WOONSOCKET – CVS Health Corp. made a profit of $2 billion in the first quarter, a 40.1% increase year over year, the company reported on Wednesday.
Earnings per share were $1.53, compared with $1.09 one year prior.
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Revenue increased 8.3% year over year to $66.8 billion. The company said revenue in its retail and pharmacy segments increased largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including longer prescriptions and items related to the pandemic. The increases related to COVID-19 also boosted sales of general merchandise items, the company said.
Company segment results:
- Pharmacy Services: Revenue increased 4.2% year over year to $35 billion. Pharmacy claims processed in the quarter totaled 541.4 million, an increase of 53.4 million year over year. Part of the increase was due to a rise in 90-day prescriptions due to the pandemic. The company also cited the leap year as a reason sales and revenue would have risen.
- Retail/LTC: Revenue was $22.7 billion, a 7.7% rise year over year. The segment filled 375.1 million prescriptions in the quarter, a 28.3 million increase year over year. Same store sales increased 8% year over year – attributed to a rise in sales related to the pandemic.
- Health Care Benefits: Revenue was $19.2 billion, a 7.4% increase year over year. Medical membership was 23.5 million, a 700,000 increase year over year.
The company also detailed its efforts to navigate the pandemic.
It said to protect its employees, it has distributed personal protection equipment to retail stores and installed protective panels at pharmacy and checkout stations. The company has also implemented social-distancing practices and cleaning protocols at its store.
For consumers, it has waived copays for COVID-19-related diagnostic testing for all insured members, waived out-of-pocket costs of COVID-19-related inpatient admission for commercial and Medicare Advantage members, and covered all telehealth visits in-network through early June.
For its retail business, CVS also waived home delivery fees for prescriptions and other in store items.
The company also referenced its commitment to large-scale testing, its testing already in operation and its investment of $50 million to support community-based priorities related to COVID-19 such as food insecurity, health care access and front-line worker support.
“When facing any health crisis, including this pandemic, we’re uniquely positioned to understand consumer and patient needs and how to address them,” said CVS Health CEO and President Larry J. Merlo. “This includes increasing access to medicine and virtual care, and testing thousands for the virus every day to ready our country to reopen safely. We’re utilizing our innovation-driven health care model, scale and unique capabilities to benefit consumers across the health care system, and none of this could be done without the tireless dedication of our colleagues.”
