CVS Caremark releases 2010 corporate social responsibility report
WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Caremark announced on Tuesday the release of its 2010 corporate social responsibility report, which provides an overview of the company's commitments to environmental stewardship, improving patient health outcomes and positively impacting people's lives through its social investments.
The report, titled "Innovation, Leadership, Commitment," marks the company's fourth annual CSR report, which is available online at Info.cvscaremark.com/CSR.
"Reporting annually on our CSR provides an important mechanism for keeping our stakeholders abreast of our priorities and goals, our plans for the future and the continued progress we're making on our CSR-related initiatives," CVS Caremark president and CEO Larry Merlo stated.
In the environmental chapter of this year's CSR Report, the company discloses the progress it made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in 2010, compared with 2009 levels. The retailer established a 15% carbon intensity reduction goal over 2010 levels, to be achieved by 2018. In setting a carbon intensity reduction goal, the company refined its strategy to reduce emissions and shares the details of its plans in the report. Another topic covered in the report is its focus on driving better health outcomes and reducing costs for customers and patients. CVS Caremark has done considerable research on the implications of medication adherence and has published its findings in numerous peer-reviewed articles. The research has confirmed earlier findings that when patients do not adhere to their prescribed medication regimens, higher healthcare costs result. The company describes the programs and initiatives it has implemented to encourage medication adherence among patients.
The report also includes results of CVS Caremark's 2010 employee engagement survey and details the ways it invests in programs aimed at improving the lives of children with disabilities and helping people, particularly those with limited or no health insurance, gain access to healthcare services.
"In keeping with its long tradition of giving back to our communities, CVS Caremark committed more than $50 million in support of the local communities we serve," Merlo said. "Through the 1,200 nonprofit organizations that received support from CVS Caremark in 2010, we positively impacted the lives of more than 3 million people."
The CVS Caremark 2010 CSR report was developed in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative G3 guidelines, an international framework that is recognized and used by organizations to report on their CSR and sustainability performance. While this is the company's fourth report, it is its first GRI report. The company met the GRI criteria required to self-declare a Level C.