WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Caremark Corp. has opened a high-tech Mail Service Pharmacy and Customer Center in Mount Prospect, Ill.

The company held a grand opening event Tuesday that was attended by Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn. By the end of this year, the new facility will employ more than 400 people, including pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, automation technicians and process improvement engineers.

"We are pleased that CVS Caremark chose to build this new state-of-the-art facility in Mount Prospect, Ill.," Quinn said in a statement. "I am happy to have the opportunity to participate in this ribbon-cutting event and appreciate the role that CVS Caremark plays both as a national health care innovator and as an employer in our community."

Representing an investment of about $67 million, the 150,000-square-foot center supports pharmacy inventory and fulfillment needs across the CVS Caremark pharmacy benefit management (PBM) business, which serves approximately 60 million members nationwide, according to the company. The facility can fill 50 million prescriptions annually.

CVS said the facility "balances the best of high-tech automation and human expertise to streamline prescription fulfillment." The center’s proprietary technology allows 90% of prescriptions to be dispensed and 80% of prescriptions to be packaged for mailing via full automation, the company noted, adding that all prescriptions are visually checked by an on-site pharmacist before they’re mailed.

"This new CVS Caremark mail service pharmacy and customer center is a great example of our commitment as a pharmacy innovation company to helping people on their path to better health," stated Larry Merlo, president and chief executive officer of CVS Caremark. "The combination of technologically advanced automation and the expertise of our highly qualified pharmacy teams help us ensure people have convenient access to affordable medications."

The facility’s customer center includes a high-tech executive briefing room that enables CVS Caremark to introduce clients and future partners to its menu of integrated programs and services, the company added. Video and touch-screen technology illustrate the CVS Caremark story and allow direct interaction with CVS retail pharmacists, specialty pharmacists and mail service pharmacists as well as Minute Clinic nurse practitioners via real-time telepresence technology, CVS said.