Walgreens Boots Alliance Accelerates CareCentrix Acquisition
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (WBA) says it has accelerated its plans to acquire full ownership of CareCentrix (CCX Next, LLC), expanding its reach in the growing home care sector.
CareCentrix is a major player in the $75 billion post-acute and home care industry, providing care coordination and outsourced benefit management services. The company manages care for more than 19 million members through more than 7,400 provider locations, offering a suite of services on an integrated basis to support home care models – including home nursing, durable medical equipment, home infusion and in-home palliative care.
WBA’s full acquisition of CareCentrix follows its 55 percent majority investment in the company, which closed on Aug. 31, 2022. The full acquisition is subject to limited customary closing conditions and is expected to close by March 2023.
WBA has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the remaining 45% stake for approximately $392 million, which is based on the exit multiple agreed to at the time of WBA's initial majority investment announcement in CareCentrix.
“We continue to see strong results and potential for growth from our partnership with CareCentrix. Our full acquisition further accelerates our transformation to become a consumer-centric healthcare company, leveraging innovative platforms that extend our capabilities into fast-growing segments of healthcare,” said Roz Brewer, CEO of WBA, in a statement. “CareCentrix is key to offering services to our patients at every stage of the care continuum, and to driving long-term, sustainable growth as part of our U.S. healthcare strategy.”
WBA says that by helping to accelerate the transition of care to patients’ homes, CareCentrix provides one of the core elements to support value-based care on behalf of health plans and providers.
In WBA’s fiscal year 2021, CareCentrix delivered pro forma sales of $1.5 billion. The company will continue as a distinct business and brand within Walgreens following the full acquisition.
“We are thrilled to be part of WBA’s vision to transform local healthcare and develop new valued-based models,” said John Driscoll, CEO of CareCentrix, in a statement. “A major component of the future of healthcare is in the home, and CareCentrix is critical to enabling WBA to serve patients wherever and however works best for them.”
Driscoll will assume a new role as executive vice president and president, U.S. Healthcare at WBA, including Walgreens Health, later this month. He will report directly to Brewer and serve on WBA’s executive committee. CareCentrix Chief Financial Officer Steve Horowitz will assume the role of CareCentrix CEO.
“John brings a wealth of experience and leadership across many different aspects of healthcare, all of which will play an important role in delivering on our vision to reimagine local healthcare for all,” Brewer added. “He has demonstrated high levels of success by building winning teams, and rapidly scaling technology-enabled solutions and analytics that make healthcare more personal and effective.”
Driscoll will oversee U.S. Healthcare for WBA as the company expands into provider enablement and managed service organizations, primary care, population health, home health, post-acute care, specialty pharmacy and retail pharmacy. The U.S. Healthcare unit encompasses integrations with WBA’s healthcare partners, including VillageMD, Shields Health Solutions and CareCentrix, as well as the organic Walgreens Health business, which focuses on population health through initiatives such as Walgreens Health Corners.
Driscoll has more than 25 years of \healthcare expertise. Prior to CareCentrix, he served as president at Castlight Health, a digital healthcare company, and before that, as group president for new markets at Medco (a $70 billion pharmacy benefit manager). He led product development and was part of the executive team that spun Medco out of Merck.
Driscoll founded and chaired the Surescripts e-prescribing network, building the first cross-industry collaborative with competing retail, PBM and health plans cooperating on e-prescribing. Surescripts has grown from servicing under 50 million prescriptions in 2005, to more than 1 billion prescriptions today.
