CVS will lay off another 160 employees at Aetna

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HARTFORD, Conn. — CVS Health has warned Connecticut officials that it will lay off 164 workers at Hartford-based health insurer Aetna, which has struggled financially this year due to higher-than-expected medical costs.

Woonsocket, RI-based CVS said those workers will be laid off for a 14-day period starting Feb. 15. The positions that will be eliminated include clinical case managers, field sales representatives, sales administration managers and care management staff.

This latest round of layoffs comes as CVS has been working to reduce its workforce in recent months. In late September, CVS said it would lay off about 2,900 people amid pressure from investors to cut costs and improve its financial performance. The layoffs are part of a $2 billion cost-cutting plan.

The company discontinued some of its infusion services and announced plans to close or sell 29 pharmacies. About 630 jobs reporting to CVS headquarters in Rhode Island were also cut.

CVS’s management has also experienced an overhaul: the company replaced earlier CEO Karen Lynch in October, abruptly ending a turbulent tenure in which she struggled to merge her retail pharmacies and other businesses into a one-stop healthcare company. Lynch was succeeded by David Joyner, head of CVS’s Caremark Pharmacy Benefit Management Division.

Aetna has already cut more than 400 jobs since October.

In this latest round of layoffs at Aetna, affected workers are located across the country, including in Connecticut, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification letter sent to the Connecticut Department of Labor.

In a statement sent to Hartford Business JournalA CVS spokesman said these layoffs are part of the 2,900 reductions announced in September and that some positions are affected by the unexpected loss of a contract within Aetna Better Health in Kansas. The spokesman said only three Connecticut-based workers are losing their jobs.

“We are committed to supporting these colleagues who will receive severance pay and benefits, including access to outplacement services,” the spokesman said.

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