getting Covid-19 tests at CVS faced
weekslong wait times for results that were supposed to be available
within days. Some customers have said they continue to wait weeks
for their results. CVS has said delays at laboratories CVS
contracts with to process results caused the slowdown.
Prolonged wait times for test results can complicate efforts to
find and isolate people with whom an infected individual had
contact.
"We want to make sure any ramp up doesn't undo the progress
we've made in the turnaround times," Mr. Merlo said.
He said the company increased testing under guidance from state
health officials.
The company is working to ramp up testing as the nation's
diagnostic capacity remains well short of what health experts
recommend to contain the virus. Mr. Merlo said CVS is administering
roughly 40,000 tests a day, or 1.2 million a month, among roughly
17 million tests that are administered monthly in the U.S.
As it works to further build up Covid testing, CVS is readying
for higher-than-normal demand for flu vaccines this season.
Vaccinating against the flu will have heightened importance, Mr.
Merlo said, because flu and Covid share similar symptoms.
CVS on Wednesday also disclosed financial results for the latest
quarter, saying that profits in its insurance business were
bolstered as Americans held off on elective procedures and regular
health care amid the pandemic.
Shares fell 0.9% in trading Wednesday.
CVS, which owns insurance giant Aetna, joins other insurers
realizing savings from skipped elective procedures and reduced
visits to clinics and emergency rooms. Those savings have well
eclipsed insurers' payouts for coronavirus care.
At the same time, CVS's store sales fell 4.5% and the number of
prescriptions filled in the quarter fell 1.1%, as shelter-in-place
orders kept people home.
The company said customers are returning to more normal
health-care routines now and that it expects more people will use
their insurance for health care in the second half of the year.
The pharmacy chain said it now expects earnings of $5.59 to
$5.72 a share, or $7.14 to $7.27 a share on an adjusted basis. It
previously expected earnings of $5.47 to $5.60 a share, or $7.04 to
$7.17 a share on an adjusted basis.
CVS posted second-quarter profit of $2.98 billion, or $2.26 a
share, compared with $1.94 billion, or $1.49 a share, in the same
period last year. Adjusted earnings were $2.64 a share, ahead of
the $1.91 a share analysts polled by FactSet had expected.
The Woonsocket, R.I.-based company reported sales of $65.34
billion.
Sales in the company's health-care-benefits segment, which
includes Aetna, rose 6.1% to $18.47 billion. It reported a
medical-loss ratio, or the share of premiums the insurer pays out
in claims, of 70.3%.
Sales in the company's segment that fulfills medication
prescriptions and sells general products rose 1% to $21.66 billion.
Pharmacy-services segment sales rose slightly to $34.89 billion,
partially offset by lower provider visits during the quarter.
--Dave Sebastian contributed to this article.
Write to Sharon Terlep at sharon.terlep@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 05, 2020 18:31 ET (22:31 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
CVS Health (NYSE:CVS)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2024 to Sep 2024
CVS Health (NYSE:CVS)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2023 to Sep 2024