Larry Merlo | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chief Executive Officer of CVS Health | |
| In office March 1, 2011 –January 31, 2021 | |
| Preceded by | Thomas Ryan [1] |
| Succeeded by | Karen S. Lynch |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1956 (age 67–68) Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania,U.S. |
| Education | University of Pittsburgh (BS) |
Larry J. Merlo (born 1956) is the former president and CEO of CVS Health. [2]
Merlo grew up in Charleroi,Pennsylvania,just south of Pittsburgh,and graduated from Charleroi Area High School in 1973.[ citation needed ] He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy in 1978. [3] [4]
Merlo began his career at Peoples Drug,and joined CVS Pharmacy in 1990,when Peoples was acquired by CVS. He served as senior vice president of stores (January 1994 to March 1998),Executive Vice President –Stores (March 1998 to January 2007),executive vice president of CVS Caremark (January 2007 to May 2010),president of CVS Pharmacy (January 2007 to January 2010),and chief operating officer (May 2010 to March 2011). [3] [5] He was appointed chief executive officer in 2011. [6]
In 2014,after CVS refined its purpose of "helping people on their path to better health",Merlo announced that CVS would be the first major retail pharmacy to discontinue tobacco sales in all of its stores. [7] [8] He also announced that CVS would attempt to expand its line of “MinuteClinics,”which are walk-in health clinics,from 800 locations to 1,500 by 2017. [9] In 2017,Merlo was also behind the decision that CVS would limit access to opioid painkillers. [8]
Merlo announced his retirement from CVS on November 6,2020 with January 31,2021 being his last day. He was succeeded by Karen S. Lynch,then Executive Vice President,CVS Health and President,Aetna at the time. [10]
Over the course of his tenure,CVS stock rose from $33.21 to $72.08,a 217% gain in share price. Comparatively,the S&P 500 grew 280%. [11] [12]
Merlo serves on the board of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) and the University of Pittsburgh’s board of trustees. He is also a member of the Business Roundtable. [3]
In 2014,he was named number 31 by Fortune Magazine as the Biz Person of the Year. [9]
Merlo and his daughter,Kristen,joined First Lady Michelle Obama as one of her special guests at the 2015 State of the Union Address on January 20. [7]
In 2016,Merlo was named University of Pittsburgh's 2016 Distinguished Alumni Fellow,which recognizes graduates with records of professional achievement and community service. [13]
Merlo lives in East Greenwich,Rhode Island,with his college sweetheart,Lee Ann. They were married in 1978. Together they have a daughter,Kristen Merlo. [7]
In 2015,it was revealed that Merlo had the highest CEO-to-average-employee pay ratio of any American company by Fortune Magazine. [14] CVS has also been criticized under Merlo's tenure as CEO for understaffing,not allowing pharmacy staff to take breaks,and underfunding critical aspects of daily operations. [15]
Additionally,claims of CVS using unethical and strong arm business practices during Merlo's tenure have been made.[ citation needed ] Several states have,in recent years,looked into the use of spread pricing and patient steering by CareMark,CVS's pharmacy benefits manager. [16] One of the most comprehensive investigations began as an in-depth journalistic investigation by Ohio's Columbus Dispatch. Their Side Effects series ran from January 2018 - April 2020 and prompted a state-sponsored study which found that PBMs (pharmacy benefit managers) were charging Ohio taxpayers 3-6 times the normal rate. The series also led to new state Medicaid rules and to proposed legislation aimed at tightening regulations on PBMs and controlling prescription drug prices. [17]
CVS Pharmacy,Inc. is an American retail corporation. A subsidiary of CVS Health,it is headquartered in Woonsocket,Rhode Island. Originally named the Consumer Value Stores,it was founded in Lowell,Massachusetts in 1963.
Walgreens is an American company that operates the second-largest pharmacy store chain in the United States,behind CVS Health. It specializes in filling prescriptions,health and wellness products,health information,and photo services. It was founded in Chicago in 1901,and is headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Deerfield,Illinois. On December 31,2014,Walgreens and Switzerland-based Alliance Boots merged to form a new holding company,Walgreens Boots Alliance. Walgreens became a subsidiary of the new company,which retained its Deerfield headquarters and trades on the Nasdaq under the symbol WBA. In 2021 the company was found by a federal jury to have "substantially contributed to" the opioid crisis.
Cardinal Health,Inc. is an American multinational health care services company,and the 14th highest revenue generating company in the United States. Headquartered in Dublin,Ohio,the company specializes in the distribution of pharmaceuticals and medical products,serving more than 100,000 locations. The company also manufactures medical and surgical products,including gloves,surgical apparel,and fluid management products. In addition,it operates one of the largest networks of radiopharmacies in the U.S. Cardinal Health provides medical products to over 75 percent of hospitals in the United States.
Rite Aid Corporation is an American drugstore chain based in Philadelphia,Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1962 in Scranton,Pennsylvania,by Alex Grass under the name Thrift D Discount Center. It is the third-largest drugstore chain in the United States,with over 2,000 stores,and ranked No. 148 in the Fortune 500 in 2022.
Revco Discount Drug Stores,once based in Twinsburg,Ohio,was a major drug store chain operating through the Ohio Valley,the Mid-Atlantic states,and the Southeastern United States. The chain's stock was traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol RXR. Revco was sold to CVS Pharmacy for $2.8 billion in February 1997. When it was sold,the chain had over 2,500 stores.
Longs Drugs is an American chain owned by parent company CVS Health with approximately 70 drugstores throughout the state of Hawaii and formerly in the Continental US.
Express Scripts Holding Company is a pharmacy benefit management (PBM) organization. In 2017 it was the 22nd-largest company in the United States by total revenue as well as the largest pharmacy benefit management (PBM) organization in the United States. Express Scripts had 2016 revenues of $100.752 billion. Since December 20,2018,the company has been a direct subsidiary of Bloomfield,Connecticut-based Cigna.
CVS Caremark is the pharmacy benefit management subsidiary of CVS Health,headquartered in Woonsocket,Rhode Island.
USA Drug was a convenience store and pharmacy chain in the United States that operated more than 160 stores in Arkansas,Oklahoma,Mississippi,Missouri,and Tennessee. It was founded in Pine Bluff,Arkansas in 1986. Its headquarters are still located in Pine Bluff with additional offices in Little Rock,Arkansas,Tulsa,Oklahoma,and Memphis,Tennessee. Its parent company,Walgreens,operates Super D Drug Stores and Ikes Deep Discount Drug,both acquired in October 1997,and May's Drug,Med-X Drug,Drug Warehouse,and Drug Mart,all acquired in July 2004,as "Part of the USA Drug Family". Wal-Mart and CVS/Pharmacy are two of its primary competitors. The company's slogan is "America's Low Price Drug Store".
In the United States,a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) is a third-party administrator of prescription drug programs for commercial health plans,self-insured employer plans,Medicare Part D plans,the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program,and state government employee plans. According to the American Pharmacists Association,"PBMs are primarily responsible for developing and maintaining the formulary,contracting with pharmacies,negotiating discounts and rebates with drug manufacturers,and processing and paying prescription drug claims." PBMs operate inside of integrated healthcare systems,as part of retail pharmacies,and as part of insurance companies.
CVS Health Corporation is an American healthcare company that owns CVS Pharmacy,a retail pharmacy chain;CVS Caremark,a pharmacy benefits manager;and Aetna,a health insurance provider,among many other brands. The company is the world's largest healthcare company,and its headquarters are in Woonsocket,Rhode Island. In 2023,the company was ranked 65th in the Forbes Global 2000.
Gregory David Wasson is an American businessman. He is the co-founder and president of Wasson Enterprise,a family-based investment office,the executive chairman of Innventure,co-founder of CoolerScreens,and the former president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA).
Universal American is a Fortune 500 company with offices throughout the United States,and headquarters in Rye Brook,New York. The company offered health insurance,and also deals in Medicare managed care plans,and Medicare prescription drug benefits. Its CEO is Richard A. Barasch.
Linda Cahn is the founder and president of a nationwide consulting firm,Pharmacy Benefit Consultants. The firm assists corporations,unions,government entities and insurance companies in improving their prescription coverage benefits and decreasing their prescription coverage costs.
A tobacco-free pharmacy is a retail pharmacy where the sale of tobacco products is not available. Outside the United States,it is illegal in countries such as in France and most of Canada for pharmacy stores to sell cigarettes and similar products on the same premises as over-the-counter drugs and prescription medication. Anti-tobacco campaigners advocate the removal of tobacco from pharmacies due to the health risks associated with smoking and the apparent contradiction of selling cigarettes alongside smoking cessation products and asthma medication. Some pharmaceutical retailers counter this argument by reasoning that by selling tobacco,they are more readily able to offer to customers advice and products for quitting smoking.
Surescripts is an American information technology company based in Arlington,Virginia that supports e-prescription,the electronic transmission of prescriptions between health care organizations and pharmacies,as well as general health information exchange (HIE) of medical records.
Helena Grace Foulkes is an American businesswoman and politician. She unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for Governor of Rhode Island in the 2022 election and is the former Chief Executive Officer of Hudson's Bay Company.
Specialty pharmacy refers to distribution channels designed to handle specialty drugs —pharmaceutical therapies that are either high cost,high complexity and/or high touch. High touch refers to higher degree of complexity in terms of distribution,administration,or patient management which drives up the cost of the drugs. In the early years specialty pharmacy providers attached "high-touch services to their overall price tags" arguing that patients who receive specialty pharmaceuticals "need high levels of ancillary and follow-up care to ensure that the drug spend is not wasted on them." An example of a specialty drug that would only be available through specialty pharmacy is interferon beta-1a (Avonex),a treatment for MS that requires a refrigerated chain of distribution and costs $17,000 a year. Some specialty pharmacies deal in pharmaceuticals that treat complex or rare chronic conditions such as cancer,rheumatoid arthritis,hemophilia,H.I.V. psoriasis,inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) or Hepatitis C. "Specialty pharmacies are seen as a reliable distribution channel for expensive drugs,offering patients convenience and lower costs while maximizing insurance reimbursements from those companies that cover the drug. Patients typically pay the same co-payments whether or not their insurers cover the drug." As the market demanded specialization in drug distribution and clinical management of complex therapies,specialized pharma (SP) evolved.„Specialty pharmacies may handle therapies that are biologics,and are injectable or infused. By 2008 the pharmacy benefit management dominated the specialty pharmacies market having acquired smaller specialty pharmacies. PBMs administer specialty pharmacies in their network and can "negotiate better prices and frequently offer a complete menu of specialty pharmaceuticals and related services to serve as an attractive 'one-stop shop' for health plans and employers."
Timothy C. Wentworth is an American businessman and CEO of pharmacy operator Walgreens Boots Alliance. He is a former CEO of Evernorth,Cigna's health services platform and a former CEO of Express Scripts,the United States' largest pharmacy benefit manager.
Karen S. Lynch is an American businesswoman and the president and chief executive officer of CVS Health. Lynch serves on the board of directors of AHIP,CVS Health,and U.S. Bancorp. In 2015,she became the first female president of Aetna. She has held executive positions at Magellan Health Services and Cigna. In 2021,she became the highest-ranking female chief executive on the Fortune 500 list.