CVS 1998 Annual Report Download - page 10

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is that it significantly reduces the time our pharma-
cists spend on the telephone, so they can spend
more time doing what they do best—counseling
patients on medications and addressing their total
healthcare needs.
We also continue to make significant progress
on our next-generation Rx2000 Pharmacy Delivery
Project, which is reengineering the way we fill pre-
scriptions. This project is designed to enhance
pharmacy productivity, lower costs and improve
service by enabling our pharmacists to spend more
time with customers. A key benefit of our approach
is that it is scalable: we can tailor our system for
the needs of specific stores. For example, we will
roll out automated pill-counting only in our high
volume stores that can justify the investment, while
all stores will receive integrated workflow improve-
ments. This approach, versus “one size fits all,” is
just one more example of our focus on maximizing
our return on invested capital.
PharmaCare’s Innovative
Solutions Lead to Success in the
Managed Care Marketplace
The growth of managed care has been very
favorable to CVS. Our strong presence in local
markets and our advanced technology systems
enable us to provide unique prescription benefit
management (PBM) services. This has made us a
partner of choice for many managed care organiza-
tions.
PharmaCare®, our pharmacy benefit manage-
ment company, was formed in 1994 and, since that
time, has grown to achieve solid profitability while
becoming one of the top ten PBMs in the nation.
PharmaCare’s objective is to enable its customers—
primarily managed care organizations—to deliver
the best healthcare to their members in
the most cost effective manner. To
achieve this, PharmaCare takes
advantage of its unique
position in the healthcare
continuum; specifically,
its relationship with
CVS and the ability of
CVS pharmacists to
interact directly with
Care about
Approximately half of CVS’ prescription refills originate
through our touch-tone telephone system,
making life easier for our customers.