Healthy Community

At CVS Health, we understand that the conditions in which people live, learn and work shape their well-being. We also know that communities thrive when they have quality, affordable health care and can access health-related social needs such as transportation and healthy food. 

Health Zones is our community-centered initiative that aims to improve health outcomes and reduce health disparities at the local level. We are providing multi-year grants to cohorts of nonprofits that are working together to strengthen the connection between clinical care and social services, and to eliminate barriers to care. As we work to become the leading health care solutions company, we are also leveraging the scope and scale of CVS Health to wrap our own offerings around communities and make healthier happen for more people.

In 2024, the CVS Health Foundation announced funding to Health Zone partners serving residents of Atlanta, Georgia; Phoenix, Arizona; and Fresno, California. Learn more about our Health Zones.

In 2024, we saw the following impacts across our Health Zones: 

• Improved A1c blood sugar levels among diabetes patients

• Improved blood pressure among hypertensive patients

• Increased food security rates for participants

• Decreased hospital readmissions and Emergency Room utilization

For nearly two decades, Project Health has increased access to vital health screenings that help identify a health risk before it becomes life-threatening. Providing free health services to at-risk populations who have a higher risk for chronic disease and who often face barriers to care, Project Health hosts more than 1,700 events each year at CVS Pharmacy locations across the country, and via our fleet of eight mobile units. Last year, 60% of participants had an annual household income below $40,000.

In 2024, more than 62,000 people were screened during Project Health events, with over 218,000 health screenings provided.* Nearly 70% of participants agreed or strongly agreed that Project Health increased their knowledge of how to manage their chronic disease. 

• 36% of participants use Project Health as their annual health visit 
• One in three participants were notified of a new potential chronic health condition because of Project Health
• 81% of participants agreed or strongly agreed that Project Health motivated them to take charge of their health 

*In 2024, the estimated total number of screenings is based on an average of 3.5 screenings per patient, per visit.

According to the Office of the Surgeon General, mental health challenges are the leading cause of disability and poor life outcomes in young people. With some mental health disorders in youth on the rise, we are deepening our engagement with nonprofit organizations working to provide direct access to services and care. 

In 2024, the CVS Health Foundation expanded how we support grantees, going beyond financial support to capacity building — facilitating coalition development, peer-to-peer learning, and a first-ever, in-person convening. With additional support from the CVS Health Foundation, our grantees have significantly expanded the network of partners that young people with mental health needs are referred to, encouraging early intervention. Grant recipients have joined our Centering Youth Mental Health learning community, meeting annually with coalitions that have received previous project grants. 

• Three new capacity building grants totaling $450,000 went to city-level coalitions seeking to increase access to youth mental health services

• Youth mental health grantees convened in person in 2024, deepening grantees’ relationships and facilitating informal coaching and learning

• In San Antonio, a grant to fund a new care navigation model increased the percentage of clients engaging with post-referral counseling from 29% to 47%

Through our partnerships, we seek to change the systems that deliver health care and social care to parents during and after pregnancy. Our funding partners are working to change sobering statistics: Among wealthy nations, the U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate, with women of color experiencing the worst outcomes. Cardiac conditions and hypertensive disorders are leading underlying causes of pregnancy-related death, so many of our partners focus their efforts on improving heart health for their patients.

CVS Health Foundation funding supports evidence-based interventions to reverse these trends. Together with grantee partners, the Foundation is investing in increasing access to postpartum care, supporting maternal mental health, expanding remote blood pressure monitoring, and growing the perinatal workforce.

In 2024, the Foundation provided more than $1.45 million in new grants dedicated to maternal and women’s health, building on the momentum of multi-year grants from recent years. Learn more about our commitment to maternal health. 

• An ongoing grant with the American Heart Association (AHA) supported the development and roll out of over 40 educational assets focused on postpartum hypertension and the importance of remote blood pressure monitoring.

• Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s “My Health Beyond Pregnancy” (MHBP) toolkit served 159 postpartum patients and 2,006 family members by providing low-cost, scalable resources for tracking recovery.

• In 2024, March of Dimes continued to support three local doula collaborative hubs, facilitating their collaboration with hospital systems, and providing financial and social support. Consumer education campaigns have reached over 20,000 individuals.

According to the Census Bureau, more people in the U.S. will likely be over 64 than under 18 by 2034. Nationwide, approximately 30,000 geriatricians will be in demand by 2030, but fewer than 7,300 are expected to be practicing. 

For an aging population, the CVS Health Foundation introduced multi-sector, community-based partnership grants to support organizations working to strengthen systems of care at the local level. This simplifies a complex care navigation process and bridges a critical gap in local health care and social systems to help older adults lead healthy lives.  

Launched in October 2024, our Focus on Healthy Aging initiative is a five-year philanthropic investment to improve health outcomes for people over age 60 at highest risk of experiencing negative brain, heart, and/or mental health outcomes. As a growing proportion of the U.S. population makes up this age group, communities face greater demands to meet older adults' health and health-related social needs. 

One in three Americans lives in a community with unhealthy air levels, and more frequent extreme weather is exacerbating long-standing air quality issues. Through a new collaboration with the American Lung Association, we are investing $3.5 million over four years nationwide to combat this health issue. Funding recipients are working to expand educational resources, increase access to care and supportive services for individuals with lung disease, and leverage local air quality data to raise awareness of where pollution is most concentrated. 

Through our regional giving, we are also investing in some smaller grants with organizations working on resilience and to prepare communities for the impacts of extreme weather, including in Texas, Florida and North Carolina.

Across both national and regional grantees, and our ongoing business responses to natural disasters, we continue to learn and evolve our community resiliency investments to support health care providers’ and community members’ readiness for future weather impacts.

• In 2024, we distributed nearly $1 million to health care providers and organizations in Phoenix that are empowering residents impacted by air pollution to take steps to reduce their risk of health complications during days with unhealthy air, such as through asthma or COPD action plans. 

• Go Austin Vamos Austin collaborated with University of Texas (UT) to develop a resilience portal to share essential information for disaster preparedness, as well as addressing flooding issues, infrastructure improvements, and emergency readiness plans with the UT Cockrell School of Engineering.

The CVS Health Foundation continues to invest in the development of a talented workforce to support the needs of our communities and colleagues. We're making a difference for colleagues across the country by helping their children reach their goals. Children of colleagues can apply for a scholarship to a two- or four-year college or university.

A series of academic scholarship programs also supports students pursuing careers in pharmacy, nursing and retail management. A recent scholarship recipient in North Carolina shared, “I express my sincerest gratitude. My younger self would be astounded that my journey to attend nursing school, which I have always dreamed of, would be sponsored and relieve my single mother of the financial burden to making my dreams come true. This recognition is a testament to my academic and social dedication.” 

The future is bright with the commitment and passion demonstrated by the students across our various scholarships, and we’ve adjusted individual scholarship amounts in recent years in response to rising tuition costs.

• For the 2023-2024 academic year, the Foundation provided over $1 million in pharmacy, nursing, and retail management focused scholarships supporting 83 students from 29 institutions across 24 states. 

• In 2024, we awarded higher education scholarships to over 500 students who are children of full-time CVS Health colleagues. 

• Over $13 million in scholarships have been awarded to colleagues’ children since 2007.

Creating pathways to career opportunities can help people focus on their health. With decades of recognized leadership, our workforce programming helps eliminate barriers to employment, equipping individuals with the skills, experience and opportunities needed to succeed in today’s job market. 

We manage Workforce Innovation and Talent Centers (WITCs) in cities across the U.S. Starting from a core foundation of trust, aligned values and a united mission, we work with dedicated community partners to customize our workforce development hubs to the specific needs of each community, incorporating education and skill development into effective workforce training.

To support both our company’s growth and the communities we serve, we focus on attracting and equipping people of different backgrounds with pathways for careers at CVS Health and beyond. For example, we harness wisdom and experience from a vibrant labor pool aged 50+, who are starting later, returning to the workforce, or progressing into new opportunities. We proudly support veterans and military families in transitioning to civilian life, providing a sense of purpose through employment and volunteer activities and supporting health and wellness programs.

• In 2024, we opened three new WITCs, two with embedded Aetna Community Resource Centers, improving access to workforce training and services in Oklahoma City and Baton Rouge

• In collaboration with federal, state and local agencies, nonprofit, faith-based and career development organizations, we streamlined access to meaningful employment for more than 1,500 individuals in 2024.

• We work with over 370 disability employment partners to support individuals of all abilities in overcoming boundaries and unlocking their fullest potential through mentoring, simulated training, and advocacy.

Food insecurity is a widespread problem without a one-size-fits-all solution. A recent study from Feeding America indicates that food insecurity is still rising post-pandemic, and about half of the people who struggle to pay for meals don't qualify for federal assistance like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). A lack of access to fresh and healthy food can increase the risk of chronic health conditions such as diabetes and heart disease and impact an individual’s mental health. 

Through our collaborations across the country with organizations working to combat hunger, we have seen that when people have access to nutritious food, it allows them to better focus on their health and well-being. One of our partners, the Food is Medicine Coalition, released the first-ever standard for medically tailored meals that is driving national dialogue on best practices in the field.

A client from a New England grantee, Community Servings, shared: “My health has been improving week by week since starting, and I have been able to now get to all my doctor's appointments, and my fears about not eating and not eating ‘well’ have been eased. I’m moving back to self-reliance and with a better understanding of nutrition, all thanks to Community Servings!” 

• In 2024, we granted nearly $1.5 million to support nonprofit organizations working to address food insecurity in their communities. 

• Feeding America distributed nearly 100 million meals thanks to our support and the support of our customers, in addition to enabling the facilitation of nearly 350 million SNAP meals – enhancing access to vital nutrition for those in need.

• In 2024, Community Servings prepared and delivered over 1 million nutritious meals to more than 6,500 clients – the highest meal production in its 34-year history. 

CVS Health activates teams across our business to prepare for emergencies and provide support during times of natural disaster. We contact colleagues who are at risk to check that they are safe, offer crisis support, and share community resources. 

CVS Pharmacy® reaches out to its patients by text message, email and phone to remind them to refill and pick up prescriptions. Stores receive additional supplies of emergency items such as water, batteries and first aid products. CVS Specialty® patients are contacted to discuss alternate medication delivery arrangements, if needed.  CVS Caremark® enables pharmacy claims for one-time emergency refills for plan members in impacted areas.

Aetna® clinical response teams expand their engagement with Medicare and Commercial members in potentially impacted areas to ensure member safety and access to emergency services. Aetna also expands its Resources For Living (RFL) services to ensure individuals and organizations have access to care, regardless of whether it is part of their existing benefits. These services include in-the-moment mental health phone support, a dedicated crisis support website and community resource information. 

Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida on September 26, 2024, and traveled a 500-mile path of destruction through six states, causing catastrophic flooding, massive power outages and the deaths of at least 220 people. Recovery was still underway when Hurricane Milton battered parts of Florida, with intense wind, rain and tornadoes. 

Through grants to organizations providing direct support on the ground and in-kind product donations, our support for residents across the southeast recovering from the two storms totaled more than $1.5 million. 

The CVS Health Employee Relief Fund (ERF), funded in part by employee donations, provides financial relief to colleagues who’ve been impacted by a natural disaster, family death, medical emergency and other unforeseen events. 

• More than 1,200 colleagues were supported by the ERF in 2024, with grants totaling nearly $2 million. 

• Since the program’s inception, the ERF has provided $10 million to thousands of CVS Health colleagues, offering relief in times of devastating hardship. 

CVS Health colleagues are passionate about supporting the communities where they live and work. Volunteer activities cover a range of services, including helping at food pantries, leading support groups for those affected by cancer, serving on nonprofit organization boards and fundraising for athletic events. 

In 2024, CVS Health colleagues dedicated: 

• Over 84,000 total hours of volunteer time, a 14% increase year on year

• $5.7M in value of skills-based and general volunteer time

• $2.5M in fundraising for organizations they care about — an increase of 21% from 2023  

Funded through the CVS Health Foundation, our Volunteer Challenge Grant program supports nonprofit organizations where our colleagues donate their time, with grants ranging from $250 to $5,000. Grants approved in 2024 totaled more than $680,000 in response to over 500 colleague grant applications. 

• Sheila H. is a member of her church’s health ministry, volunteering at events like fitness walks, health fairs and classes on healthy eating. She regularly volunteers at events led by the nonprofit organization Black Nurses of Evansville and Tri-State Advocates. “I have been working in the health care field for more than 30-some years, so I've always encountered people who need help. There's something in me that says, ‘I want to help in any way that I can.’”

• Mark H. has been volunteering with the Mt. Pleasant City Fire Department for the past eight years. Through multiple certification classes with the Utah Fire and Rescue Academy, he’s learned how to address brush and forest fires along with structural and vehicle fires. “Volunteering comes naturally to me. When there’s a need, I try to fill it.”