CVS Caremark's MinuteClinic has announced that it will transition from its existing proprietary electronic medical record system to the Allscripts MyWay Electronic Health Record.

Retailers have always been about enhancing the shopping experience, but there are two factors this year that really should underscore the importance in that customer focus. Differentiating a retail shopping trip by experience is a lot friendlier to the margins because a shopper willing to trade on shopping experience also is willing to spend a little more. And with the proliferation of social media and apps for smartphones and tablets, there has never been a more efficient means to target a message to a shopper who is physically in the aisles and making a purchase decision than today.

The regulatory review of the Express Scripts-Medco merger now is in its final stages, and with the clock ticking down to that 30-day deadline, you can expect a full court-press from retail pharmacy interests looking to block the deal.

CVS Caremark recorded strong financial results for the fourth quarter and full year, and made solid progress across the enterprise during 2011, which set the stage for future growth.

Representatives of the CVS Caremark Charitable Trust, a private foundation created by CVS Caremark, kicked off a "Day of Giving" on Tuesday by surprising several nonprofits with the grant funding they had requested.

CVS/pharmacy has introduced a program that allows pharmacy patients to receive immediate notification via text message when their prescription is ready to be picked up, the drug store chain said.

The Pennsylvania Employees Benefit Trust Fund announced on Tuesday that it has awarded CVS Caremark a three-year contract to provide prescription drug benefits to Commonwealth of Pennsylvania employees, retirees and dependents, beginning July 1.

A mass merchandise retailer based in the Midwest has become the latest chain to join the move toward smartphone apps that allow customers to manage their pharmacy prescriptions.

The results of CVS Caremark’s study, which found that its Pharmacy Advisor program increased medication adherence rates and physician initiation of prescriptions, is important as it further underscores the benefits of the program, and those benefits are bound to becomes even greater as the retailer gears up for the next generation of the clinical program.

CVS Caremark's chief healthcare strategy officer on Tuesday outlined how the company's integrated pharmacy-based program for such chronic diseases as diabetes, called Pharmacy Advisor, increased medication adherence rates and physician initiation of prescriptions for concomitant medications to improve patient health.

A CVS Caremark study found that the company's integrated pharmacy-based program — Pharmacy Advisor — increased medication adherence rates and physician initiation of prescriptions for concomitant medications, improving care for diabetes patients and resulting in savings for health plans, the company announced on Monday.