CVS

CVS Caremark Corporation

CVS Caremark Corporation (“CVS Caremark”, the “Company”, “we” or “us”) is the largest pharmacy health care provider in the United States. As a fully integrated pharmacy services company, we believe we can drive value for our customers by effectively managing pharmaceutical costs and improving health care outcomes through our pharmacy benefit management, mail order and specialty pharmacy division, Caremark Pharmacy Services®; approximately 7,000 CVS/pharmacy® retail stores; our retail-based health clinic subsidiary, MinuteClinic®; and our online pharmacy, CVS.com®.

In March 2007, we completed our merger with Caremark Rx, Inc. (the “Caremark Merger”). Following the Caremark Merger, we changed our name to CVS Caremark Corporation and Caremark Rx, Inc. became a wholly-owned subsidiary, Caremark Rx, L.L.C. (“Caremark”). The Caremark Merger brought together the nation’s largest retail pharmacy chain and a leading pharmacy benefit manager. We believe the Caremark Merger has uniquely positioned our Company to deliver significant benefits to health plan sponsors through effective cost management solutions and innovative programs that engage plan members and promote healthier and more cost-effective behaviors. In addition, the Caremark Merger has enhanced our ability to offer plan members and consumers expanded choice, greater access and more personalized services.

Business Segments

During the third quarter of 2009, we made changes to our reportable segments to reflect changes that were made to the way our management evaluates the performance of operations, develops strategy and allocates resources. This change involves recording certain administrative expenses previously recorded within the Pharmacy Services and Retail Pharmacy segments in a new Corporate segment. The Corporate segment consists of costs primarily associated with executive management, corporate relations, legal, compliance, human resources, corporate information technology and finance. This change had no impact on our consolidated results of operations. As a result of this change, the Company has three segments: Pharmacy Services, Retail Pharmacy and Corporate. Our historical segment disclosures have been revised to conform to the current presentation.

During the third quarter of 2009, we also made a change to our Pharmacy Services segment as it relates to our intersegment activities (such as the Maintenance Choice® program). This change impacts the gross profit and operating profit lines within the Pharmacy Services segment. Under the Maintenance Choice program, eligible members in plans sponsored by Pharmacy Services clients can elect to pick up their maintenance prescriptions at Retail Pharmacy segment stores instead of receiving them through the mail. When this occurs, both the Pharmacy Services and Retail Pharmacy segments now record the revenue, gross profit and operating profit on a standalone basis and corresponding intersegment eliminations are made. This change had no impact on our consolidated results of operations.

Pharmacy Services Segment

The Pharmacy Services segment provides a full range of pharmacy benefit management (“PBM”) services including mail order pharmacy services, specialty pharmacy services, plan design and administration, formulary management and claims processing. Our clients are primarily employers, insurance companies, unions, government employee groups, managed care organizations and other sponsors of health benefit plans and individuals throughout the United States. In addition, through our SilverScript Insurance Company (“SilverScript”) and Accendo Insurance Company (“Accendo”) subsidiaries, we are a national provider of drug benefits to eligible beneficiaries under the Federal Government’s Medicare Part D program. Currently, the pharmacy services business operates under the Caremark Pharmacy Services®, Caremark®, CVS Caremark™, CarePlus CVS/pharmacy™, CarePlus™, RxAmerica®, AccordantCare® and TheraCom® names. As of December 31, 2009, the Pharmacy Services segment operated 49 retail specialty pharmacy stores, 18 specialty mail order pharmacies and six mail service pharmacies located in 25 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.

Our Business Strategy - Our business strategy centers on providing innovative pharmaceutical solutions and quality client service in order to enhance clinical outcomes for our clients’ health benefit plan members while assisting our clients and their plan members in better managing overall healthcare costs. We produce superior results for our clients and their plan members by leveraging our expertise in core PBM services, including (as described more fully below): plan design and administration, formulary management, drug purchasing arrangements, mail order services, specialty pharmacy services, retail pharmacy network management services, Medicare Part D services and a broad array of clinical services.

In addition, as a result of the Caremark Merger, we are able to offer our clients and their plan members a variety of new programs and plan designs that benefit from our integrated information systems and the ability of our more than 26,000 pharmacists, nurse practioners and physician assistants to interact personally with the many plan members who shop our stores every day. Through our multiple member touch points (retail stores, mail order and specialty pharmacies, retail clinics, call centers and proprietary websites), we seek to engage plan members in behaviors that lower cost and improve healthcare outcomes. Examples of these programs and services include Maintenance Choice; new compliance and persistency programs designed to ensure that patients take their medications in the proper manner; enhanced disease management programs that are targeted at managing chronic disease states; and a new ExtraCare Health Card program (which offers discounts to eligible plan members on certain over-the-counter healthcare products sold in our CVS/pharmacy stores). In addition, we are working with our clients to (i) decrease unnecessary and expensive emergency room visits by encouraging plan members to use MinuteClinic locations for everyday common ailments and (ii) create pilot programs that offer convenient unique services available at MinuteClinic such as injection training for specialty pharmacy services.

While certain of these programs and services have already been adopted by many of our clients, others are in the formative stage and require additional information system enhancements and/or changes in work processes. Accordingly, there can be no assurance as to timing or benefits associated with certain of these programs.

Our Services - The PBM services we provide for our clients involve the design and administration of programs aimed at reducing the cost and improving the safety, effectiveness and convenience of prescription drug use. These services are described more fully below.

Plan Design and Administration - Our clients sponsor pharmacy benefit plans that facilitate the ability of eligible members in these plans to receive medications prescribed by their physicians. We assist our clients in designing pharmacy benefit plans that minimize the costs to the client while prioritizing the welfare and safety of the clients’ members. We also administer these benefit plans for our clients and assist them in monitoring the effectiveness of these plans through frequent, informal communications as well as through a formal annual client review.

We make recommendations to our clients encouraging them to design benefit plans promoting the use of the lowest cost, most clinically appropriate drug. We believe that we help our clients control costs by recommending plans that encourage the use of generic equivalents of brand name drugs when such equivalents are available. Our clients also have the option, through plan design, to further lower their pharmacy benefit plan costs by setting different member payment levels for different products on their drug lists.

Formulary Management - We utilize an independent panel of doctors, pharmacists and other medical experts, referred to as our Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee, to select drugs that meet the highest standards of safety and efficacy for inclusion on our drug lists. Our drug lists provide recommended products in numerous drug classes to ensure member access to clinically appropriate alternatives under the client’s pharmacy benefit plan. To improve clinical outcomes for members and clients, we conduct ongoing, independent reviews of all drugs, including, but not limited to, those appearing on the drug lists and generic equivalent products, as well as of our clinical programs. Many of our clients choose to adopt our drug lists as part of their plan design.

Discounted Drug Purchase Arrangements - We negotiate with pharmaceutical manufacturers to obtain discounted acquisition costs for many of the products on our drug lists, and these negotiated discounts enable us to offer reduced costs to clients that choose to adopt our drug lists. The discounted drug purchase arrangements we negotiate typically provide for our receiving discounts from established list prices in various ways. In that regard, these discounts generally take the form of a direct discount at the time of purchase, a discount for prompt payment of invoices or, when products are indirectly purchased from a manufacturer (e.g., through a wholesaler or retail pharmacy/chain), a retroactive discount, or rebate. We also receive additional discounts under our wholesale contracts if we exceed contractually-defined annual purchase volumes. We record these discounts, regardless of their form, as a reduction of our cost of revenues.

Prescription Management Systems - We dispense prescription drugs both directly, through one of our mail service or specialty pharmacies, or through a network of retail pharmacies. All prescriptions, whether they are filled through one of our mail service pharmacies or through a pharmacy in our retail network, are analyzed, processed and documented by our proprietary prescription management systems. These systems assist staff and network pharmacists in processing prescriptions by automating tests for various items, including, but not limited to, plan eligibility, early refills, duplicate dispensing, appropriateness of dosage, drug interactions or allergies, over-utilization and potential fraud.

Mail Pharmacy Program - As of December 31, 2009, we operated six large, automated mail service pharmacies in the continental United States. Our clients or their prescribers submit prescriptions, primarily for maintenance medications, to these pharmacies via mail, telephone, fax or the Internet. We also operate a network of smaller mail service specialty pharmacies described below. Our staff pharmacists review mail service prescriptions and refill requests with the assistance of our prescription management systems. This review may involve communications with the prescriber and, with the prescriber’s approval, can result in generic substitution, therapeutic interchange or other actions designed to reduce cost or to improve quality of treatment.

Specialty Pharmacy - Our specialty pharmacies support individuals that require complex and expensive drug therapies. As of December 31, 2009, our specialty pharmacies were comprised of 18 specialty mail order pharmacies located throughout the United States and are used for delivery of advanced medications to individuals with chronic or genetic diseases and disorders. Through our TheraCom subsidiary, we provide new product launch services for manufacturers of specialty drugs. Substantially all of these pharmacies have been accredited by the Joint Commission, which is an independent, not-for-profit organization which accredits and certifies more than 17,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. As of December 31, 2009, the Company operated a network of 49 retail specialty pharmacy stores, which operate under the CarePlus CVS/pharmacy name. These stores average 2,000 square feet in size and sell prescription drugs and a limited assortment of front store items such as alternative medications, homeopathic remedies and vitamins.

Onsite Pharmacies - We also operate a limited number of small pharmacies located at client sites under the CarePlus CVS/pharmacy, CVS/pharmacy or CarePlus name, which provide members with a convenient alternative for filling their prescriptions.

Retail Pharmacy Network - We maintain a national network of approximately 64,000 retail pharmacies including CVS/pharmacy stores. When a customer fills a prescription in a retail pharmacy, the pharmacy sends prescription data electronically to us from the point-of-sale. This data interfaces with our proprietary prescription management systems, which verify relevant customer data, including eligibility and member information, and perform a drug utilization review to determine clinical appropriateness and safety in addition to confirming that the pharmacy will receive payment for the prescription.

Medicare Part D Services - We participate in the administration of the drug benefit added to the Medicare program under Part D of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (“MMA”) (the “Medicare Drug Benefit”) through the provision of PBM services to our health plan clients and other clients that have qualified as Medicare Part D prescription drug plans (“PDP”). We also participate (i) by offering Medicare Part D pharmacy benefits through our subsidiaries, SilverScript and Accendo, which have been approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”), as PDPs, and (ii) by assisting employer, union and other health plan clients that qualify for the retiree drug subsidy available under Medicare Part D by collecting and submitting eligibility and/or drug cost data to CMS in order for them to obtain the subsidy.

Clinical Services - We offer multiple clinical programs and services to help clients manage overall pharmacy and health care costs in a clinically appropriate manner. Our programs are primarily designed to target safety, inappropriate utilization and non-adherence to medication, each of which may result in adverse medical events that negatively impact members’ health and the client’s pharmacy and medical spend. In this regard, we offer various utilization management, medication management, adherence and counseling programs to complement the client’s plan design and clinical strategies.

Disease Management Programs - Our clinical services utilize advanced protocols and offer clients convenience in working with health care providers and other third parties. Our AccordantCare health management programs include integrated rare disease management programs, which cover diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, Parkinson’s disease, seizure disorders and multiple sclerosis. The majority of these integrated programs are accredited by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (“NCQA”), a private, not-for-profit organization that evaluates, accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations. In addition, we have entered into a strategic alliance with Alere, L.L.C. for the management of our common disease management program offerings, which cover such chronic diseases as asthma, diabetes, congestive heart failure and coronary artery disease.

Quality Assurance - We have adopted and implemented clinical quality assurance procedures as well as policies and procedures to help ensure regulatory compliance under our quality assurance programs. Each new mail service prescription undergoes a sequence of safety and accuracy checks and is reviewed and verified by a registered pharmacist before shipment. We also analyze drug-related outcomes to identify opportunities to improve the quality of care.

Pharmacogenomic Services - In December 2009, we acquired a majority interest in Generation Health, Inc., a genetic benefit management company, that will allow us to expand our offering of pharmacogenomic clinical and testing services to our PBM clients. Pharmacogenomics is the study of how genetic makeup affects an individual’s response to drug therapies. Through genetic testing, doctors are able to evaluate a patient’s genetic makeup to determine the effectiveness of specific drugs, drug dosages and drug combinations. Through this relationship, we expect to use genetic testing to apply greater precision to client prescription management, with the goal of improving individual health outcomes and reducing overall medical costs. We expect to begin to offer these services to clients during 2010.

Information Systems - We currently operate multiple information systems platforms to support our Pharmacy Services segment. These information systems incorporate architecture that centralizes the data generated from filling mail service prescriptions, adjudicating retail pharmacy claims and fulfilling other PBM clients’ service contracts.

Clients - Our clients are primarily sponsors of health benefit plans (employers, unions, government employee groups, insurance companies and managed care organizations) and individuals located throughout the United States. We provide pharmaceuticals to eligible members in benefit plans maintained by our clients and utilize our information systems to perform safety checks, drug interaction screening and generic substitution. We generate substantially all of our Pharmacy Services segment net revenue from dispensing prescription drugs to eligible members in benefit plans maintained by our clients. During the year ended December 31, 2009, we managed approximately 660 million prescriptions for individuals from over 3,000 organizations.

Competition - We believe the primary competitive factors in the industry include: (i) the ability to negotiate favorable discounts from drug manufacturers; (ii) the ability to negotiate favorable discounts from, and access to, retail pharmacy networks; (iii) responsiveness to clients’ needs; (iv) the ability to identify and apply effective cost management programs utilizing clinical strategies; (v) the ability to develop and utilize preferred drug lists; (vi) the ability to market PBM products and services; (vii) the commitment to provide flexible, clinically-oriented services to clients; and (viii) the quality, scope and costs of products and services offered to clients and their members. The Pharmacy Services segment competes with a number of large, national PBM companies, including Medco Health Solutions, Inc. and Express Scripts, Inc., as well as many smaller local or regional PBMs. We also compete with several large health insurers/managed care plans (e.g., UnitedHealthcare, Aetna and CIGNA) and retail pharmacies, which have their own PBM capabilities, as well as with several other national and regional companies which provide services similar to ours.

Retail Pharmacy Segment

As of December 31, 2009, the Retail Pharmacy segment included 7,025 retail drugstores, of which 6,964 operated a pharmacy, our online retail website, CVS.com, and our retail health care clinics. The retail drugstores are located in 41 states and the District of Columbia operating primarily under the CVS/pharmacy name. We currently operate in 91 of the top 100 U.S. drugstore markets and hold the number one or number two market share in 68 of these markets. CVS/pharmacy stores sell prescription drugs and a wide assortment of general merchandise, which we refer to as “front store” products. Existing retail stores range in size from approximately 8,000 to 25,000 square feet, although most new stores range in size from approximately 10,000 to 13,000 square feet and typically include a drive-thru pharmacy. During fiscal 2009, we filled approximately 615 million retail prescriptions, or approximately 18% of the U.S. retail pharmacy market.

As of December 31, 2009, we operated 569 retail health care clinics in 25 states and the District of Columbia under the MinuteClinic name, of which 557 were located within CVS/pharmacy stores. The clinics utilize nationally recognized medical protocols to diagnose and treat minor health conditions and are staffed by board-certified nurse practitioners and physician assistants.

Our Business Strategy - Our goal is to be the easiest pharmacy retailer for customers to use. We believe that ease of use means convenience for the time-starved customer. As such, our operating strategy is to provide a broad assortment of quality merchandise at competitive prices using a retail format that emphasizes service, innovation and convenience (easy-to-access, clean, well-lit and well stocked). One of the keys to our strategy is technology, which allows us to focus on constantly improving service and exploring ways to provide more personalized product offerings and services. We believe that continuing to be the first to market with new and unique products and services, using innovative marketing and adjusting our mix of merchandise to match our customers’ needs and preferences is very important to our ability to continue to improve customer satisfaction.