Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Arizona's governor is under fire for standing in the way of legalizing the sale of homemade tamales, Riot Games has made progress since a gender reckoning five years ago, and CVS Health CEO Karen Lynch prioritizes the connection between mental and physical health. Happy Thursday!
- Mind and body. At Fortune’s Brainstorm Health conference in Los Angeles this week, CVS Health CEO Karen Lynch took the stage alongside DaVita CEO Javier Rodriguez and former Fortune editor-in-chief Clifton Leaf.
Their conversation covered some big-picture themes, like how technology is transforming health care and the impact of the rising generation of American seniors on the health care system. But Lynch—whose leadership makes $315-billion-in-revenue CVS the largest Fortune 500 company to be led by a female CEO—mentioned another topic.
Asked about her company’s work to bridge mental and physical health care, she brought up a common example: postpartum depression. She pictures a health care system in which mothers are informed about the risk of postpartum depression as part of a hospital discharge plan. Care providers could tell patients, “This could be something you may experience,” she said, and point out tools that are available to address it.
“A lot of women suffer from postpartum depression and we never talk about it,” Lynch said.
The issue of mental health care is personal for Lynch. Her mother died by suicide when Lynch was 12, as she told me for a Fortune profile as she began her CEO job at CVS in 2021. She’s always paid particular attention to mental health care as she rose the ranks in the insurance industry, before arriving at CVS through its acquisition of Aetna.
While CVS has made some major business moves recently—so far this year, it’s closed the $8 billion acquisition of home care company Signify Health and announced the $10.6 billion acquisition of primary care company Oak Street Health—it’s also made progress in mental health care. Last year, the company appeared on Fortune’s Change the World list, which features businesses that “do well by doing good,” for an effort to reduce suicide attempts through increased mental health screening. Aetna saw an 18% decrease in suicide attempts among its 16.3 million adult members with behavioral health care coverage as a result.
As CVS executes a mission to become a complete health care provider powered by technology, a holistic approach is critical, Lynch says. As she told the Brainstorm Health audience: “Your head is connected to your body.”
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe
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