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CVS Health Corp. is agreeing to pay the government $450,000 to resolve allegations that some of its Rhode Island stores filled invalid prescriptions and maintained deficient records. “It should come as no surprise to any Rhode Island citizen — individual or corporate — that diversion and misuse of prescription painkillers are a public health crisis in the State of Rhode Island,” U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha said in a statement announcing the deal. (Shabad, 8/10)

CVS Health has agreed to pay $450,000 to the federal government to settle allegations that several of its Rhode Island retail pharmacies filled forged and invalid painkiller prescriptions. The agreement announced Monday is the culmination of a two-year investigation by U.S. Attorney Peter Neronha's office and the Drug Enforcement Administration's Office of Diversion Control into several of the Woonsocket, Rhode Island-based CVS's retail pharmacy locations. (8/10)

CVS Health Corp, the second largest manager of drug benefit plans for U.S. employers and insurers, asked heart specialists on Monday to revamp guidelines for treating patients with high cholesterol after the launch of new, expensive medications. The unusual move is the latest salvo in the war on escalating U.S. healthcare costs, with insurers using aggressive tactics to extract steep price discounts from drugmakers, even for the newest medications, and controlling patient access to the most expensive drugs. (Beasley, 8/10)

The news that in 2016, CVS Health will drop coverage of Viagra, the little blue pill that spawned a multibillion dollar industry of erectile dysfunction drugs, would seem to offer a window into one of the curious paradoxes of drug pricing. (Johnson, 8/10)