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CVS Health announced Friday that David Joyner has been appointed President and Chief Executive Officer, effective as of Oct. 17.
Joyner replaces Karen Lynch, whom the company said “stepped down from her position in agreement with the company’s Board of Directors.” Joyner has also joined the Board of Directors, and the current Chairman of the Board, Roger Farah, will now be Executive Chairman, according to the company.
The move comes as CVS shares have fallen more than 25% this year after the stock dropped about 7% in early trading Friday. The company has also laid off approximately 8,000 employees over the last two years.
Impacts of pharmacy downturn:More closures leave consumers in pharmacy deserts without access to medications
“The Board believes this is the right time to make a change, and we are confident that David is the right person to lead our company for the benefit of all stakeholders, including customers, employees, patients, and shareholders,” Farah said in a news release Friday.
According to CVS Health, Joyner was most recently serving as executive vice president of CVS Health and president of CVS Caremark, leading the pharmacy services business. The company also said Joyner has 37 years of health care and pharmacy benefit management experience.
“There is no greater honor than to lead a company whose mission and purpose are completely focused on improving health,” said Joyner in the news release. “I came back to CVS Health in 2023 because I believed I could give more to the company, and I take this opportunity today for the same reason.”
CVS layoffs:CVS Health to lay off nearly 3,000 workers primarily in ‘corporate’ roles
CVS laid off nearly 3,000 employees earlier this month
CVS Health laid off approximately 2,900 employees across its company and impacted positions were “primarily corporate roles,” Mike DeAngelis, executive director of corporate communications, confirmed to USA TODAY earlier this month.
“Our industry faces continued disruption, regulatory pressures, and evolving customer needs and expectations, so it is critical that we remain competitive and operate at peak performance,” DeAngelis said in an emailed statement to USA TODAY.
DeAngelis also said in the statement that the company “prioritized cost savings everywhere we could, including closing open job postings,” before making the decision, and also said the layoffs “will not impact front-line jobs in our stores, pharmacies, and distribution centers.”
“Decisions on which positions to eliminate were extremely difficult,” DeAngelis said, noting that the departing employees will receive severance pay and benefits. The layoffs represent less than 1% of the company’s workforce, DeAngelis said.
Another 5,000 employees were laid off in 2023
CVS Health also eliminated about 5,000 “non customer-facing” positions in an effort to reduce costs in 2023.
The cuts represented less than 2% of the company’s total workforce, which comprised of roughly 300,000 employees at the end of 2022.
“Our industry is evolving to adapt to new consumer health needs and expectations. As part of an enterprise initiative to reprioritize our investments around care delivery and technology, we must take difficult steps to reduce expenses,” the company told USA TODAY in 2023.
Earlier in 2023, the company completed a $10.6 billion deal to buy Oak Street Health, a company that runs primary care centers for lower-to-middle income people with Medicare Advantage plans, which are privately run versions of the federal government’s program for people aged 65 and older.
With the acquisition, CVS Health planned to capitalize on the federal government’s interest in cutting costs and improving the health of people in its Medicare program.
“This agreement with CVS Health will accelerate our ability to deliver on our mission and continue improving health outcomes, lowering medical costs, and providing a better patient experience while offering significant value to our shareholders,” Oak Street Health CEO Mike Pykosz said at the the time of the deal.
