How CVS is working to expand the reach of coronavirus testing

CVS Health announced plans to open 1,000 'self-swab' coronavirus test locations by the end of the month. CVS Chief Policy Officer Thomas Moriarty joins Yahoo Finance’s On The Move panel to address how the company is expanding coronavirus testing across the country.

Video Transcript

ADAM SHAPIRO: We want to invite into the stream Thomas Moriarty, the CVS Chief Policy Officer for Testing, on this issue. And it's good to have you here. Also want to invite in Anjalee Khemlani, who covers coronavirus for us here at Yahoo Finance.

Thomas, I just want to ask you real quick-- the 1,000 locations that CVS hopes to have up and running by the end of this month for testing, is this the test for the actual virus, or the antibody, or both?

THOMAS MORIARTY: So first off, thanks for having me. I really appreciate the opportunity to discuss this issue with you all. This is a viral antigen test that we're taking now to up to 1,000 locations across the country through our drive-through pharmacies. And today's announcement, it really is the first of three waves that will happen over the next two weeks.

So you're seeing us today go up and running in Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. And then over the next two weeks, we will come live in 45 plus other states. So it is the viral antigen test, and it's in the form of a swab, and sent to a lab. And it has been proven fairly efficacious to address this and do mass testing.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Tom, thanks so much. This is Anjalee. I know that previously at some of the sites that you rolled out, there was that Abbott ID Rapid Test. So is that also going to be used? And what are your concerns about the supplies right now?

THOMAS MORIARTY: So if you look at the approach we've taken, if you go back to March and early April, we opened a large-scale test-- tent test sites in five states. And they have used, and are continuing to use, the Abbott Rapid Scan Test. And those large scale sites will continue. And we'll continue to use the Abbott technology there, as well as some other locations as we go forward.

The Abbott supply is improving. Our ability today, though, to expand so dramatically is because of the swab and send availability, and be able to meet the needs of the market. And we estimate that when fully up and running, we will be able to do up to 1.5 million tests per month.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: OK. And then I know that you had really highlighted the Dearborn location as one of those sites that is really serving an underserved community. I'm curious to know about all these drive-up tests, with that still being a problem for testing, and some people not being able to drive to a location. How are you planning on resolving that with this ramp-up of science?

THOMAS MORIARTY: Yeah, clearly the need to test in underserved areas is a big issue. And it's one that we've been very, very focused on. So the Dearborn site is a great example of how we're addressing that. We've been able to work with local officials there for folks who do not have access to transportation, do not have cars, to work with local transportation services to get them to those sites in a very scheduled way.

We've also been working with the National Medical Association, which is the largest and longest-serving national black physicians organization, to really develop strategies as to how we service those underserved areas. And we're going to continue focusing on that, looking at potential mobile applications, where we can bring these solutions into the communities. They don't have to come to our locations.

JULIE HYMAN: Tom, it's Julie here. This is a related question to Anjalee's. What about urban areas, where people don't-- there really isn't a drive-through option at all? Is there sort of a walk-up option, or an appointment option that will work to maintain social distancing while getting the test done?

THOMAS MORIARTY: Yeah, it's a great question, Julie. So there are a number of solutions that will be coming to market, several around basically the community health centers, the federally-qualified community health centers in the urban areas, as well as the ability to walk up into locations where this testing can take place. I do want to underscore, no testing will take place actually in our stores. It will be done through the drive-through windows, and then through walk-up areas in other locations where drive-through is not available, but not in the stores itself.

JULIA LA ROCHE: Hi, Tom. It's Julia La Roche. I think it's worth pointing out that you all have been on the front lines of the crisis as well. You hired, what, 50,000 people? I would be curious about staffing for the testing sites, how you're leveraging your existing employees, and then some of the new ones as well, if you could talk to-- talk to us about that.

THOMAS MORIARTY: Sure, happy to do that, Julia. What folks really don't appreciate about CVS is how large a health care company we are. They think of us truly as a retail pharmacy location. We have more than 50,000 health professionals, physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, pharmacists. And that allows us to scale very, very quickly.

So what you will see at these testing locations in our drive-through pharmacies-- we will be leveraging our MinuteClinic practitioners. We have over 1,100 MinuteClinic locations across the country, with the nurses and nurse practitioners there, as well as the ability of our pharmacy staff with that supervision doing this testing. So we will have all the needed personal protective equipment, sanitizing procedures, et cetera. And our ability to bring this very quickly to market I think speaks to the breadth of our professional experience.

ADAM SHAPIRO: Thomas, it's Adam again. I'm curious, this is a self-swab test. If this is the test that you have to put into the nostril, I've heard that-- and I've not had the test-- that it's quite unpleasant. Is there concern that people doing it themselves may not do it accurately?

THOMAS MORIARTY: Well, what's important to point out here, this is not the nasopharyngeal that goes very, very deep into the nasal cavity. Actually, you keep it in the lower and middle areas of the nostril, just to gather circulating antigen. So we will have the instructions for how to do this. The patients will be supervised by one of our nurse practitioners and health professionals at these locations.

The instructions will be very clear. We'll also make it clear, if you're not able to do it because of discomfort or otherwise, you should contact your physician for other testing locations that will have a different type of testing available, and get that done.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Tom, it's Anjalee again. Looking to the labs that you're going to be sending these tests to, one of the major concerns that labs have-- and maybe this is more on the Aetna side of business-- but they're discussing reimbursement as a major obstacle, being unable to process as many, and not really having enough to process as many tests as they have to. And with you looking at ramping up to 1.5 million a month, are there discussions about how to address this issue?

THOMAS MORIARTY: Yes, there are. And obviously we've thought this through in a lot of detail. So first, on the payment side of things, this will be covered by insurance, available insurance through the Medicare and Medicaid programs. And then to the extent that there are uninsured showing and having testing done, there is now a federal fund for the uninsured to cover this testing.

And importantly, there's no cost, no out-of-pocket cost, because of the CARES Act that waives any related COVID testing co-pays for the individuals having the test done. And then in terms of the testing capacity itself, we've worked very closely with both the major labs, as well as the regional labs, on testing capacity and their ability to meet our needs here. And we're very comfortable that there'll be sufficient capacity to do this testing.

ADAM SHAPIRO: And to reiterate, 1,000 testing sites via CVS by the end of this month. Thank you so much for joining us. Thomas Moriarty, CVS Chief Policy Officer. All the best to you and your team.