CVS Health (CVS) is expanding its HealthHUB footprint by opening 15 locations in Houston. The drugstore and pharmacy chain also said it will open as many as 1,500 HealthHUBs by 2021, with 600 locations reportedly slated to open by the end of 2020.

CVS said its HealthHUBs are designed to offer healthcare services that are simple to use, conveniently located, and affordable for consumers with services created to help those patients that have chronic illnesses, which is a growing part of the population. According to CVS, one in two Americans has at least one chronic illness.

"Helping people get well and stay well is at the heart of everything we do, and that is the focus of our new HealthHUB stores here in Houston ," Jeffrey Schmidt , senior vice president at CVS Pharmacy said in a statement.

"Customers tell us they want local access to convenient, personalized and integrated health care. Our HealthHUB locations do just that helping to elevate the store into a community-based health care destination where consumers can engage people they trust, who are accessible and knowledgeable, to help bring everything together in a better health experience at a lower cost,” he added.

CVS started its HealthHUBs last year with a number of pilot locations. The company said the introduction of the 15 locations in Houston is a part of its strategy to “scale the program nationally.”

To date, CVS has 53 HealthHUB locations in the five states of Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Texas, which will grow to 17 states by the first part of 2020 as the retailer continues its expansion plans.

Shares of CVS stock were up 0.49% as of 10:37 a.m. EST on Tuesday.

CVS
A CVS corner drugstore is pictured. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
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