CVS
New deal, same pharmacy shortage
CVS Health is trying to fix a very unglamorous problem the old-fashioned way: by building the pipeline itself. The company and Western Governors University (WGU) announced a new online pre-pharmacy degree program aimed at students who want to become pharmacists but may not have the money or flexibility for a traditional route.
That matters because the pharmacy labor market has been doing its best impression of a clogged interstate. If you can make the road into the profession cheaper and easier to navigate, you might actually get more people in the lane.
Why investors should care
This isn’t the kind of announcement that makes a stock rip 12% before lunch. But it does tell you something about CVS’s playbook:
- it’s trying to strengthen its core pharmacy business from the ground up
- it’s leaning into workforce development as a competitive moat
- it may be softening one of the biggest bottlenecks in pharmacy operations: staffing
If the program works, CVS could benefit from a steadier supply of future pharmacists and a little less pressure in a labor market that’s been expensive and messy.
Big picture
This is part talent strategy, part brand halo, part practical business fix. In other words: not flashy, but potentially useful — which is often how the best CVS moves look until they quietly become very important.