Represents the agreement amount under the entity's fixed dollar accelerated share repurchase agreement with Barclays Bank PLC.

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Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Represents the additional number of shares of common stock receivable under the entity's fixed dollar accelerated share repurchase agreement with Barclays Bank PLC, depending on the market price of common stock over the term of the ASR agreement.

+ Details

Name:	cvs_AcceleratedShareRepurchasesNumberOfAdditionalSharesReceivable
Namespace Prefix:	cvs
Data Type:	xbrli:sharesItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Represents the additional number of shares of common stock repurchased under the entity's fixed dollar accelerated share repurchase agreement with Barclays Bank PLC, upon establishment of the minimum number of shares to be repurchased.

+ Details

Name:	cvs_AcceleratedShareRepurchasesNumberOfAdditionalSharesRepurchased
Namespace Prefix:	cvs
Data Type:	xbrli:sharesItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Represents the number of shares of common stock repurchased under the entity's fixed dollar accelerated share repurchase agreement with Barclays Bank PLC.

+ Details

Name:	cvs_AcceleratedShareRepurchasesNumberOfSharesRepurchased
Namespace Prefix:	cvs
Data Type:	xbrli:sharesItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Represents the number of shares of common stock repurchased under the entity's fixed dollar accelerated share repurchase agreement with Barclays Bank PLC that were placed into treasury stock.

+ Details

Name:	cvs_AcceleratedShareRepurchasesNumberOfSharesRepurchasedPlacedIntoTreasuryStock
Namespace Prefix:	cvs
Data Type:	xbrli:sharesItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Represents the price paid for the purchase of targeted number of shares, under the entity's fixed dollar accelerated share repurchase agreement with Barclays Bank PLC.

+ Details

Name:	cvs_AcceleratedShareRepurchasesPricePaid
Namespace Prefix:	cvs
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ Details

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Share Repurchase Programs (Details2) (August 24, 2011, USD $) In Billions, except Share data in Millions	3 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2011	Sep. 30, 2011	Sep. 16, 2011	Aug. 25, 2011	Aug. 24, 2011
August 24, 2011
Accelerated share repurchases
Amount under ASR agreement entered with Barclays					$ 1.0
Price paid under ASR agreement with Barclays				$ 1.0
Shares repurchased under ASR agreement with Barclays				20.3
Additional shares repurchased under ASR agreement with Barclays			5.4
Shares repurchased under ASR agreement with Barclays & placed into treasury stock		25.7
Additional shares receivable under ASR agreement with Barclays	3.5