Any new non-pharmacy store is usually built in a more urban setting where another CVS with a pharmacy exists within walking distance such as downtown Boston, Massachusetts, or Providence, Rhode Island.

[citation needed] On October 18, 2024, David Joyner, who previously oversaw Caremark, replaced Karen Lynch as CEO.

[17] In 1967, CVS began operation of its first stores with pharmacy departments, opening locations in Warwick and Cumberland, Rhode Island.

[citation needed] In 1990 CVS acquired the 490-store Peoples Drug chain from Imasco, which established the company in new mid-Atlantic markets including Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia.

On January 23, 2006, CVS announced that it had agreed to acquire the freestanding drug store operations of supermarket chain Albertsons.

MinuteClinic health care centers are staffed by board-certified nurse practitioners and physician assistants who are trained to diagnose and treat common family illnesses such as throat, ear, eye, sinus, bladder, and bronchial infections, and provide prescriptions when clinically appropriate.

[40] On October 10, 2018, CVS Health received approval from the United States Department of Justice to acquire Aetna, for $69 billion.

In January 2024, CVS said some Target pharmacy locations would close between February and April, citing shifts in population, consumer consumption, and anticipated health needs.

Vertical integration refers to the consolidation of multiple stages of production or services within a single company, enabling greater control over the supply chain.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has accused PBMs, including CVS Caremark, of anticompetitive practices such as conflicts of interest and price inflation.

[47][48] Similarly, the American Medical Association (AMA) opposed the CVS-Aetna merger, arguing it would reduce competition and increase costs for consumers.

[50] In order to enroll in the program, customers had to sign a HIPAA waiver acknowledging, "my health information may potentially be re-disclosed and thus is no longer protected by the federal Privacy Rule."

[52] CVS and other pharmacies that continued to sell tobacco products were subject to criticism, and attempts were made to introduce regional bans on the practice, notably by the City and County of San Francisco.

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection agency found that CVS had improperly identified, managed, and disposed of hazardous materials.

CVS was required to pay the United States government $2.25 million in 2009 for violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rule.

Between February 2000 and September 2003, CVS paid Celona $1,000 a month, and he received tickets to golf outings and sporting events and compensation for travel to Florida and California.

In August 2005, he pleaded guilty to mail fraud charges, and in January 2007, he was fined a record $130,000 by the Rhode Island Ethics Committee.

In February 2006 the state Board of Pharmacy announced that the non-profit Institute of Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) would monitor all Massachusetts stores for the next two years.

[71] Later, a 2007 segment on ABC News 20/20 accused CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid among other pharmacies, of making various prescription dispensing errors.

[77] Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett (R) said the PBM kept discounts and rebates that should have been passed on to employers and patients (Levy, AP/San Francisco Chronicle, 2/14).

[77] Patients also have the ability to decline a switch from the prescribed treatment to the prescription offered by the pharmacy under the settlement, Madigan said (Bloomberg News/The Philadelphia Inquirer, 2/15).

[79]On October 14, 2010, CVS was ordered to pay $77.6 million in fines and returned profits stemming from a lawsuit alleging improper control in the sale of pseudoephedrine, a drug that can be used to make methamphetamine.

[80] In 2011 the U.S. Department of Justice charged that CVS pharmacies in Sanford, Florida, ordered enough painkillers to supply a population eight times its size.

DEA investigators serving a warrant to a CVS pharmacy in Sanford on October 18, 2011, noted that "approximately every third car that came through the drive-thru lane had prescriptions for oxycodone or hydrocodone".

According to the DEA, a pharmacist at that location stated to investigators that "her customers often requested certain brands of oxycodone using "street slang", an indicator that the drugs were being diverted and not used for legitimate pain management.

[84] In July 2018 the Center for Inquiry (CfI) filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia against CVS for consumer fraud over its sale of homeopathic medicines.

[85] In July, 2019, CFI announced that the Stiefel Freethought Foundation was contributing an additional $150,000 to the previously committed $100,000 to support the CVS and Walmart lawsuits.

On July 17, 2015, CVS shut down its online photo processing services,[87] blaming a third-party vendor, believed to be PNI Digital Media.

[97] In October 2023, CVS mistakenly gave misoprostol, an abortion pill, to Tamika Thomas, a woman undergoing IVF who was supposed to be receiving a medication to help kick-start her pregnancy.

In 2022, CVS agreed to pay close to $5 billion over 10 years to settle thousand of similar claims by state, local and Native American tribal governments.