CVS Health

Maintaining access to medicines during hurricanes

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Climate-related retail risk: Hurricanes, flooding, power outages, road closures, refrigerated medicine loss and pharmacy closures
Solution pathway: Mobile pharmacies, emergency prescription procedures, generators, refrigerated vehicles, customer alerts and geographic recovery planning

Business type: Large pharmacy, healthcare and retail company
Sector: Community pharmacy, healthcare retail and medicine distribution
Geography: United States, particularly hurricane-exposed coastal states

In practice

Pharmacy closures create a different type of retail access risk from the temporary loss of discretionary shopping. Customers may need medicines immediately, including insulin, heart medication and treatments for chronic conditions. Flooding, evacuation and power failure can also separate patients from their normal pharmacy or damage temperature-sensitive stock.

CVS has developed hurricane-response procedures that begin before storms make landfall. The company contacts customers in threatened areas to encourage advance prescription collection and can activate emergency-refill arrangements for eligible members. It also reroutes pharmacy telephone calls where possible so customers can contact an alternative open location.

During and after major storms, CVS assesses store conditions and directs resources to the locations most likely to reopen quickly. During Hurricane Beryl, for example, the company deployed more than 40 generators and refrigerated trucks and used geographic information systems to assess store status and prioritise recovery.

The company has also deployed mobile pharmacies where conventional stores were inaccessible. Following Hurricane Harvey, CVS operated mobile pharmacy units in affected areas, including at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston. These units allowed displaced people to access prescriptions while parts of the normal pharmacy network remained disrupted.

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The model combines physical resilience, customer communications and alternative service formats. A closed store does not automatically mean that customers lose access if prescriptions can be transferred, calls redirected, medicines protected and temporary pharmacy capacity deployed.

Why this example was selected

This case study was curated because CVS’s hurricane response has been documented by Healthcare Ready, a specialist organisation focused on healthcare supply-chain resilience. Its case study describes the company’s use of mobile pharmacies and emergency prescription support following major hurricanes. 

The approach is also supported by published research showing that pharmacy functionality can decline significantly during hurricanes. The case therefore demonstrates a tested response to a documented customer-access risk, with clear relevance to retailers of essential and regulated goods. 

Key lesson

Retailers providing essential products should plan how customers will access them when individual locations close, using backup power, stock protection, redirected services and temporary or mobile outlets. 

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