1. insights
  2. newsletters
  3. the strategist

The Strategist

The Strategist: April 30, 2026

Subscription Required
Logo for The Strategist in Brief featuring bold white and dark blue text over a background of layered blue geometric shapes.

Podcast | Strategy CatalystThe Strategist in Brief: April 30, 2026

This week's episode covers five big ideas from the Spring CSO Forum, CVS's new pharmacy-only stores, Amazon and Walmart's competing GLP-1 programs, Baylor Scott & White's health plan exit, and who's in and out of the CMS ACCESS model.

A photo of the outside of a new pharmacy-only CVS, with signage advertising the new store type.

All-AccessIs CVS ditching the general store model? We visited one of their new pharmacy-only locations—here’s what we noticed.

The new stores have footprints around 3,000 square feet—about half the size of their traditional stores—and the location we visited seemed even smaller than that.

Subscription Required
Visual banner featuring the text "The Strategist" and a graphic evoking a football play diagram.

Contact Us to Gain Access
Strategist | Strategy CatalystAmazon and Walmart launch new weight management offerings with GLP-1 access

Amazon’s program is integrated with One Medical primary care and connects patients with either in-person or virtual providers. • Walmart’s program acts as an extension of their Better Care Services platform.

Subscription Required
Visual banner featuring the text "The Strategist" and a graphic evoking a football play diagram.

Contact Us to Gain Access
Strategist | Strategy CatalystBaylor Scott & White drops Medicaid and ACA from its provider-sponsored health plan

Baylor Scott & White announced that its health plan will exit the Texas Medicaid Managed Care Program and discontinue its individual marketplace plans by the end of the year, impacting 225K members.

Subscription Required
Visual banner featuring the text "The Strategist" and a graphic evoking a football play diagram.

Contact Us to Gain Access
Strategist | Strategy CatalystACCESS cohort takes shape: Who joined, who passed, and what the first cohort tells us

On April 13, CMS announced that more than 150 companies and providers have been provisionally approved for the first cohort of the Advancing Chronic Care with Effective, Scalable Solutions (ACCESS) model.

Subscription Required
Visual banner featuring the text "The Strategist" and a graphic evoking a football play diagram.

Contact Us to Gain Access
Strategist | Strategy CatalystGraphic of the Week: The post-COVID hospital spending rebound

In the immediate aftermath of the COVID pandemic, hospital care accounted for a whopping 40% of all health spending growth, primarily driven by utilization increases.

Subscription Required
Graphic titled 'The Strategist' with the subtitle 'News Flashes, Top Reads, & Numbers' in bold white text on a blue-green gradient background. The background features overlapping translucent geometric shapes, adding a modern and professional visual style

Contact Us to Gain Access
Strategist | Strategy CatalystNews Flashes, Top Reads, and Numbers: April 30, 2026

A quick roundup of recent headlines, our top reads of the week, and numbers in the news.