PROVIDENCE – CVS Health Corp. will soon be adjusting hours at thousands of its pharmacies across the country.
Amy Thibault, director for external communications for CVS Pharmacy, on Monday told Providence Business News that two-thirds of CVS Health Corp.’s 9,000 pharmacies will be affected beginning in March, with the new hours of operation varying by pharmacy.
The company did not say which stores or states will be affected.
“We periodically review operating hours to make sure we’re open during peak customer demand,” Thibault said. “From time to time, this may result in a shift in pharmacy hours. By adjusting hours in select stores this spring, we ensure our pharmacy teams are available to serve patients when they’re most needed. If a pharmacy is closed, a patient can visit any open CVS Pharmacy location for assistance with their immediate prescription needs.”
The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend that both CVS and Walmart are still dealing with a pharmacist shortage that began a year ago, when a rush of vaccines and virus tests coupled with a busy flu season overwhelmed many of the nation’s pharmacies.
Major drugstore chains have raised pay and dangled signing bonuses to add employees. They’re also emphasizing the lunch breaks and sending routine prescription work to other locations to improve conditions in their pandemic-battered pharmacies.
CVS last February began closing most of its pharmacies nationwide from 1:30 to 2 p.m. daily to give its pharmacists a “predictable and consistent daily pause.”
This past summer, Walgreen’s offered bonuses of up to $75,000 in certain markets to recruit pharmacists, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“There isn’t a shortage of pharmacists. There’s just a shortage of pharmacists who want to work in those high-stress environments that aren’t adequately resourced,” said Richard Dang, an assistant professor of clinical pharmacy at the University of Southern California, told The Associated Press.
Drugstores rely on pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to fill prescriptions, answer phones, work the drive-thru window, administer vaccines and give tests.
They also ask them to manage a growing amount of patient health. Pharmacists in many stores now help people quit smoking and monitor their blood sugar. And companies such as Walgreens are pushing them to work more with primary care doctors.
Pharmacies, like other businesses, were hurt earlier in the pandemic because employees who got COVID-19 – or those in close contact with someone who did – had to miss work for a few days. Stress also left many pharmacists and technicians feeling burned out and looking for other jobs, industry observers say.
The number of job postings for retail pharmacists rose 63% from 2020 to 2021, according to the Pharmacy Workforce Center, a nonprofit that tracks openings.
Walgreens leaders on Jan. 7 said that they added a net total of 600 pharmacists in the recently completed fiscal first quarter. But staff shortages still force the chain to reduce hours at some pharmacies.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
