Consumers: Don’t believe CVS when it says it does these immunizations
The drugstore chain CVS has been making a big deal of its intention to become not merely a corner drugstore, but a healthcare provider. It changed its corporate name from CVS Caremark to CVS Health, and took tobacco products off its shelves to reinforce the good-health story.
Let’s just say it’s a work in progress. This week, in preparation for some upcoming international travel, I made an online appointment at my local CVS for a hepatitis A shot. Nothing crucial, but there’s a distant possibility that I might drink unpurified water or eat unwashed fruits or vegetables while abroad. So why not, especially since hepatitis A is one of 10 immunizations the company says can be done at many of its locations?
CVS was very efficient about it. It sent me not one, but two email reminders, including one the day before the appointment so I wouldn’t forget. Yet when I got to the store, the pharmacists knew nothing about it. They had no record of the appointment, no shots in stock, and they informed me the only immunizations they do at that location are flu, pneumonia, shingles and tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis (Tdap). None requires an appointment. Other local CVS stores I checked seemed to have a similar limited menu.
CVS does offer “Minute Clinics” in some stores, but these appear to operate independently. You can’t call them to determine whether they stock the immunization you might need, and they don’t take appointments.
Is this just a glitch? Maybe, but if so it’s a sizable one. At this moment, the website still allows me to make an appointment for a hepatitis A shot at the same location, pointlessly. The pharmacist there, who was very polite about it all, said she can’t figure out why that should be possible.
I reached out to CVS spokespeople but haven’t heard back. I’ll update with their response if and when it comes.
It’s not clear CVS even deserves an E for effort. My experience suggests that so far the only effort it’s made to deliver the full roster of inexpensive, nonurgent, routine healthcare services it claims to have placed at the center of its business model is to put a come-on on its website and enable frequent automatic reminders about services it doesn’t actually provide.
This may seem like a minor inconvenience, but in the new world of the Affordable Care Act, there will be many new opportunities for firms like CVS to peel off the low-hanging fruit of healthcare delivery; immunizations are among those that hang the lowest. But the providers will be judged more than ever on customer service.
Current grade: F.
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