First on CNN: HHS announces actions from Walgreens and CVS to ensure women’s access to medications

By Nadia Kounang, CNN

(CNN) — The US Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights announced Friday that pharmacy chains Walgreens and CVS are voluntarily taking additional measures – including updated trainings and creating specialized teams – to ensure that women have access to medications like birth control, methotrexate and misoprostol.

When the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022 and no longer granted women the federal constitutional right to an abortion, it sowed confusion among insurance providers, pharmacies and medical offices over what medications could be prescribed. HHS says, in turn, that it received complaints from women across the country who were denied or delayed access to basic medications, despite not needing them for abortions.

“All of the medications reported in the complaints were prescribed to women who were experiencing pregnancy loss, have disabilities, or were seeking access to contraceptives,” HHS said in a statement.
For example, millions of people around the country take the drug methotrexate for chronic conditions, including cancer, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis. It can also be used off-label in very high doses to treat a miscarriage or an ectopic pregnancy.

As a result of these complaints, in October, HHS Secretary Xavier Beccerra announced that the agency had opened an investigation into chain pharmacies “for not complying with their federal obligations to fill prescriptions.”

The HHS Office of Civil Rights underwent a compliance review with CVS and Walgreens as a result of the investigation, according to a senior official familiar with the complaints.

According to the official, the two pharmacies are also implementing actions to monitor denials of medications and for customers to report complaints about delays or denials of medication as well as putting into place processes to “evaluate potential accommodations where pharmacists object to dispensing prescribed medications.”

The official said that as a result of these steps, HHS is closing the investigation.

A CVS spokesperson told CNN in a statement, “We have a long history of supporting and advancing women’s health and are pleased that the Office of Civil Rights has closed its investigation. We remain committed to filling prescriptions for FDA-approved medications consistent with state and federal laws, providing all patients with convenient access to pharmacy care, and resolving any service issues that may occur in a timely manner.”

Walgreens said it did not have a comment on the move.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.