WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Caremark plans to highlight its senior-focused initiatives at Aging in America, the 2012 Annual Conference of the American Society on Aging, being held this week in Washington, D.C.
CVS said Thursday that it will participate in panels and workshops at the event that will outline its past, present and future efforts to serve the health needs of the growing over-55 population.
The company will also introduce a general session titled "The Political Landscape and Older Adults" that features Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D., Pa.) and Assistant Secretary for Aging Kathy Greenlee.
CVS noted that as a pharmacy innovation company, it’s uniquely positioned to help seniors improve their health while lowering their health care costs.
For example, CVS is promoting the concept of a "pharmacy home," which is particularly important for older patients who take two to three times as many prescription medications. The company said its extensive research on medication adherence has shown that when patients use one pharmacy to fill all of their medications, they are more likely to take their medications as prescribed and can lower their health costs by thousands of dollars annually.
"We have a unique understanding of what older Americans want from a pharmacy innovation company like CVS Caremark and how to deliver on that promise. As we reinvent pharmacy, we intend to continue to be an active health care partner to the 10,000 people a day who turn 65 in this country," David Casey, vice president of workforce strategies and chief diversity officer at CVS Caremark, said in a statement. "Our participation in this conference reflects how passionate we are about that."
CVS added that its number of workers age 50 and older has grown from 6% in the 1990s to about 20% currently and that the company continues to work with public-private partnerships at the local, state and national levels to recruit mature workers for its workforce.
"CVS Caremark believes that mature workers are invaluable colleagues in the workplace and also play an instrumental role in our continuing commitment to provide innovative solutions for our mature customers," Casey stated.
