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March 11, 2015
After Ending Tobacco Sales, CVS Focuses
on Smoking Cessation Woonsocket, RI—A year after announcing it would end tobacco sales, CVS Health said it has helped thousands of smokers to quit in the company’s pharmacies and walk-in clinics as well as through online service. On February 5, 2014, the company, then called CVS Caremark, announced that it would stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco products at its more than 7,600 CVS/pharmacy stores across the United States by October 1, 2014—the first national pharmacy chain to do so. Since then, it has embarked on a determined campaign to help Americans stop smoking. From the smoking cessation program launch last September 3, 2014 to the end of last year, CVS pharmacists counseled more than 67,000 patients filling a first prescription for a smoking cessation drug or prescription nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and consulted with thousands more smokers seeking advice about OTC NRT products, according to a company press release. Prescriptions for smoking cessation medications increased by 63% during that time period, CVS noted, and visits to MinuteClinic for smoking cessation counseling were up 61% compared to the prior 8 months. “One year ago, we knew that removing cigarettes and tobacco products from our stores would not be enough on its own to make a meaningful difference in the lives of our customers and patients who smoke,” said Troyen A. Brennan, MD, MPH, chief medical officer. “We believe our combined efforts of eliminating pharmacy-associated access to tobacco products, and a devoted smoking cessation program through our channels will help our patients on their path to better health.” Brennan adds that CVS Health’s smoking cessation program combines an assessment of the smoker’s readiness to quit, medication support, coaching, and education. “The combination of medication and coaching is powerful and can nearly double quit rates,” he explained. “Our 26,000 pharmacists and nurse practitioners are playing a key role in helping us implement this program.” Pharmacies have begun making OTC NRT products easier to access, and purchases increased 21% in September through December over the previous 4 months, according to CVS Health. At the same time, some 2.3 million tobacco cessation brochures and “Last Pack” encouragement toolkits were picked up by customers at CVS pharmacies. In addition, a Smoking Cessation Hub on www.cvs.com approached one million visits through December. During website visits, the company reported, about 25,000 smokers completed Nicotine Dependency Quizzes and more than 2,500 of them followed up with calls to a smoking quit line (1-844-265-4321) operated by the American Cancer Society for additional support and access to services in local communities. |
U.S. Pharmacist Social Connect
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