CVS Track Record

[Helen Shane]

You be the judge.

CVS wants to move into downtown Sebastopol.

Three hours on the web, starting with CVS - CVS FTC –CVS Lawsuits

produced the more than 20 articles below.

Take a few minutes to view the sites.

https://www.aprx.org/newsletters/032411.php
Six of American Pharmacies file class action lawsuit against CVS Caremark:
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Act Violations
Trade secret misappropriation
Violation of Texas’ any willing provide law.

https://www.californiahealthline.org...g-lawsuit.aspx The retail pharmacy chain admitted nowrongdoing or liability in the agreement, according to a company statement (Foxman, Ventura County Star, 8/19).


https://ncpanet.wordpress.com/2010/0...ark-ftc-invest

CVS Caremark has been battered by Walgreens and Wall Street this week and Washington hasn’t exactly forgotten about the multiple state and federal investigations into the company’s business practices, either.
In response to calls from NCPA and others, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) launched an open, joint investigation into allegations of both patient privacy violations and anti-competitive behavior following the merger of pharmacy chain behemoth CVS and pharmacy benefit manager Caremark.

https://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/foer110910.htm

Foer Wants FTC to Move Against CVS Caremark Domination
24 Corporate Crime Reporter 44, November 9, 2010

The American Antitrust Institute today called on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate whether CVS Caremark has been using its market dominance as a pharmacy benefits manager to suppress competition in retail pharmacy markets.
In a letter to Richard Feinstein, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, and David Vladeck, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, AAI Presdient Albert Foer asked – “Why, in the course of the 2007 review of the then-proposed CVS-Caremark merger, the FTC did not foresee a likelihood that the merger would create both the ability and the incentive of the combined firm to act in this manner?”

https://www.ripoffreport.com/directo...-Pharmacy.aspx

CVS Steals from Consumers el cajon, California

I was having cvs fill my scripts for a few months. They always charged me my 15.00 co pay. I never thought anything of it until I had my perscriptions filled at the little mom and pop pharmacy by my work and was charged almost less then half of my co pay for each of my scripts. I asked them why it was so much cheaper. They explained to me that my meds cost less them my copay and I pay the actual costs of the meds instead of my copays. So I called CVS and asked why I wasnt charged the cost of the meds. They say that they are required to charge u the copay no matter how much the meds are. So they pocket the difference!!!!!!

CVS faces probes by FTC, HHS, DEA - Drug Topics - ModernMedicine
drugtopics.modernmedicine.com/drugtopics/...to.../671831
Jun 15, 2010 – Soberman told Drug Topics about the alleged chicanery the company uses to annex both ... Lynn Shapiro is a freelance writer in New York City. ...
CVS Caremark's chairman of the board and chief executive officer, Thomas M. Ryan, the man who built CVS from a small New England chain into a $100 billion company, is being dogged by controversy.
For one thing, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is looking into a charge by independent pharmacists that he is using Caremark's pharmacy benefit manager muscle to force customers to switch their prescriptions to CVS. He is also the subject of other government probes, including one into allegations of insider trading.

https://www.scpr.org/news/2010/10/15...th-settlement/


CVS Pharmacy has agreed to pay a multi-million dollar penalty after federal investigators found it had sold large amounts of cold medicine to drug traffickers in Southern California. Cold medicine has the chemicals that drug traffickers use to make methamphetamine.
The U.S. Attorney says between September of 2007 and November of 2008, CVS let people buy a lot more cold medicine with pseudoephedrine than federal law allows. Pseudoephedrine is a key ingredient in methamphetamine.

CVS pays $2.25 million HIPAA violation settlement
searchsecurity.techtarget.com/.../CVS-pays-225-million-HIPAA-settle...
CVS Caremark Corp. has agreed to pay $2.25 million to settle a federal investigation into allegations that it violated HIPAA privacy regulations when pharmacy ...

https://www.changetowin.org/news/cha...enefits-reform

CVS Caremark manages 80 percent of the drug benefit for the FEHBP, and its PBM-drugstore model appears to create conflicts of interest, anti-competitive dangers, and threats to participant privacy. CVS Caremark is currently the subject of an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which launched a probe after health plans, consumer groups, independent pharmacy groups, five U.S. Senators, and more than a dozen members of the House of Representatives expressed concern about the anticompetitive effects of the CVS-Caremark merger and the risks of having such a large portion of the drug supply chain controlled by one company. CVS Caremark lost $4.8 billion in PBM business in 2009 – including contracts with major public sector employers such as the State of New Jersey and the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority – related to its lack of transparency. These losses have prompted investors to question whether the merger of CVS and Caremark is creating real value for shareholders. More examples of CVS Caremark's troubled track record…

Cure CVS Now: "Speed Above Safety?"
curecvsnow.org/index.php?id=48
District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of "Speed Above Safety?" CVS appears to have other priorities for its pharmacists, however. According to the report of an investigation by North

https://www.prweb.com/printer/4032824.htm

National Employee Collective and Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against CVS
Class Action Alleges Employees Subjected to Off-the-Clock Security Searches & Missed Breaks
Roslyn, NY (PRWEB) May 24, 2010
A lawsuit has been filed in the Federal New York, Case No. 10 Civ. 2075, on behalf of a class of current and former CVS employees alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and New York State labor laws. The lawsuit contends that employees at CVS stores are subjected to off-the-clock security checks at the end of each shift which can take up to 30 minutes. It also accuses the Rhode Island based company of forcing employees to work through meal and rest breaks without compensation and of failing to pay overtime wages.

https://www.lawyersandsettlements.co...ark-billing-pr

Nationwide Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against CVS Caremark Over Billing Practices
Cincinnati, OH: A nationwide consumer fraud class action lawsuit has been filed against CVS Caremark, the largest pharmacy health care provider in the United States and the owners of CVS.com, for allegedly double-billing its customers for the price of prescription drugs.

The Complaint alleges that CVS’s nationwide billing system double-bills the price of prescription drugs to CVS customers who have a high deductible health plan that is coupled with a health reimbursement account or health savings account (HSA) and who use a prescription drug coupon. CVS’s billing

New troubles for CVS Caremark - Mar. 23, 2010 - CNN Money
money.cnn.com/2010/03/23/news/.../cvs_caremark.../index.htm
Mar 23, 2010 – The FTC and a multi-state task force are investigating CVS Caremark, which rivals say is guilty of locking customers into using its pharmacy.

American Antitrust Institute Asks FTC To “Proceed Forcefully ...
www.antitrusttoday.com/.../american-antitrust-institute-asks-ftc-to-pr...
Dec 2, 2010 – American Antitrust Institute Asks FTC To “Proceed Forcefully” Against CVS Caremark. As CVS Caremark is learning, even an approved merger ...

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/b...VdyJJof1OEXR7g

CVS Caremark is coming under increasing pressure from consumer groups and shareholders to split up, at the same time that federal and state regulators are looking into accusations of anticompetitive behavior by the merged company.

https://query.nytimes.com/search/sit...ger&srchst=cse

· Pressure Grows to Unwind CVS Merger
Consumer groups contend that behavior at CVS Caremark, the merged drugstore chain and pharmacy benefit manager, is anticompetitive, The ...April 15, 2011

articles by Joe Davidson - archive | Staff | washingtonpost.com
projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/articles/Joe+Davidson/
Federal Diary: Searching for answers at the troubled Federal Protective Service ..... FTC probing CVS Caremark's prescription drug practices (February 9, 2010) ...


https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lan...lion-fine.html

Accused of not doing enough to prevent people from buying cold medicines to make the drug methamphetamine, CVS/Pharmacy will pay $75 million to settle a federal case, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The case argued that CVS did not properly safeguard cold medicine with pseudoephedrine, a common ingredient in over-the-counter medications such as Sudafed and Claritan, as a nasal congestant.
“This case shows what happens when companies fail to follow their ethical and legal responsibilities,” said U.S. Atty. André Birotte Jr. in a statement. “CVS knew it had a duty to prevent methamphetamine trafficking, but it failed to take steps to control the sale of a regulated drug used by methamphetamine cooks as an essential ingredient for their poisonous stew.”
Federal prosecutors brought the case against the giant drugstore chain, accusing the stores of fueling meth trade in California and other states. The prosecutors said CVS violated the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005, which limits cold medicine purchases.
“We are announcing today that we have resolved this issue, which unfortunately resulted from a breakdown in CVS/pharmacy’s normally high management and oversight standards,” Thomas M. Ryan, chairman and CEO of CVS Caremark, said in a statement. “While this lapse occurred in 2007 and 2008 and has been addressed, it was an unacceptable breach of the company’s policies and was totally inconsistent with our values. CVS/pharmacy is unwavering in its support of the measures taken by the federal government and the states to prevent drug abuse.”

https://www.phiprivacy.net

Lawsuit alleges CVS Caremark violates HIPAA
By Dissent, October 4, 2010
As if CVS hasn’t already had enough trouble with the FTC and HHS, now six pharmacies in Texas are suing CVS Caremark. As Health Data Management reports, the pharmacies allege that the pharmacy chain and mail-order pharmacy benefit management firm have engaged in racketeering under the federal RICO law, trade secret misappropriation, and — most importantly for the purposes of this blog — violations of the HIPAA privacy rule:
The suit alleges privacy violations that started only months after the CVS/pharmacy unit of CVS Caremark in early 2009 agreed to pay a $2.25 million fine and institute corrective action plans


https://thehill.com/balogs/congress-...aremark-abuses

Healthcare - The Hill's Congress Blog
... Mack, we’re getting organized to do just that through the Prescription Drug Abuse
Caucus. ...CVS Caremark abuses warrant through FTC investigation and remedies. ...

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[theindependenteye]

Well --

That's an impressive rap sheet. I somehow doubt that Rite Aid could match it, but who knows . . .

All I know is that I thought that Long's was a pretty good establishment, and when CVS took it over, it sank to the bottom of the cat pan, IMHO.

Elizabeth Fuller