Hopkinton pharmacy takes on CVS Caremark
http://www.wbjournal.com/article/20140708/METROWEST01/140709966
From the article:
Independent pharmacy Hopkinton Drug is taking CVS Caremark to task in court, after the pharmacy benefits manager moved to end a contract that could devastate the Main Street business.
The lawsuit claims that CVS audited Hopkinton Drug in April 2013 and raised concerns about the sale of prescriptions in states where it’s unlicensed. Hopkinton Drug said it immediately ceased that practice as it applied for the requisite licenses, and now employs authorized couriers to transport prescriptions, which the pharmacy said is “fully permissible under relevant laws.” After correcting those actions, Hopkinton Drug said CVS didn’t raise additional issues before it notified Hopkinton Drug in June that the provider agreement was being terminated.
Hopkinton Drug’s lawsuit raises questions about whether CVS Caremark may have an unfair advantage over smaller pharmacy businesses.
The lawsuit claims that the real estate division of CVS has inquired several times about whether Katz, who also owns Hopkinton Drug, would be interested in selling the business and its real estate assets, which suggests that the clientele served by the independent pharmacy is on CVS Caremark’s radar.
But Castel said the suggestion that CVS Caremark terminated its agreement with Hopkinton Drug for any reason other than issues found during the 2013 audit are unfounded.
Remember Standard Oil… the reason that we have the Sherman Anti Trust Act… came in to area(s) and sold their gasoline at a loss until the competition closed up and then they proceeded to charge MUCH HIGHER prices and moved on to the next “victim”… B UT.. Caremark is a license insurance company which is exempt from Sherman by the McCarren Ferguson Act. So anti-competitive behavior and/or monopolistic tactics are PERFECTLY LEGAL for such entities…
Filed under: General Problems
@Starwood500 So if Caremark is filling the turned away business, wouldn’t one wonder why the CVS stores are turning it away??? They’re essentially one and the same company as far as I’m concerned….CVS is the retail part and Caremark is the PBM and Mail Order part of the business. They are notorious for sending out intimidating letters to patients who dont use the mail order portion implying that if they don’t use the mail order, they won’t get their meds. When I floated for an independent pharmacy, I saw these quite often….we told the patients CVS/Caremark was in violation of the ‘any willing provider’ rules. I guess this is now CVS/Caremark’s end run around those rules. SMH
Caremark has filed prescriptions where many other pharmacists have turned the business away. I refuse to buy anything from the businesses that discrimination against the disabled.
Starwood500.. CVS doesn’t fill prescriptions… Pharmacists employed by CVS fill prescriptions. CVS is only licensed to operate a pharmacy.. and is required to hire someone who will agree to the Pharmacist in Charge (PIC) with the state Board of Pharmacy. This is why I hear from some pts that CVS, WAGS, Rite Aid are the worse and the same are the best.. some pharmacists are more interest in taking care of the medication needs of pts.. others are more interested in following their own personal biases and phobias in deciding if they will fill prescriptions for a pt.