Lessons from an $11B Healthcare Exit
From law school to leading one of healthcare's most successful value-based care companies, Oak Street Health co-founder Mike Pykos shares the story of building, scaling, and ultimately selling his company to CVS for $11 billion.
He reveals the challenges of scaling a new care model, the importance of focusing on outcomes over financials, and what it takes to transform American healthcare.
We cover:
🏥 Why Oak Street intentionally designed an "unprofitable" care model
👥 The critical role of co-founders and finding the right cultural fit
📈 Taking the company public during COVID and navigating the markets
💰 The decision to sell to CVS and letting go of control
⚕️ The state of value-based care and why innovation has slowed
🔄 Lessons learned from scaling from startup to Fortune 500
About our guest:
Mike Pykosz is the co-founder and former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Oak Street Health, a leading network of primary care centers that delivers value-based care to adults on Medicare. Under Mike’s leadership, Oak Street Health’s team of more than 6,000 Oakies is rebuilding healthcare as it should be. His strategic guidance enabled the organization’s growth to more than 250 centers across 27 states since its founding in 2012.
In May of 2023, Oak Street was acquired by CVS for $10.6 B. Following the acquisition, Mike served as EVP and President of Health Care Delivery at CVS until his departure in Dec, 2024. In this role, he oversaw strategy and operations and across CVS Health’s health care delivery assets.
Mike was recognized as one of Modern Healthcare’s “100 Most Influential People in Healthcare” in 2023 for the fourth consecutive year, and one of Business Insider’s “100 People Transforming Business” in 2020.
Prior to founding Oak Street Health, Mike served as a core member of the Payers and Providers practice at The Boston Consulting Group, where he led projects focused on caring for the Medicare population and their unique healthcare needs. Mike has a BS in Biochemistry from the University of Notre Dame and holds a JD from Harvard Law School.
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