CVS Health, one of the nation's largest operators of retail chain pharmacies, will pay Ohio $1.5 million in penalties for problems largely related to understaffing and make changes that may soon be mandatory for all the state's retail pharmacies, the Ohio Board of Pharmacy said Thursday. The penalties, the largest ever imposed by the state board, are part of the settlement of 27 safety cases the board was investigating at 22 CVS pharmacies. The 27 cases alleged numerous safety concerns and potential legal violations found during a series of inspections of those stores between 2020 and 2023, and found that understaffing contributed significantly to many of the issues. Inspectors identified insufficient staff for the volume of prescriptions, dispensing errors, prescription delays, dirty equipment, trash throughout the pharmacies, expired medications, poor drug security and failure to report losses of controlled substances, among other issues.