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CVS Caremark is the nation's premier integrated pharmacy services provider, combining one of the nation's leading pharmaceutical services companies with the country’s largest pharmacy chain. The company fills or manages more than one billion prescriptions per year, more than any other pharmacy services provider. CVS Caremark drives value for pharmacy services customers by effectively managing pharmaceutical costs and improving healthcare outcomes through its 6,200 CVS/pharmacy stores; its pharmacy benefit management, mail order and specialty pharmacy division, Caremark Pharmacy Services; its retail-based health clinic subsidiary, MinuteClinic; and its online pharmacy, CVS.com. Today's healthcare delivery system is rapidly changing.Healthcare is becoming more consumer-centric as the U.S. healthcare system strains to manage growing costs and employers shift more responsibility for managing costs to employees. An aging population, increasing incidence of chronic disease and increasing utilization of the Medicare drug benefit is fueling demand for prescriptions and pharmacy services. Cost-effective generic drugs are becoming more widely available and new drug therapies to treat unmet healthcare needs and reduce hospital stays are beingintroduced. Consumers need medication management programs and better information to help them get the most out of their healthcare dollars. CVS Caremark is uniquely positioned to provide solutions that address these trends and will greatly improve the pharmacy services experience for consumers. CVS Caremark strives to improve clinical outcomes, resulting in better control over healthcare costs for employers and health plans. CVS Caremark also is well positioned to offer broader disease management, health assessment and wellness services to help plan participants manage and protect against potential health risks and avoid future health costs. CVS/pharmacy CVS/pharmacy is the nation's largest retail pharmacy chain, with approximately 6,200 stores across 38 states. With more than 40 years of dynamic growth in the retail pharmacy industry, CVS/pharmacy generates over 68% of its revenue from the pharmacy business and is committed to providing superior customer service - to being the easiest pharmacy retailer for customers to use. CVS/pharmacy fills more than one of every seven retail prescriptions in America, and one of every five in our own markets. What's more, our ExtraCare program boasts over 50 million cardholders, making it the largest and most successful retail loyalty program in the country. CVS/pharmacy is making investments in new stores and technology to drive strong future growth - both organically and through acquisition. In 2005, we completed the successful integration of over 1,200 Eckerd drugstores, primarily in the higher growth Sunbelt markets of Florida and Texas. This year we completed another successful integration as 700 Sav-on and Osco drugstores, the bulk of which are in the population-rich southern California markets, all became CVS/pharmacy stores. These acquisitions, combined with our organic growth of between 3% and 4% per year, are the fuel that will propel CVS/pharmacy's growth in the future. |