CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) is one of the most influential health care entities in the United States. It having the health insurance giant Aetna underneath its umbrella is no small part of that. 

As some of the larger retailers in the U.S. have gotten further into home-based care – including Walgreens Boots Alliance (Nasdaq: WBA), Walmart (NYSE: WMT), Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) and others – insiders have especially kept their eye on CVS because of Aetna.

On its own, CVS has flirted with the idea of Medicare-based home health acquisitions. Taking a zoomed-out view paints a larger and grander strategy, however, where Aetna and CVS’ visions combine.

“We are diversifying our growth portfolio with new health services,” CVS Health President and CEO Karen Lynch said in May. “We are expanding our capabilities in home health as we prepare for the 2023 launch of a post-acute transitions pilot for our Aetna membership in select geographies.”

Also in May, Aman Gill – the director of product strategy and innovation at Aetna – told Home Health Care News that home health acquisitions were “on the table.”

In order to flesh things out further, HHCN sat down recently with Dr. Kyu Rhee – Aetna’s chief medical officer – to discuss Aetna’s strategy and where home-based care fits in.

Highlights of that conversation are below, edited for length and clarity.