CVS/pharmacy - Definition and Overview

CVS/pharmacy, often simply called CVS, is a convenience store and pharmacy chain in the United States.

The name stands for Consumer Value Stores. It was founded in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1963. It has since expanded throughout the Northeast and into the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, and Southeast regions of the United States. It is also dominant in Las Vegas. Walgreens is one of its primary competitors.

CVS is headquartered in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.

Elensys controversy

In 1998, the Washington Post reported that CVS appeared to be sharing prescription drug information with the Woburn-based marketing company, Elensys. According to the Post, Elensys received information on specific prescription drugs that individual CVS customers had purchased and used this information to send targeted direct mailings urging customers to renew prescriptions and promoting other products they might be interested in. CVS and Elensys argued that there were no privacy issues because Elensys was acting solely as a contractor to CVS, and because the purpose of the mailings was to educate consumers. CVS claimed that it never shared customers' medical histories with Elensys (despite the Washington Post's indirect evidence that they had). George D. Lundberg, editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association, called the practice "a gross invasion" of privacy. Following a firestorm of criticism and complaints by consumers, CVS discontinued the practice.

External links

• http://www.cvs.com/