Episode Overview

Podcast: Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
Episode: Reimagining Consumer Experience and Technology at CVS Health with Tilak Mandadi
Date: February 10, 2026
Guests: Tilak Mandadi, EVP of Ventures; Chief Experience and Technology Officer, CVS Health
Host: Jacob Emerson

Main Theme:
This episode centers on how CVS Health is reimagining the healthcare consumer experience and leveraging technology and innovation. Tilak Mandadi, with prior experience at Disney and American Express, discusses CVS’s strategy for improving consumer engagement, advancing technology (especially AI), fostering interoperability, and launching an open engagement platform. He offers insight into balancing internal innovation with external investments, as well as candid perspectives on collaboration across the healthcare sector.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Tilak Mandadi’s Background and Role at CVS Health

• [01:12] Mandadi leads both the ventures group (over 40 companies, $2B in assets) and experience/technology teams.
• Oversees core IT, digital, AI, data analytics, consumer experience (physical and digital).
• Prior leadership at Disney (digital transformation) and American Express.

2. Lessons from Outside Industries for Healthcare

• [02:50] Healthcare's complexity surprised Mandadi, even after Disney and Amex.
  • Noted strong commitment among healthcare professionals.
  • Critiques how patient and provider experience can be afterthoughts.
  • Quote [03:33]:

    "In all this complexity of healthcare industry, how the patient and the provider experience became an afterthought, especially the customer experience...Without getting to better consumer engagement, you are not going to get to better healthcare outcomes."

3. CVS's Approach to Innovation: Build vs. Buy

• [04:55] CVS Ventures invests actively, not passively—often with commercial agreements.
• Internal development focuses on high-value, differentiating innovations.
• Partners with startups to quickly fill gaps and co-develop roadmaps.
• Emerging as a technology provider to the broader healthcare industry.
  • Quote [06:32]:

    "We're well underway into becoming a technology products and services provider to the rest of the healthcare industry."

4. Interoperability’s Progress and Remaining Barriers

• [08:04] Despite historic pessimism, Mandadi is optimistic about near-term advances:
  • More focus from CMS and regulators.
  • AI’s potential as a leapfrog technology—when combined with interoperability.
  • Advances in tech (APIs, tokenization, communication standards) lower barriers.
• Calls for equal push on payer side for comprehensive data access.
  • Quote [10:21]:

    "AI on its own would not be able to reimagine or transform healthcare...For this industry to realize the full potential of AI, it needs to be AI plus interoperability."

5. AI's Role in Consumer and Clinical Healthcare

• [11:57] AI is advancing rapidly, augmenting both clinicians and consumer services.
• CVS builds AI with clear principles: never replace human touch in care.
• Competitive advantage lies in consumer trust and longstanding relationships.
• Mandadi positions CVS as a pioneer—building with AI before it was mainstream.
  • Quote [13:33]:

    "A company's ability to reimagine healthcare doesn't depend on AI. It depends on trust...We have the same type, the same or even more advanced technologies. But in addition we have the consumer trust."

6. The Consumer Engagement Platform

• [15:59] Announced at investor day—aims to be an open, consumer-centric ecosystem.
• Belief: High consumer engagement is the "holy grail" tied to trust and behavior change (key to outcomes).
• Platform is open—for any payer, provider, PBM, pharmacy.
• Three core services:
  1. Pharmacy as a Service: Best-in-class technology for any pharmacy.
  2. Engagement as a Service: Direct stakeholder-to-consumer relationships/support.
  3. Insights as a Service: Learnings from consumer engagement improve products.
• Seeks to become the "health concierge"—removing friction and empowering consumer decision-making.
  • Quote [17:22]:

    "We want essentially a health concierge in the pocket of our consumers, helping them, informing them, supporting them and taking out the stress that is prevalent in health care today for the consumer."

7. Final Thoughts: Industry Collaboration Over Competition

• [20:47] Mandadi urges stakeholders (payers, PBMs, pharma, providers) to stop infighting and collaborate.
• Calls for unified transformation, driven by collective goals and consumer interests.
  • Quote [21:08]:

    "Stop fighting with each other and help me. It's pointless for the different stakeholders...I would like to see a world where each...work together...to make the consumer, healthcare and health outcomes better."

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On Health Industry Complexity:
  [02:50–04:19] "I was humbled by the complexity of the healthcare industry, Jacob, and I was also humbled by the dedication of the people...But what surprised me though is...how the patient and the provider experience became an afterthought..."

• On Interoperability As AI’s Enabler:
  [10:21] "For us to realize...the full potential of AI, it needs to be AI plus interoperability."

• On Trust as Competitive Advantage:
  [13:33] "A company’s ability to reimagine healthcare doesn’t depend on AI. It depends on trust."

• On Consumer Engagement Platform:
  [17:22] "We want essentially a health concierge in the pocket of our consumers..."

• Industry Call to Action:
  [21:08] "Stop fighting with each other and help me...All of us working together to make...health outcomes better."

Important Segment Timestamps

• [01:12] – Tilak Mandadi's background and current role at CVS
• [02:50] – Lessons from outside industries; patient as afterthought
• [04:55] – CVS’s build vs. buy approach; venture integration
• [07:25] – CVS as product/service provider to industry
• [08:04] – Optimism for interoperability (CMS, AI, tech enablement)
• [11:57] – AI’s multi-pronged role and CVS’s principles for AI
• [15:59] – Launch and explanation of CVS’s consumer engagement platform
• [20:47] – Call for industry-wide collaboration

Conclusion

This episode offers a candid, strategic window into how CVS Health is attempting to drive industry-wide advancement in consumer engagement, technology, and interoperability. Mandadi’s rare cross-industry background frames his conviction that genuine health outcomes begin and end with consumer experience and trust—not just with technology. CVS’s emerging strategy involves both open collaboration—across stakeholders and startup partners—and the creation of scalable platforms primed to simplify healthcare, empower consumers, and make measurable improvements at scale.

For more insights or to catch the full conversation, visit Becker’s Healthcare.