DEERFIELD, Ill., June 7 (UPI) -- The U.S. drugstore chain Walgreens Co. said Monday it will end its participation in prescription drug benefit contracts with CVS Caremark.
Walgreens, headquartered in Deerfield, Ill., accused CVS of employing an unfair design in its Maintenance Choice program and said CVS does not provide notification when its patients are transferred to CVS Caremark retail or mail order pharmacies to fill their prescriptions. In a news release, the company said CVS Caremark's prescription drug reimbursement rates were "unpredictable."
CVS Caremark, based in Woonsocket, R.I., issued a statement saying it was "surprised and disappointed" by Walgreens' announcement.
"Walgreens is offered comparable reimbursement rates as other large national retail chains, including CVS/pharmacy," the CVS statement said. "Despite this, Walgreens continues to take steps that make it a high-cost pharmacy provider and disrupt members."
Joe Harmison, president of the National Community Pharmacists Association, issued a statement calling Walgreens' decision "an indictment of all that has gone wrong for patients and the practice of pharmacy since the CVS Caremark merger in 2007."
"If a large, publicly traded chain with the clout of Walgreens finds the business practices of CVS Caremark untenable, then it's easy to understand how much greater the problems have been for independent community pharmacists and their patients," Harmison said.
The association is urging the Federal Trade Commission to investigate CVS Caremark.
