WOONSOCKET, R.I. — A month after removing tobacco products from its stores, CVS Health has confirmed that it’s working toward establishing networks of tobacco-free pharmacies.

The move comes as a response to clients of its Caremark pharmacy benefits management business who are interested in this option, CVS reported.

CVS removed tobacco products from its stores in early September, about one month ahead of the plan it announced earlier this year to discontinue tobacco sales as of October 1. CVS made the decision on tobacco as it moves to position itself as more of a health-focused service provider.

The company had been approached with the idea of creating a network of tobacco-free pharmacies following the February announcement that it would drop tobacco, spokeswoman Carolyn Castel said.

“Following our announcement that we would no longer be selling tobacco at CVS/pharmacy, a number of our pharmacy benefit management clients approached us about developing a tobacco-free pharmacy network,” she said. “As a result, CVS Health is in the process of identifying pharmacies that do not sell tobacco products to participate in such a new offering. We look forward to making this new pharmacy network available to our clients and providing their plan members with a [tobacco-free] ­option.”

For members of Caremark benefit plans participating in a tobacco-free network, there could be higher co-pays for filling a prescription at a pharmacy outside of the tobacco-free network. Under one scenario described by The Wall Street Journal, patients covered under Caremark benefit plans would have co-pays of up to $15 more for filling a prescription out of the tobacco-free ­network.

According to CVS Health, for the Caremark clients who choose a tobacco-free network, the individual plan members would be provided with a full list of participating pharmacies in advance of any network change. A tobacco-free network would include CVS/pharmacy and Target Corp. nationally as well as other local pharmacies.

However, CVS’ plan to create the tobacco-free pharmacy networks has met with concern from some antitrust experts and organizations representing independent pharmacies, who see the move as an unfair competitive practice.

Initially, the city of Philadelphia, which has roughly 5,400 employees in its health plan, is reported to be the first employer to sign up with the new tobacco-free network. About 100 independent pharmacies and between 150 and 200 CVS stores are expected to participate in the network.

The move by CVS to remove tobacco products from its stores has drawn praise from many groups, but it also is expected to trim $2 billion from the company’s annual sales. At the same time, CVS has launched a comprehensive smoking-cessation promotion. The smoking cessation campaign, designed with input from national experts, combines elements developed by CVS/pharmacy, CVS/Caremark and CVS/minuteclinic. It also includes a social media campaign, using the hastag #OneGoodReason, to help people share their stories about how smoking has affected them.

CVS announced its intention to end the sale of tobacco products at its drug stores in February. CVS president and chief executive officer Larry Merlo said at the time that “by eliminating cigarettes and tobacco products from sale in our stores, we can make a difference in the health of all ­Americans.”