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Our colleagues are helping create the future of care, says Angela Patterson, Chief Nursing Officer, CVS Health, and Chief Nurse Practitioner Officer, Retail Health.
• Nurses, nurse practitioners and physician associates are taking on expanded roles across CVS Health, helping deliver primary care, manage chronic conditions and improve access to care, Angela says.
• Technology and AI are helping reduce administrative work, giving clinicians more time to focus on patient relationships and clinical decision-making.
• "Nurses are the keepers of our patient and member stories. And the people closest to patients and members often have the best ideas for improving care," Angela says.
• Nurses, nurse practitioners and physician associates are taking on expanded roles across CVS Health, helping deliver primary care, manage chronic conditions and improve access to care, Angela says.
• Technology and AI are helping reduce administrative work, giving clinicians more time to focus on patient relationships and clinical decision-making.
• "Nurses are the keepers of our patient and member stories. And the people closest to patients and members often have the best ideas for improving care," Angela says.
Creators and Guests
What is Big Questions Answered?
Big Questions Answered helps us understand important CVS Health initiatives by taking a closer look at new products, powerful innovations and the big changes the company is making to achieve its strategic imperatives and build a world of health around every consumer. The company's senior leaders answer big questions from host Matt McGuire.
Matt McGuire
Nurses, nurse practitioners and physician associates have bigger roles in delivering care than ever before. Once considered members of a broader care team, they're increasingly serving as frontline providers who deliver the care patients need.
At MinuteClinic, nurse practitioners and physician associates have expanded their role beyond treating minor illnesses to providing adult primary care, preventive care and chronic condition management. They play key roles in older adult primary care at Oak Street Health and care management through Aetna.
At the same time, technology is helping them spend less time on administrative work by streamlining documentation and surfacing clinical insights that can support patient care.
On this episode of Big Questions Answered, we'll explore how these professions have evolved, learn how CVS Health is creating opportunities that help them thrive and discover what's next for nurses, nurse practitioners, and physician associates.
Welcome to Big Questions Answered, a podcast that helps us understand the important initiatives at CVS Health. I’m Matt McGuire from the Enterprise Communications team. I’ll be your host as we dive into the latest developments, breakthroughs and innovations that are helping us achieve our ambition to become America’s most trusted health care company. Thanks for joining me today as we get our big questions answered.
I’m here with Angela Patterson, who holds two leadership positions with CVS Health.
In her role as Chief Nursing Officer, Angela advances the recruitment, retention and resilience of thousands of nurses who work in all areas of the company, including MinuteClinic, Aetna, CVS Pharmacy, Oak Street Health, CVS Specialty and Signify Health. And as the Chief Nursing Officer of CVS Health and Chief Nurse Practitioner Officer of Retail Health, she provides clinical and professional practice governance for 2,400 nurse practitioners, physician associates and nurses who staff MinuteClinic’s virtual care practice as well as MinuteClinic locations across the U.S.
Angela, thank you for stopping by.
Angela Patterson
Thank you, Matt, for having me.
Matt McGuire
So, Angela, you have been with CVS Health for nearly two decades. During that time, how has the role of a nurse and nurse practitioner evolved?
Angela Patterson
Well, this is such an exciting question to start with because it's just a remarkable story to share. You know, over the past two decades, the role of nurses, particularly nurse practitioners at CVS Health, MinuteClinic has undergone one of the most significant transformations in U.S. health care.
What began as a retail-based model focused on convenient, episodic care has evolved over the years into an integrated, value-driven health care system where nurses, NPs, and PAs are central to clinical care delivery and innovation. And this evolution has truly been remarkable. And being part of this journey most certainly is a highlight of my 40-year nursing career.
As I look back through the years throughout the 2000s, MinuteClinic NPs and PAs served as retail clinic pioneers, primarily responsible for treating minor acute illnesses like sore throat and ear infections, providing vaccinations, performing sports physicals and basic screenings, offering convenient walk-in care across our communities. And this was really a groundbreaking model because it demonstrated that NPs and PAs could safely and independently deliver high-quality care services in novel retail settings, dramatically improving access to care across our communities, beyond higher acuity sites of care like ERs and urgent care settings.
You know, as we move forward into the 2010 decade, the work of NPs and PAs expanded into preventative and chronic care as scope of services expanded to include things like chronic disease monitoring for patients with high blood pressure and diabetes, for example, really evolving practice from an urgent care model toward becoming an important primary care partner and safety net across many communities.
As we enter the COVID-19 era, this really accelerated the evolution of the role. And during COVID-19, nurses and NPs played an instrumental role in areas like mass vaccination campaigns, covid testing, telehealth, public health outreach and community access during health care disruptions.
In today's model, CVS Health nurses contribute across the continuum of care, as CVS Health has expanded well beyond retail pharmacies into a comprehensive health care organization. And now we see nurses practicing, for example, in MinuteClinic, delivering primary care services, acute care, preventive care, virtual care. In Oak Street Health, team-based primary care for older adults, management of complex chronic diseases, value-based care and care coordination. In Signify Health, we see NPs performing in-home comprehensive health risk assessments, identifying clinical and social needs, and driving those connections to community resources. And across Aetna, nurses engaged in care management, utilization management, population health, and behavioral health coordination, and so much more across the enterprise. These roles extend nursing practice far beyond traditional bedside care into longitudinal, relationship-based care that truly impacts member and patient outcomes.
Matt McGuire
Going from treating minor acute illnesses to delivering primary care services is a serious evolution. So, speaking of evolutions, technology is reshaping how nurses work. How is CVS Health embracing innovation in ways that reduce administrative burdens, support clinical judgment and ensure technology enhances rather than replaces the essential role nurses and nurse practitioners play in patient care?
Angela Patterson
Yeah, this is an area that I am super excited about. You know, before joining CVS Health, I spent the first 20 years of my nurse practitioner career as a primary care provider. And what truly kept me engaged was always the care itself and the relationships I built with my patients over time. Those were never the source of burnout. Instead, the biggest friction points were the things I couldn't control, you know, an ever-growing administrative burden that gradually consumed more and more of my day. And as I worked to ingest larger amounts of medical information, documentation requirements, prior authorizations, working through specialty referrals, and a myriad of other non-clinical tasks, all of those pieces increased and they added pressure and stress while steadily taking away time from what I believe mattered most, being present with my patients and delivering the care they deserved.
That's why I'm so excited about the promise of technology today, not to replace clinicians, but to remove those unnecessary administrative burdens so that nurses and nurse practitioners can spend more time where they have the greatest impact with their patients and members.
You know, across our enterprise, we're learning how we're investing in digital tools, AI and data analytics that help automate routine tasks, help us streamline documentation, surface actionable clinical insights and improve care coordination. So whether it's supporting nurses in our retail clinics, helping care managers identify patients who need outreach, or enabling home-based clinicians with better mobile technology, innovation is designed to make care more efficient without diminishing the human connection. You know, that's really important because technology should enhance, not replace, clinical decision making.
Clinical judgment, ethical decision-making, and therapeutic relationships cannot be automated.
Matt McGuire
You talked about creating more time for clinicians to focus on what matters most — caring for patients and building meaningful relationships. That's especially important as MinuteClinic expands into primary care. In 2024, MinuteClinic began offering its adult primary care services at select locations. Today, primary care is live across 17 states and Washington, D.C., with over 65% of its clinics delivering these services. How has this new care model changed how MinuteClinic nurse practitioners and physician associates deliver care? And what does this mean for their patients?
Angela Patterson
Yeah, this is really amazing. You know, the expansion of adult primary care represents one of the most significant evolutions in the MinuteClinic care model. It truly shifts the role of MinuteClinic nurse practitioners and PAs from primarily treating episodic illnesses and providing vaccine services to becoming longitudinal primary care providers who partner with patients over time. This changes not only how NPs and PAs practice, but also the experience and outcome for patients.
So, providing preventative care, managing chronic conditions, coordinating specialty referrals, and supporting patients over time, over their health care journey, rather than in a single transactional visit. So instead of focusing primarily on acute illnesses, they're helping patients manage their high blood pressure and diabetes, high cholesterol and other chronic conditions. They're conducting annual wellness visits, annual preventative care visits, emphasizing health promotion and prevention, and developing personalized care plans that evolve with the patient's needs. And for patients, this impact is significant. Our patients are gaining greater continuity, easier access to primary care, and the convenience of receiving comprehensive services in a familiar community setting with both in-person and virtual options.
You know, this model also works to strengthen care coordination across the broader CVS Health ecosystem. So MinuteClinic, NPs and PAs can connect patients with pharmacy services, behavioral health resources, home-based care through Signify, care management through Aetna, and senior-focused primary care through Oak Street Health when appropriate. And this truly creates a more seamless experience and helps ensure patients receive the right care at the right time.
Matt McGuire
And that’s what’s important. I love that. So, switching gears a bit. Angela, as nurses seek more professional growth and flexible care options, how is CVS Health creating opportunities that help them thrive and build long-term career opportunities across the company?
Angela Patterson
You know, we recognize that today's nurses are looking for more than a traditional career path. You know, they want opportunities to grow professionally, expand their skills and pursue flexible careers that evolve with their interests and life circumstances.
CVS Health has the ability to offer nurses not just a job, but a career ecosystem. Nurses can build careers across multiple settings, including MinuteClinic, Oak Street Health, Signify Health, Aetna, CVS Pharmacy, Specialty, Virtual Care, Care Management,
population health, digital health, operations, and even leadership. This allows nurses to explore new roles while remaining within the same organization, bringing valuable experience from one setting to another. And as a company, we robustly invest.
in professional development through clinical education, leadership development, mentorship, continuing education and opportunities to participate in innovation and quality improvement initiatives.
And flexibility is another important part of our nursing workforce strategy. Nurses increasingly value options that allow them to balance their careers with personal responsibilities. We offer opportunities, retail clinics, home-based care, virtual care, hybrid, remote roles, in corporate clinical roles, clinical leadership roles — just to name a few.
And I would say perhaps most importantly, we are deeply committed to creating an environment where nurses can practice at the top of their education and training and have a meaningful voice in shaping the future of health care.
Matt McGuire
So, Angela, to wrap things up, when you think about the future for nurses and nurse practitioners, what are you most excited about — and what role do you hope your colleagues will play in shaping the future of nursing at CVS Health?
Angela Patterson
Well, Matt, I would say what excites me most about the future is that nursing has never had a greater opportunity to influence the direction of health care. You know, as care continues to move beyond traditional settings into homes and communities, retail clinics, virtual environments, nurses will be at the center of helping to design and deliver care that is more accessible, more connected and more personalized.
I'm also excited by the opportunities created through technology and data and AI, not to replace nurses, but to amplify what they do best. By reducing administrative burden and providing better clinical insights, these tools have the promise of allowing nurses to spend more time using the skills that matter most — the critical thinking, relationship building, advocacy and compassionate care.
You know, at CVS Health, we have something really unique because our nurses practice across primary care and home-based care, pharmacy, health plans, community settings. And that gives us an incredible opportunity to reimagine what nursing can be and to create more connected, patient-centered experiences across the entire continuum of care. You know, my hope is that our nurse colleagues don't simply adapt to the future, but they help create it.
I encourage every nurse and nurse practitioner in PA to share ideas, challenge traditional ways of thinking and working, participate in innovation, mentor the next generation, and lead change within their teams and communities. You know, nurses, I always say nurses are the keepers of our patient and members' stories. And the people closest to patients and members often have the best ideas for improving care. The voices of our nurses are essential as we continue to transform health care. And above all, I hope our colleagues continue to embrace the values that have always defined our profession — compassion, clinical excellence, advocacy — and an unwavering commitment to improve the lives of the people we serve.
Matt McGuire
Angela, this has been an amazing conversation. I really appreciate you stopping by. Thank you very much.
Angela Patterson
Thank you. Thank you, Matt.
Matt McGuire
And a big thanks to you for tuning in to this episode. Until next time, I'm Matt McGuire. I look forward to joining you again to get more big questions answered.