CVS this week released its 2012 CSR Report, which gives stakeholders an inside view of the company’s strategy, priorities and performance on its sustainability goals and initiatives.
CVS this week released its 2012 CSR Report, which gives stakeholders an inside view of the company’s strategy, priorities and performance on its sustainability goals and initiatives.
Reinventing Pharmacy, Creating Sustainable Solutions underscores how the role of pharmacies — and pharmacists — has evolved to become more instrumental in helping people get and stay healthy. The research shows patients are concerned about the future of health care in the U.S. and are increasingly turning to their pharmacists for guidance on a range of health care issues beyond simple advice on their medications.
The company claims to view this as an opportunity to engage patients in many different ways, providing them access to health care resources and education that can help them maintain their own health, especially those patients who are managing chronic diseases that require continual medication.
The key topics covered in the report include a strong focus on improving patient outcomes through better adherence to prescribed medications; cultivating a more engaged, diverse and healthier workforce; making progress toward the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions; strengthening systems and practices to ensure supply chain responsibility; enhancing quality control processes in pharmacy operations; and building healthier communities through social investments and community engagement initiatives.
CVS also discusses the opportunity to foster a culture of health and wellness among its own employees, which consists of a diverse workforce of 200,000 individuals. The report details some of the initiatives the company is undertaking to encourage employees to take personal responsibility for their own health, such as a move to evolve its traditional health care plan into a Plan for Health.
The company says environmental stewardship is also critical to how it thinks about health — there is ample evidence to link a healthy environment to personal and public health. This makes reducing environmental impacts and promoting ways customers and colleagues can participate in those efforts a main focus.
For the first time, CVS has included social audits of contract factories, reflecting a two-year effort to collect data and begin to report the outcomes of its process.
While in its 2011 CSR report, CVS made only slight improvements in reducing the intensity of electricity use, this year the company reported that its carbon intensity has decreased by seven percent since 2010, which is nearly half way to its declared goal of a 15 percent reduction in carbon intensity by 2018.
Published May 10, 2013 2am EDT / 11pm PDT / 7am BST / 8am CEST
Managing Director, Sustainability & Social Impact
Deutsche Bank
Mike Hower is a sustainability communicator and connector committed to helping purpose-driven businesses and people unlock their full potential for positive impact. As founder and principal consultant at Hower Impact, he works with companies to translate sustainability strategy into stories that inform, engage and inspire investors, customers, employees, regulators and other stakeholders in the service of social, environmental and business goals. Through his Impact Hired initiative, he works to connect and engage corporate sustainability professionals at all stages of their careers.
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