CVS Caremark pledges to accelerate transparency, drive to
lowest net cost prescription drugs, strengthen pharmacy relations,
and deliver the best clinical care in pharmacy
WOONSOCKET, R.I., July 23,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- CVS Caremark®, the
nation's leading pharmacy benefit manager and a CVS
Health® (NYSE: CVS) company, today announced a
renewed pledge to American businesses, unions, and health plans —
building on what the company is doing to deliver greater
transparency, lower drug costs, and better clinical care for the
most utilized health benefit.
"The way we have done our work over the past few
decades has driven greater cost savings, better care, and more
robust benefits for the Americans we serve," said David Joyner, president of CVS Caremark.
"Our work is rooted in greater simplicity and
transparency for those who pay for pharmacy benefits, for people
who take medicine, and for the pharmacies that serve our
patients."
The Caremark Client and Member Pledge includes our commitments
to:
- Deliver greater affordability. We are dedicated to
driving affordability for prescription drugs. By continuing to
promote generics, expand availability of biosimilars, and secure
significant discounts on brand-name medications, we ensure Caremark
members pay an average out-of-pocket cost of less than $8 for a 30-day supply of medicine. This
proactive approach is at the heart of what we do.
- Promote lowest net cost drugs. We provide choice to
our clients who design the benefits that are best for their
members, and as part of that work, we continue to promote and
advocate for low-list price, low net cost drugs.
- Strengthen the alignment between client benefit design,
physician choice, and patient need. We will continue to drive
transparent prescriber connectivity — with real-time updates on
benefit and formulary changes to reduce delays. We continue to
closely align to and advocate for client needs, patient needs, and
doctors' orders.
- Innovate to drive greater transparency. Our new
TrueCost™ solution aligns client and pharmacy reimbursement
specific costs, provides greater transparency, and includes
additional dispensing fees for the services pharmacists provide. We
will continue to offer differential reimbursement to independent
and rural community pharmacies to maintain member access.
- Encourage pharmacy models that deliver rebate value directly
to patients. Today, 99% of rebates we negotiate are passed
through to clients, which they use to pay down the cost of
benefits. With our TrueCost model, we return savings to
patients directly at the pharmacy counter, which we do for
employees at CVS Health today.
- Improve relations with pharmacies. We will make it
easier to do business with us by building upon what we have done:
proactively addressing pharmacy access through partnering with
rural pharmacies, updating technology for seamless transactions,
making reimbursement transparent, and delivering a consistent
experience at the counter.
- Change the trajectory of drug costs. Building on
our history of standing with clients and consumers against
pharmaceutical company price hikes, we will be the counterweight to
stop price gouging. Through our formulary strategies to drive down
costs, we continue to put medicine within reach — like breaking
down the patent wall associated with high-priced Humira and
providing insulin under $25 and
broadly available to all Americans. We will do more.
"We all want affordable access to prescription
drugs, and Caremark will continue to drive down costs, improve
care, and accelerate transparency," Joyner said. "For
our thousands of clients and millions of Americans, Caremark is the
difference between affording medicine and going without. We take
our commitments to heart and will deliver on our promise to
everyone we serve."
About CVS Health
CVS Health® is the leading health solutions company,
broadening access to care for millions of people nationwide. We
improve the health of communities across America through our local
presence, digital channels and with over 300,000 dedicated
colleagues – including more than 40,000 physicians, pharmacists,
nurses, and nurse practitioners. We support individuals with their
health – whether that's managing health conditions, staying
compliant with their medications or accessing affordable health
services in the most convenient ways. Our goal is to create
seamless connections across the health care system, simplifying the
experience and being a trusted partner for every meaningful moment
of health. And we do it all with heart, each and every day. Follow
@CVSHealth on social media.
Media contact
David Whitrap
David.Whitrap@CVSHealth.com
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SOURCE CVS Health