The Rx Report:
Community pharmacy reimagined
The 2025 Rx Report details the findings from a new CVS Health® survey of more than 2,200 consumers and more than 1,060 pharmacists and pharmacy technicians on the latest trends in community pharmacy, emphasizing opportunities for expanding the role it plays in health care.
Being a community destination is key
Because community pharmacy is one of the most accessible and trusted health care provider settings, patients also want to receive expanded care and services at their local pharmacy.
The opportunity for community pharmacy is clear. It’s why the industry must evolve to address market challenges and keep pace with patient demand. Meeting this need requires new ways of doing business and smart public policies that enable an expanded role for community pharmacy to meet growing health care needs in the most convenient and affordable way.
As one of the most trusted health care brands, with more than 9,000 community health destinations nationwide, CVS Pharmacy® is helping to reimagine the industry and create the future of pharmacy today.
Digital – yet local
Research shows that patients are interested in online pharmacy tools to enhance their overall experience, primarily those that make managing, refilling and obtaining prescriptions easier and more convenient. This finding underscores the need for a community pharmacy that is both local and uses digital tools to support patients, ensuring experiences that are tailored for their unique needs across a range of diverse communities.
CVS Pharmacy® leverages an approach that is tech-enabled but powered by colleagues – prioritizing the long-standing trust of pharmacy teams but using technology in innovative new ways to enhance pharmacist-patient interactions. It means that pharmacy teams can focus on what matters most: personalized patient care.
People-first innovation
Supporting differentiated patient experiences first begins with creating the right kinds of experiences behind the counter. While most retail pharmacists (67%) remain at least somewhat satisfied with their jobs, nearly two-thirds of them (65%) are interested in integrating technology into their roles to enhance their day-to-day work and create efficiencies. And more manageable workloads have been cited as a top driver of pharmacy workforce retention.
CVS Pharmacy believes its colleagues are its biggest differentiator. The company continues to make significant investments in its community pharmacies to evolve how its pharmacy teams work – driving efficiencies and flexibility, streamlining administrative processes and improving workflow and workload.
Expanding the role of community pharmacy
As pharmacy teams feel more supported in managing administrative tasks and completing processes more efficiently, it paves the way for more opportunities for impactful patient care. Research indicates that most community pharmacy professionals (61%) chose to pursue a career in the profession because they were motivated by a desire to help others. And 75% of pharmacy teams surveyed aspire to provide more care to their patients, data that has held steady year-over-year.1
Patients also want to receive more care from their local pharmacy, with most adults (70%) believing that pharmacists should be able to provide health care services when primary care is unavailable.
Connecting Care
Beyond having access to expanded services at the pharmacy, 65% of adults are also interested in having pharmacists connect them to additional health care services, saying that they’d be at least somewhat likely to seek primary care, specialists or other community health resources if recommended by their local pharmacy teams.
With its unique collection of assets, CVS Health® is well positioned to meet such needs and drive integrated value for patients at a provider of their choice. The company is also focused on creating an operating model that supports high-touch clinical care. For example, through its Centers of Excellence (COEs), local, specialized pharmacists and technicians conduct patient outreach telephonically, and their trusted relationships with patients enable them to connect patients to impactful care options, such as In-Home Health Evaluations (IHEs) with Signify Health® providers.
Supporting the future generation
As community pharmacy plays an expanded role in health care, ensuring a robust pipeline of pharmacists and technicians is key. Today, 40% of pharmacy technicians surveyed have expressed interest in becoming pharmacists, up from 23% in 2024.1 To build on this momentum and help meet community pharmacy demands, employers and pharmacy colleges need to work closely to help inspire more to choose a career in community pharmacy.
Research shows that 77% of pharmacy technicians say that tuition assistance would increase their likelihood of pursuing a career as a pharmacist. To play a vital role in this effort, CVS Pharmacy® has launched scholarship and tuition assistance programs intended to help remove financial barriers to higher education.
Revolutionizing the pharmacy reimbursement model
A more sustainable pharmacy reimbursement model is also essential for the stability and longevity of community pharmacies. Legacy reimbursement models, which rely on a market- basket approach based on discounts from various industry benchmarks, do not accurately reflect the actual costs of purchasing medications or the services provided by community pharmacies. This shortfall is exacerbated by the increasing prevalence of high-cost branded drugs and the impact of high-deductible health plans. As a result, community pharmacies have struggled to adapt in a challenging market.