CVS 2014 Annual Report Download - page 20

programs to help treat chronic conditions as well as
from the innovative partnerships we have forged with
providers and payors.
Adherence to prescription drug regimens is critical
to improving patient health and reducing costs, and
CVS/pharmacy’s adherence rates lead the industry. For
example, our medication possession ratios for custom-
ers undergoing therapy for diabetes, high cholesterol, or
high blood pressure are eight percentage points higher
than those of our top three retail competitors. That
translates into lower mortality rates, fewer heart attacks
and strokes, better quality of life, and a reduction in
overall health care costs.
Among our partnerships, we’re working with hospital
providers to ensure that patients have the proper
outpatient medications in hand before discharge. We
follow up after patients return home to answer questions
and confirm medication adherence. With the rise of
consumerism driven in large part by the increasing
numbers of individuals in consumer-driven health plans,
what we’re calling the retailization of health care,
CVS/pharmacy has also partnered with a number of
health plan clients on a variety of initiatives that help
them reach out to consumers directly. For example,
we host in-store events to drive member acquisition
and have launched a solution that enables health plan
members to pay their insurance premiums at their local
CVS/pharmacy. We’ve also introduced HeathTag®,
which allows us to deliver messages from our health
plan partners to patients, such as a reminder to get an
A1C blood sugar screening when picking up a prescrip-
tion. Importantly, these relationships position us to be
anchors in their limited or preferred networks.
We continue to enter new markets and use
ExtraCare to drive profitable growth
The vast majority of the U.S. population lives within a
few miles of a CVS/pharmacy, and we’ve continued
to expand our footprint in existing markets as well as
by entering new markets such as Seattle. Overall, we
opened or acquired 184 new stores in 2014. Factoring
in closings, net units increased by 162 stores. That
equates to two percent retail square footage growth for
the year, in line with our annual goal.
Our September 2014 acquisition of Miami-based
Navarro Discount Pharmacy® has strengthened our
position in the Hispanic marketplace, the fastest growing
demographic in the United States. Over the next decade,
the U.S. Hispanic population is expected to increase by
25 percent to 71 million lives. Navarro has been serving
Hispanic consumers for more than 50 years and now
has 33 retail drugstore locations. We are leveraging
its expertise to help make CVS/pharmacy stores in
Hispanic neighborhoods across the country even more
relevant to the customers we serve every day.
In all our locations, the ExtraCare loyalty program con-
tinues to play an indispensable role in driving profitable
front store sales. The industry’s longest-running loyalty
program is now in its 17th year and was used in more
than 80 percent of front store sales in 2014. It has
allowed us to gather critical consumer insights that we
use every day to enhance the CVS/pharmacy shopping
experience and to invest in those customers who
provide the most value.
For example, we’re now leveraging the knowledge
we’ve gained through ExtraCare to deliver personalized
offers to our 70 million active cardholders. This includes
25 million e-mails a week and 90 million mail pieces
annually. In 2014, cardholders redeemed a total of 38
million personalized coupons. The ongoing decline in
newspaper circulation will only increase our advantage
over competitors who rely more heavily on circulars
to drive trips to their stores. As always, cardholders
also get 2 percent back on purchases every day and
received $4 billion in ExtraBucks® savings and rewards
in 2014.
CVS Health’s robust digital strategy empowers consum-
ers to navigate their pharmacy experiences and manage
their conditions through our online and mobile tools.
This includes the ability to get next-in-line text alerts
at CVS/minuteclinic and, in the future, the ability to
schedule appointments. Our mobile app has received
critical acclaim for ease of use, while our text message
program has experienced significant growth.
CVS/minuteclinic excels at customer
satisfaction while broadening its preventative
and chronic care offerings
CVS/minuteclinic continued its rapid growth, ending
the year with more than 970 clinics in 31 states and
the District of Columbia, up from 800 clinics in the prior
year. Since its inception, CVS/minuteclinic’s 2,700 nurse
practitioners and physician assistants have provided
care for more than 23 million patient visits. We will
continue to add more locations and enter new markets
in 2015 and remain on track to reach 1,500 locations by
the end of 2017.
Along with our rapid growth, we have continued to
deliver the high levels of satisfaction and quality for
which CVS/minuteclinic is known. Our net promoter
score, a third-party measure of how likely it is that
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