The healthcare industry has no shortage of heroes. Doctors, nurses, and other caregivers spend their lives dedicated to improving the quality of life of their patients. In addition to these individuals, retail pharmacy CVS Health (CVS 0.93%) has taken steps, via its Minute Clinic, toward doing the same for its customers.
It's a "mission first" approach to business, and it works. In this video, Fools Todd Campbell and Kristine Harjes discuss how and why.
A full transcript follows the video.
This podcast was recorded on 11/25/15.
Todd Campbell: We started off today's episode by saying that we wanted to approach this with giving thanks, healthcare style. In preparation for filming today and recording this episode, I started spending a lot of time thinking about what it is that's happening in healthcare that I'm really thankful for.
And you know, one of the things that jumps to the top of my mind is how thankful I am that there are so many doctors and nurses and caregivers that are out there working tirelessly day in and day out to help patients understand their disease, figure out their treatment options, and, you know, deal with the side effects that often can come with those treatment options.
And it doesn't matter if it's a surgeon that's helping out a patient at a major hospital or if it's the nurse practitioner that's helping out people at the CVS Minute Clinics. These people are a godsend, if you will. And our lives are certainly better off having them as a part of them.
Kristine Harjes: Yeah, everybody working in the industry is a superhero, and I'm certainly thankful for how hard all of our doctors work, and everybody. You know, like you said, it doesn't matter if you are a surgeon or if you're the person at the CVS Minute Clinic. These people in the healthcare industry are working tirelessly, and we're all so much better off for it.
It goes beyond just the interaction between patients and their caregivers, too. It goes all the way toward the drug developers, the people who run the insurance companies, it's a huge, huge industry, and I like to think it's one where everybody can really believe in the mission of health. I mean, that's something we can get behind, and so I'm definitely thankful for the passion that everybody working in the industry has.
Campbell: Right. We mentioned CVS and Minute Clinics, and just go back to what you just said about if your focus is on health first, it's like anything else, right? I suppose if you love what you do, you will succeed, right? So at CVS health, I mean, not only are they making healthcare more affordable to everybody and accessible to everybody by opening up clinics in their stores right down the street, but, you know, their decision to stop selling tobacco and put, I guess, patient health before profit. You know, they gave up $2 billion in sales in that decision.
Harjes: Yeah, we look into it and we try to financially justify it because we're investors, but what it comes down to is just mission alignment. That's what it is.
Campbell: Yeah. I mean, it's that kind of thoughtfulness and I guess innovation, the way that they approach their businesses that make us thankful not only as patients, people, but also as investors. The Motley Fool is helping everyone come up with new ways of approaching their investment portfolios, figuring out what kind of companies they want to own. And certainly if you're putting your mission first, I think you have a much better likelihood of succeeding long-term.
