An agreement has been reached that will allow Walgreens to continue participating in the CVS Caremark Corporation’s pharmacy benefit management national retail network for existing, new and renewal plans.
The agreement comes after CVS Caremark announced last week that it wouldn’t allow Walgreens to participate in its retail pharmacy networks. The companies are not disclosing the financial terms of the new contract.
"We are very pleased with the outcome of this mutual, multi-year agreement that meets our business objectives," said Walgreens Executive Vice President of Pharmacy Kermit Crawford. "The agreement makes good business sense, provides the framework we need to operate our business going forward and assures choice and convenience for the many consumers who look to us for quality pharmacy care.”
CVS Caremark has been negotiating with Walgreens over the past several months, seeking an agreement that company officials say would "appropriately balance providing consumer access and managing pharmacy costs for CVS Caremark's PBM clients and their members.”
"This new contract enables Walgreens to continue participating in CVS Caremark's PBM national pharmacy network, provides enhanced network stability, eliminates any current or long-term disruption for our clients or their members and allows us to continue to fulfill our obligation to deliver cost-effective pharmacy benefits for our clients," said Per Lofberg, president of CVS Caremark's pharmacy benefit management business.
Before this agreement, Walgreens was already receiving comparable reimbursement rates to those of other large national retail chains, including CVS. The company had continued to seek higher reimbursement rates and announced on June 7 that it would not participate in CVS Caremark PBM networks going forward for members covered under new or renewal plans.
There has been no word as to whether Walgreens is still barred from participating in CVS Carmark’s Medicare Part D retail pharmacy networks, effective Jan. 1, 2011.
With the continuing participation of Walgreens, the CVS Caremark national pharmacy network will have more than 64,000 participating pharmacies, including neighborhood independent pharmacies, chain pharmacies and those located in supermarkets and other major retailers.