With the Oak Street deal, CVS will join the league of Big Corps trying to cash in on primary care delivery|Mike Mozart|CC BY 2.0

CVS Health, one of the largest pharmacy chains in the country, is closing in on acquiring Medicare-focused primary care provider Oak Street Health for $10.5 billion, including debt.

Oak Street has 160 centers across 21 states in the US. Just last November, CVS was eyeing home healthcare Signify Healthcare Inc for $8 billion.

Big companies racing into primary care
With the Oak Street deal, CVS will join the league of Big Corps trying to cash in on primary care delivery—which has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic—coming under federal Medicare benefits.

Amazon and Walgreens-backed VillageMD signed deals last year to acquire primary care providers 1Life Healthcare and Summit Health.