CVS Health announced two key leadership appointments as it continues the push to improve its financial performance.
Steve Nelson will join the company as president of Aetna. Nelson most recently was the CEO of primary care company ChenMed and is the former CEO of UnitedHealthcare, the largest insurer in the U.S.
He also held multiple leadership roles at UHC in the past, CVS said, including at the helm of its government business.
“Steve is an industry veteran who has successfully led multiple segments of a diverse managed care company and driven innovation and growth throughout his career,” CEO David Joyner said in the press release. “I will work closely with him and the team, building upon and accelerating the plan to advance Aetna forward.”
In addition, Prem Shah will step into the role of group president, where he will be charged with driving performance and value creation for CVS' Caremark, pharmacy and health services divisions. Previously, he served as chief pharmacy officer and president of the pharmacy and consumer wellness unit.
Shah has held multiple leadership roles at CVS over his tenure at the company, according to the announcement.
“Prem is a strong operator and innovator with deep experience across our businesses, and in his role, he will help me and the rest of our leadership team drive improvements in our financial and operational performance across our company,” Joyner said in the announcement. “I am confident in the future of our integrated model, and that Prem and Steve’s leadership will help further position us to deliver greater value from our integrated business model.”
Both appointments are effective as of today, CVS said. Both Shah and Nelson will report to Joyner.
Also on Wednesday morning, CVS released its earnings results, posting $87 million in profit for the third quarter as it seeks to streamline its operations.
The company said that it incurred a cost of $1.2 billion in the third quarter related to this effort, according to its earnings report. That includes a $607 million impairment charge for additional retail pharmacy closures in 2025 as well as $293 million in costs for changes to the corporate workforce, such as severance payments.
It also accounts for a $269 million hit related to the "discontinuation of certain non-core assets."
Despite the challenges faced in the third quarter, CVS surpassed Wall Street analysts' expectations for the quarter. It also beat the Street on revenue, according to Zacks Investment Research, with $95.4 billion.
By comparison, CVS reported $89.8 billion in revenue and $2.3 billion in profit for the prior-year quarter.
Through the first three quarters of 2024, the company has brought in $275.1 billion in revenue and $3 billion in profit. In the first nine months of 2023, it earned $264 billion in revenue and $6.3 billion in profit, according to the report.
In a statement, Joyner said the results reflect the continued need for improvement at the company's Aetna segment but "strong performance" in its health services and pharmacy units.
"Our integrated model accelerates our ability to uniquely do what is most important to today’s health care consumers: deliver lower cost of care, a simpler experience and better outcomes," he said. "My commitment to our CVS Health colleagues and our customers is to drive focused execution of our integrated strategy to improve the health of the 185 million people we are privileged to serve.”