{"id":494186,"date":"2026-02-27T19:25:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T19:25:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/494186\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T19:25:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T19:25:21","slug":"cigna-acquires-carepathrx-a-major-pharmacy-used-by-hospitals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/494186\/","title":{"rendered":"Cigna acquires CarepathRx, a major pharmacy used by hospitals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"author-bio\">Bob Herman covers health insurance, government programs, hospitals, physicians, and other providers \u2014 reporting on how money influences those businesses and shapes what we all pay for care. He is also the author of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/signup\/health-care-inc\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Health Care Inc. newsletter<\/a>. You can reach Bob on Signal at bobjherman.09.<\/p>\n<p>Cigna has acquired CarepathRx, a large pharmacy backed by private equity that dispenses prescription drugs to nearly 10% of U.S. hospitals.<\/p>\n<p>The acquisition, discovered by STAT in a review of Cigna\u2019s financial filings, reinforces the company\u2019s push to control more of the lucrative flow of pharmaceuticals through the U.S. health care system. Cigna executives have repeatedly told investors that managing prescription drugs has been one of their highest priorities since the company acquired Express Scripts for $54 billion in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also the latest example of health insurers expanding well outside of their core business, a strategy known as \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/2024\/08\/19\/orszag-lazard-opposes-antitrust-challenge-to-health-care-mergers\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">vertical integration<\/a>\u201d that has defined the industry over the past two decades. As a result, fewer companies now control more parts of the health care system, a shift that has drawn the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/2025\/01\/10\/antitrust-jonathan-kanter-interview-biden-doj-calls-for-break-up-health-care-companies\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ire of antitrust officials<\/a> who worry the consolidation is harming consumers and making health care more expensive.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"restricted-text\">STAT+ Exclusive Story<\/p>\n<p class=\"restricted-login\">Already have an account? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/login\/\" data-stat-login=\"\" data-stat-paywall-cta=\"breaker login cta\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Log in<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"restricted-content-breaker-bg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1765280600_844_stat-plus-breaker-bg.png\" alt=\"STAT+\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/stat-plus\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"stat-plus-logo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/wp-content\/themes\/stat\/images\/stat-plus-logo-white.svg\" alt=\"STAT+\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\tThis article is exclusive to STAT+ subscribers<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tUnlock this article \u2014 plus in-depth analysis, newsletters, premium events, and news alerts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"restricted-content-breaker-wrapper-cta mobile\">Already have an account? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/login\/\" data-stat-login=\"\" data-stat-paywall-cta=\"breaker login cta mobile\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Log in<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tIndividual plans<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tGroup plans<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/stat-plus\/\" class=\"stat-button view-all\" data-stat-paywall-cta=\"breaker view all plans\" aria-label=\"View All Plans\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">View All Plans<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"restricted-content-text\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tTo read the rest of this story subscribe to STAT+.\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/stat-plus\/\" class=\"stat-button restricted-button\" data-stat-paywall-cta=\"breaker subscribe cta 1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Subscribe<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bob Herman covers health insurance, government programs, hospitals, physicians, and other providers \u2014 reporting on how money influences&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":494187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,9041,253,9447,9042,248],"class_list":["post-494186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-health-insurance","tag-healthcare","tag-hospitals","tag-insurance","tag-stat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}