The BusinessWeek 50 Ranking
22
Caremark Rx
Millions of Americans ordering up their next bottle of meds helped pharmacy benefits manager Caremark surge mightily last year. The $6 billion acquisition in March of competitor AdvancePCS allowed Caremark to play both sides of the prescription-filling business: Mail-order claims rose 73%, while retail claims soared a staggering 253%. Strong growth in sales both of specialty drugs and of the highly profitable generics pushed total net income up 106%. A potential federal investigation into alleged Medicaid fraud could prove to be a problem. Justice Dept. officials indicated last month that they will seek control of a multistate inquiry into Medicaid payments for prescription drugs, which the government contends should have been covered by the company, not Medicaid, because the purchasers had Caremark benefits. Still, with the $1.1 billion in cash it has on hand, Nashville-based Caremark is expected to buy more small benefits managers in the fragmented industry.
Company Info
| 2004 Rank | NR |
| STOCK INFO | CMX |
| Market Value | $17.3 BILLION |
| Total Return | (1-yr.) 18.7%
(3-yr.) 119.4% |
| 2004 sales | $25.8 BILLION |
| Sales Growth | (1-yr.) 185%
(3-yr.) 62.6% |
| Net income | $600.3 MILLION |
| Net Income Growth | (1-yr.) 106%
(3-yr.) 27.1% |
| Net Margin* | 2.3% |
| Return on Equity* | 8.0% |
| Industry | HEALTH-CARE EQUIPMENT & SERVICES |
| CORPORATE WEB SITE | |
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*Trailing 12 months
Company data as of 2/28/05 provided by Standard & Poor's Compustat
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Company Snapshot
Caremark Rx, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides pharmaceutical services in the United States. The company’s pharmaceutical services, generally referred to as pharmacy benefit management services, involve the design and administration of programs for prescription drug use. The company dispenses pharmaceuticals to eligible participants in benefit plans maintained by its customers; and utilizes its information systems to perform safety checks, drug interaction screening, and generic substitution. Its CarePatterns and Accordant disease management programs cover approximately 20 diseases, including asthma, coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, diabetes, hemophilia, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis. It provides prescription drugs both directly, through its own mail service pharmacies, and indirectly through a network of third-party retail pharmacies. The company operated 7 automated mail service pharmacies and 21 smaller regional mail service pharmacies, as of December 31, 2004. Caremark’s services enable employers, insurance companies, unions, government employee groups, managed care organizations, and other sponsors of health benefit plans and individuals throughout the United States in delivering prescription drugs. Caremark Rx was organized in 1993 and was formerly known as MedPartners, Inc. The company is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.
No. of Employees
11,133
Data provided by 
