• Wall Street Journal (subscription required), Wednesday, May 13, 2009 10:45 AM

CVS Caremark appears to be penalizing patients for patronizing competing drugstores by raising the co-payments for its pharmacy-benefits patients who fill their prescriptions elsewhere, Barbara Martinez and David Armstrong report. A trade group for independent pharmacists is today turning over letters to patients that detail the practice to Jon Leibowitz, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission.

CVS says in a statement that it is "making pharmacy health care more accessible, more effective and more affordable." It claims that independent pharmacists are mischaracterizing its business practices.

The letters appear to relate to a program called "Maintenance Choice," under which patients can opt to fill 90-day prescriptions through CVS's mail-order pharmacy or pick them up at CVS drugstores for the same cost. CVS says the program has boosted its in-store pharmacy sales in the first quarter by 1.2%.

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