CVS Caremark Corp. has changed its corporate name to CVS Health to reflect its broader health care commitment and its expertise in driving the innovations needed to shape the future of health.

"For our patients and customers, health is everything, and CVS Health is changing the way health care is delivered to increase access, lower costs and improve quality," said president and chief executive officer Larry Merlo. 

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Caremark Corp. has changed its corporate name to CVS Health to reflect its broader health care commitment and its expertise in driving the innovations needed to shape the future of health.

CVS Caremark Corp. has changed its corporate name to CVS Health to reflect its broader health care commitment and its expertise in driving the innovations needed to shape the future of health.

"For our patients and customers, health is everything, and CVS Health is changing the way health care is delivered to increase access, lower costs and improve quality," said president and chief executive officer Larry Merlo. "As a pharmacy innovation company at the forefront of a changing health care landscape, we are delivering breakthrough products and services, from advising on prescriptions to helping manage chronic and specialty conditions."

CVS Health includes the company’s retail business, which continues to be called CVS/pharmacy; its pharmacy benefit management business, which is known as CVS/caremark; its walk-in medical clinics, CVS/minuteclinic; and its specialty pharmacy services, CVS/specialty. The company incorporates 7,700 retail pharmacies, 900 walk-in medical clinics, a pharmacy benefits manager with nearly 65 million plan members, and specialty pharmacy services.

As a further demonstration of its commitment to health, CVS Health also announced the end of tobacco sales at CVS/pharmacy as of today, nearly a month ahead of the previously targeted date of October 1. In February, the company announced that it would end the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products at its CVS/pharmacy stores, making CVS/pharmacy the first and only national pharmacy chain to take this step in support of the health and well-being of its patients and customers.

"Along with the start of CVS Health, the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products at CVS/pharmacy ends today. By eliminating cigarettes and tobacco products from sale in our stores, we can make a difference in the health of all Americans," Merlo declared.

Chief medical officer Troy Brennan added that the sale of tobacco in a retail pharmacy conflicts with the purpose of the health care services delivered there.

"Even more important, there is evidence developing that indicates that removing tobacco products from retailers with pharmacies will lead to substantially lower rates of smoking with implications for reducing tobacco-related deaths,"’ added Brennan.

In addition to removing cigarettes and tobacco products for sale, CVS Health kicked off a comprehensive, personalized smoking cessation campaign to help millions of Americans quit smoking.

"Quitting smoking is one of the most important things you can do to improve your health and protect the health of your family, but quitting isn’t easy," said Helena Foulkes, president of CVS/pharmacy.

The smoking cessation program, designed with input from national experts, combines the efforts of CVS/pharmacy, CVS/minuteclinic and CVS/caremark to help smokers quit and includes four critical components: an assessment of the smoker’s readiness to quit; education to give smokers the information and tools they need to quit; medication support to help curb the desire to use tobacco; and coaching to help individuals stay motivated and prevent relapses.

"We learned following our announcement in February that nearly everyone has a tobacco story and was eager to tell it," Foulkes continued. "So, today we are launching a social campaign #OneGoodReason in which we are inviting everyone to share their personal stories of how smoking and tobacco use has affected their lives. Our hope is that through the sharing of these stories we can spark a movement that will make lasting improvements in health across our country."