Table of Contents
KANSAS CITY — CVS pharmacies here were unaffected Wednesday by a threatened pharmacist walkout.
The threat was reported by USA Today, which also had a story about a pharmacist walkout in the area over the weekend.
At least a dozen CVS pharmacies in the metropolitan area— many inside Target stores — temporarily closed late last week when pharmacists walked off the job to protest workplace conditions, according to the Kansas City Star. Pharmacists were protesting reduced pharmacy technician hours, attempts to relocate pharmacists and the recent firing of a district leader for opposing the changes, the newspaper said.
“We’re committed to providing access to consistent, safe, high-quality health care to the patients and communities we serve,” a CVS spokeswoman said. “Our ability to serve patients in Kansas City was not impacted [Wednesday] and we are not seeing any abnormal activity in other markets.
“We always seek to work with our pharmacists to directly address any concerns they may have – and have been meeting with teams in the Kansas City market this week. We want our pharmacy teams to be able to succeed, which is why we’ve taken several actions to support our local teams including providing additional pharmacy resources to support stores that may be at capacity, providing additional support for filling open positions and increasing staffing levels.
“We recognize that there’s an industrywide shortage of health care providers – including pharmacists – and that this is a busy time of year due to the high customer demand for seasonal vaccinations. We’re focused on addressing the concerns raised by our pharmacists so we can continue to deliver the high-quality care our patients depend on.”
