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WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Health is recognizing its 30,000 pharmacists as part of American Pharmacists Month, an annual observation held in October. The company’s pharmacy teams are trusted community-based health care resources who play a valuable role in helping people on their path to better health. Pharmacists across the company are dedicated to improving access to care, lowering costs, and providing advice and counsel to the millions of patients they serve every day.
“At CVS Health, we know that delivering high-quality care locally is a unique and important way we can help our patients get and stay healthy,” said Larry Merlo, president and chief executive officer, CVS Health. “To do this, our pharmacists are playing a broader role in a patient’s health care team.”
Noted Merlo, “Our pharmacists do much more than simply dispense medications. They provide one-on-one counsel to patients, deliver health care services, such as immunizations, conduct medication reviews to ensure patients are getting the most out of their medication regimen, and even work to identify ways patients can save money on their prescriptions. Whether through CVS Pharmacy, CVS Caremark, CVS Specialty, Coram or Omnicare, our pharmacists are providing expert clinical care to patients and helping them achieve their best health.”
CVS Health pharmacists are often on front lines of health care and play a unique role in a patient’s care team because they are so accessible. In fact, with more than 9,800 stores as well as many other patient-facing touch points, CVS Health pharmacists are participating in real-time, high-quality interactions with their patients every day. In addition to filling more than a billion prescriptions each year, the company’s pharmacists also provide other vital pharmacy care services, such as:
- Providing medication counseling to help patients better understand their prescription medications. Pharmacists can answer questions about prescription drugs and recommend pharmacy services, such as automatic refills or script consolidation programs, like ScriptSync, that result in fewer trips to the pharmacy. Using CVS Pharmacy’s ScriptPath Prescription Management System, CVS pharmacists also help patients better manage their prescription regimens, and ensure they are taking their medications properly and at the most effective times of day.
- Suggesting money-saving options. Armed with an innovative new digital tool, CVS pharmacists can quickly and seamlessly review a patient’s prescription regimen, medication history and insurance plan information to determine the best way for them to save money on out-of-pocket costs. While the primary goal is always to help the patient find the lowest cost alternative under their pharmacy benefits plan, pharmacists may also be able to recommend a lower-cost medication option, such as a generic or a therapeutic alternative, suggest a 90-day refill rather than a 30-day refill which can often cost less, or identify other savings opportunities.
- Administering immunizations to help prevent a range of illnesses and diseases, including flu, meningitis, chicken pox, and many others. CVS pharmacists are specially trained to provide vaccinations, offering patients a safe and convenient way to stay on top of all the vaccines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
- Deliver disease management education and support to patients in-store and by phone. CVS pharmacists provide in-person and telephonic disease management and medication adherence support for CVS Caremark pharmacy benefit management (PBM) members with chronic diseases through the Pharmacy Advisor program. Specially-trained pharmacists are also part of disease-specific CareTeams available to CVS Specialty patients to help them manage complex chronic conditions. These pharmacists offer proactive clinical counseling and support to help manage the entire patient, including their comorbidities.
- Prescribe certain medications. In some states, such as California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington, pharmacists are able to prescribe hormonal contraceptives, giving patients greater access to convenient care when and where they need it.
On October 16, CVS Health will celebrate National Pharmacy Technician Day by recognizing the company’s more than 50,000 pharmacy technicians for the valued support they provide to CVS pharmacists and pharmacy teams across the organization.
