ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Nov. 4, 2026) – The National Community Pharmacists Association issued the following statement today on behalf of CEO B. Douglas Hoey in response to the announcement by CVS Health that it plans to spin off its pharmacy and mail-order businesses:
“CVS clearly sees the writing on the wall: growing sentiment on Capitol Hill and in the states against the abuses and competitive imbalances created by vertical integration in the health care sector. NCPA strongly opposed the original merger, and since then we’ve been fighting against the three-headed hydra it created. We pushed hard for the historic PBM reforms signed into law this year, which the PBM lobby spent millions to stop. We litigate to protect independent pharmacies from anti-competitive PBM practices, and we have given financial and grassroots support to state pharmacy organizations to pass their own reforms, including laws that will force CVS and other conglomerates to choose between operating their PBMs or their pharmacies within the same state.
“While this is potentially encouraging news, it’s way too early to celebrate until the details of the transaction and its implementation in the marketplace are clear. The key question is whether CVS Health and its new spinoff, CVS Pharmacy, will choose to work with, rather than against, community pharmacies. Based on their press release, CVS Health shareholders will also own shares in the new pharmacy company. That means the incentives for suppressing competition, patient steering, and formulary manipulation don’t necessarily disappear. We would encourage lawmakers and regulators at the federal and state levels to scrutinize this reorganization very carefully.”
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Founded in 1898, the National Community Pharmacists Association is the voice for the community pharmacist, representing over 18,900 pharmacies that employ nearly 230,000 individuals nationwide. Community pharmacies are rooted in the communities where they are located and are among America’s most accessible health care providers. To learn more, visit www.ncpa.org.
