CVS Health Corporation is an American multinational healthcare company that owns CVS Pharmacy, a retail pharmacy chain; CVS Caremark, a pharmacy benefits manager; and Aetna, a health insurance provider, among many other brands. The company is the world's second largest healthcare company, behind UnitedHealth Group. In 2023, the company was ranked 64th in the Forbes Global 2000.[3][4] CVS started in Lowell, Massachusetts by brothers Stanley and Sidney Goldstein and their partner Ralph Hoagland.[5] The name stood for Consumer Value Stores.[6][7]
History
1960s
The first Consumer Value Store (CVS), selling health and beauty products, was founded in 1963, in Lowell, Massachusetts, by brothers Stanley and Sidney Goldstein and Ralph Hoagland. By 1964, CVS had 17 stores that sold primarily beauty products. In 1967, CVS opened its first stores with pharmacy departments in Warwick, Rhode Island, and Cumberland, Rhode Island.[8] CVS was sold to Melville Corporation in 1969.[8]
1970s
By 1970, CVS was operating 100 stores in New England and the Northeast. In 1972, CVS acquired 84 Clinton Drug and Discount Stores. This purchase introduced CVS to the Midwest with stores in Indiana.[8] During 1977, CVS acquired 36 New Jersey
Finances
Subsidiaries and assets
Aetna
Aetna Inc. is an American managed health care company that sells traditional and consumer directed health care insurance and related services, such as medical, pharmaceutical, dental, behavioral health, long-term care, and disability plans, primarily through employer-paid (fully or partly) insurance and benefit programs, and through Medicare.
CVS Pharmacy
CVS Pharmacy is one of the largest retail pharmacy chains in the United States, with 9,600 stores located in all 50 states,[44] the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, operating primarily under the CVS Pharmacy, CVS, Longs Drugs, Navarro Discount Pharmacy and Drogaria Onofre names.[45] CVS Pharmacy fills more than one of every five prescriptions in the United States, and 85% of U.S. population lives within 10 miles of a CVS Pharmacy.[46]
Tobacco products removed from stores
On February 5, 2014, CVS announced that the company would discontinue the sale of all tobacco and cigarette products from their stores by October 1, 2014. In a statement explaining the change, CVS president and CEO Larry J. Merlo said, "We came to the decision that cigarettes and providing health care just don't go together in the same setting."[54]
Criticism and controversy
Health and Medicare fraud
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Caremark RX was involved in a number of health fraud and Medicare fraud scandals.[55][56] The combined price to settle this dispute with the U.S. Government cost the company over $250million.[57]
Elensys
In 1998, The Washington Post reported that CVS Corporation appeared to be sharing prescription drug information with the Woburn, Massachusetts, based marketing company, Elensys. According to the Post, Elensys received information on specific prescription drugs that individual CVS customers had purchased and used this information to send targeted direct mailings urging customers to renew prescriptions and promoting other products in which they might be interested. CVS and Elensys argued that there were no privacy issues because Elensys was acting solely as a
Community involvement and philanthropy
- Since 1978, CVS Samaritan Vans have provided free roadside assistance to motorists and the community in numerous cities.
- Played at the Rhode Island Country Club, the CVS Caremark Charity Classic was established to raise money for the support of non-profit agencies throughout New England. Since 1999, it has raised over $8million for charity.[89]
- In 2024, CVS Health committed to invest nearly $35 million in equity to create two affordable housing developments in Hawai'i. A $17.5 million investment went toward the construction of 200 new affordable housing units at Kaiāulu o Kūku'ia (Lahaina, Maui), while another $17.3 million, along with The Kobayashi Group, The Ahe Group and CREA, LLC, was invested in the construction of 169 new affordable housing units at Parkway Village (Kapolei, Oahu).[90]
See also
External links
References
- CVS Health Subsidiaries Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), December 31, 2018^
- CVS Health Corp 2024 Annual Report (Form 10-K) U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, February 12, 2025, retrieved February 14, 2025^
- The Global 2000 2023