CVS Caremark is committed to a healthier Michigan – from its economy to its people.

As a company, CVS Caremark feels at home in Michigan. CVS Caremark is proud to be part of the Great Lakes State’s economy. From our distribution center in Novi, to our 245 CVS/pharmacy stores and 10 MinuteClinics, the direct and indirect impact of our operations contributed more than $520 million to the state’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2011 and supported more than 8,000 jobs, which resulted in $283 million in labor income. The company’s operations also resulted in $106 million in state and local taxes. And, according to a report by Anderson Economic Group, LLC, over the next 10 years, CVS Caremark will contribute billions to Michigan’s economy.

CVS Caremark is helping people on their path to better health – and the people of Michigan are one example.

Our research into medication adherence, or taking prescription medications as directed by a physician, has shown that there is an opportunity in Michigan for CVS Caremark to help patients understand how important this issue is – to their health and to the health of the Michigan economy.

Nationally, for example, it is estimated that poor medication adherence costs the U.S. nearly $300 billion each year due to emergency department visits and hospitalizations that could have been avoided if patients took their medication as prescribed. According to the CVS Caremark report on medication adherence across the United States, the State of the States: Adherence Report, Michigan received a Bronze ranking.

The study looked at several factors contributing to medication adherence, including whether patients in the state were more likely to purchase generic medications instead of more expensive brand-name drugs, receive their prescriptions via mail-order instead of in a store, fill their prescriptions on time and continue to refill them. In these key areas, Michigan ranked:

• Relatively high for use of generic medications
• In the middle for prescriptions delivered by mail-order
• Relatively low for first-fill persistency rate, with 39 percent of patients who have chronic disease in the state not refilling their prescriptions after the first fill

It is important to us that our research is used to help people become and stay healthy, which is why we recently shared our findings with health care policy makers in the state of Michigan.

We’re reinventing pharmacy. For better health, yes. But also to improve the way of life in all of the states we also call home.