WOONSOCKET – CVS Caremark Corp. said Wednesday it will remove Walgreen Co. from the network of drugstores that can be used by participants in plans overseen by its prescription-benefit management division.
Beginning in 30 days, CVS drug plan customers will no longer be able to fill prescriptions at Walgreen pharmacies, Bloomberg News reported. The decision came two days after Deerfield, Ill.-based Walgreen said it planned to stop accepting participants in CVS-managed plans.
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CVS stock fell 0.3 percent, or 28 cents, to $30.88 a share in New York Stock Exchange trading at 11:39 a.m. Wednesday. The stock has dropped 12 percent over the last week.
The move “will be incredibly disruptive for the patients and consumers,” Adam J. Fein, president of the health care consultancy Pembroke Consulting, told Bloomberg.
Walgreen is the largest U.S. pharmacy chain by stores and sales, and in some parts of the Midwest the company controls 50 percent of the market, Fein said. “It’s very, very difficult to imagine that CVS will be able to assemble an acceptable network without Walgreen,” he said.
In a statement, CVS cited agreement violations and a lack of commitment to negotiations on Walgreen’s part as reasons for removing the company from its network. Walgreen responded that it was disappointed but unsurprised by CVS’ decision.
Additional information is available at cvscaremark.com.
