MedPartners

Caremark Rx was founded in 1993 in Birmingham as MedPartners Inc. by HealthSouth along with Richard Scrushy, former CEO of HealthSouth, and one time HealthSouth Chief Operating Officer Larry House as a physician practice management (PPM) company. It is currently headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. Mac Crawford is the current CEO. It is the largest prescription management and pharmaceutical services business in the United States and is a member of the Fortune 100.

MedPartners and Caremark International History

After going public in 1995, MedPartners quickly became the largest PPM company through many acquisitions. In 1996, Caremark International was acquired by MedPartners with MedPartners ending up with Caremark's PPM division and prescription benefit management (PBM) and disposing of Caremark's rehabilitation hospitals to HealthSouth. Caremark International was founded as a unit of Baxter International. It expanded to the distribution of drugs for other conditions, including human growth hormone and multiple sclerosis. The company was spun off from Baxter International in 1992.

Refocusing

In 1998, after a failed merger attempt with PhyCor, MedPartners announced that it would suffer a net loss of 800 million dollars. Chairman, President and CEO Larry House resigned with Richard Scrushy acting as interim Chairman, President and CEO. In 1999 Edwin "Mac" Crawford became Chairman, President and CEO. After taking over, Mac Crawford announced that MedPartners was exiting its PPM business and refocusing on its PBM business. MedPartners changed its name to Caremark Rx in 2000, after it had sold all of its PPM practices. In 2001 Richard Scrushy sold his remaining shares in Caremark and left its board to continue as Chairman and CEO of HealthSouth.

Move to Nashville

In 2003, Caremark announced it was moving its corporate headquarters from Birmingham to Nashville, Tennessee. Caremark currently has approximately 16,000 employees.

Advance PCS Merger

In 2004 Caremark merged with AdvancePCS, seen as a key move in ensuring the growth and profitability of the company. By retaining key leaders from the AdvancePCS organization, and adopting many of its key priciples, CaremarkRx was able to bolster its position within the PBM industry.

CVS Merger

On November 1, 2006, Caremark announced it would be merging with the national pharmacy chain CVS. The merger was approved by shareholders on March 16, 2007.

External Links

• [1] Caremark's website
• Caremark Shareholders Approve CVS Merger Press release

References

• Caremark Rx. (2007, March 17). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 15:06, March 19, 2007