WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Caremark Corp. has been granted specialty pharmacy accreditation from health care quality standards body URAC.

The pharmacy chain and benefits manager said Tuesday that CVS Caremark Specialty Pharmacy is focused on providing drug therapy management and dispensing services for patients requiring treatment with medications that are used to treat rare, chronic or genetic conditions. Specialty patients receive support and counseling to help them manage their specialty medications to ensure that appropriate and safe medication use and optimize positive outcomes.

Services also include ongoing disease education and therapy counseling, benefits verification, coordination of care with multiple health care providers, comprehensive patient education and adherence management, according to the company.

"CVS Caremark Specialty Pharmacy is honored to receive this accreditation," David Golding, executive vice president of CVS Caremark Specialty Pharmacy Services, said in a statement. "This accreditation demonstrates the company’s longstanding commitment to providing outstanding services to our patients and clients in the complex, high-touch arena of specialty pharmacy management."

Washington, D.C.-based URAC offers the only third-party, voluntary accreditation program of this scope for the PBM and prescription services industry, CVS Caremark reported. All standards were developed by URAC’s Pharmacy Advisory Committee, which includes a wide range of stakeholders: employers, consumers, pharmacy consultants, health plans, retail pharmacy, PBM organizations, pharmacy professional organizations, labor and large public purchasing groups.

"CVS Caremark should be commended for meeting strict quality standards," commented Alan Spielman, URAC president and chief executive. "It is critically important for health care organizations to make a commitment to quality and accountability. URAC accreditation is a demonstration of that commitment."