Drug Fix

A House Subcommittee on Health hearing Thursday focused on efforts to strengthen the country's pharmaceutical supply chain, and particularly on draft legislation meant to accomplish that.

While often touted as the safest in the world, the U.S. drug supply chain remains vulnerable to counterfeit, adulterated and stolen medications. Given the potentially dangerous risks of using such medicines, it is imperative that they be kept out.

One-third of supermarkets have a dietitian walking their aisles, according to a recent report published by Advertising Age. And almost 9-in-10 grocers have a dietitian housed in their corporate suites.

Is it any wonder? There's a natural synergy between pharmacy and food stores that grocers have been looking to tap in one form or another over the past decade. But now, especially as health systems and large employers become more savvy around the benefits a healthier workforce will have to their bottom lines, this is likely to transform from a supermarket patient's best-kept-secret into a must-have service.

Walgreens released a research article on how health care focused on outcomes could really contribute to lowering healthcare costs. The idea is that by improving individual patient experience, improving the health of the overall patient population and reducing the per capita cost of health care, you can realize better patient outcomes out of invested health resources.

If you take a real close look at what core competencies are necessary to better realize success in that approach, it becomes evident that retail pharmacy is an ideal setting for the process.

A new Kalorama Information report found that most patients — 91% — who had used a retail clinic were either satisfied or very satisfied with their visit.

The findings are in line with prior studies, which have long been reported by Drug Store News, and are yet further evidence that retail clinics are playing a vital role in the U.S. healthcare system.