Content about Automation and Technology

CVS Caremark will launch a pilot of a 
real-time, integrated electronic prior authorization capability, available to its pharmacy benefit management clients, to help speed access to prescription medications.


NEW YORK — It may have a goofy name, but start-up website HellaWella, HellaWella.com, 
is serious about promoting healthy living and all the good stuff that goes with it. Well, “serious” might be a little misleading, as the free website and weekly newsletter definitely is taking a fun, youthful approach to helping consumers discover the latest in health and wellness — and how to do so on the cheap.


MT. KISCO, N.Y. — Retailers and small- to mid-sized brand marketers shouldn’t be quick to dismiss social media as an effective avenue to communicate with consumers versus traditional media outreach like TV and radio. That was a key takeaway of a recent survey conducted on behalf of marketing/public relations firm Robin Leedy & Associates.


In fact, the research suggested that the balance of power already may be tipping in favor of social marketing, particularly in certain categories and definitely among certain consumers.


WALTHAM, Mass. — Nipro Diagnostics and NeuroMetrix have teamed up to market a point-of-care test that is designed to evaluate such systemic neuropathies as diabetic peripheral neuropathy.

Nipro and NeuroMetrix said the NC-stat DPNCheck test, developed by NeuroMetrix, could offer a cost-effective approach to detecting and monitoring DPN, which affects more than half of people with diabetes and could lead to such conditions as foot ulcers and limb amputation.

The companies currently are evaluating opportunities for the NC-stat DPNCheck in retail medical clinics.

NEW YORK — A health education television network has added nine condition-specific networks.

AccentHealth said in addition to its current lineup of four networks, the company will focus its attention on diabetes, heart health, men's health, mental health, senior women's health, rheumatology, allergies, asthma and gastroesophageal reflux disease. These networks will reach and educate more than 13 million patients in doctors' waiting rooms each month through its digitally delivered content, the company said.

SAN DIEGO — HealthPrize Technologies and RealAge will launch a study next month that will test HealthPrize’s medication adherence technologies on patients taking asthma medications, the two companies said Wednesday.

HealthPrize is the creator of an Internet and mobile app that uses behavioral economics and gaming dynamics to improve medication adherence, while RealAge is a health website that uses the RealAge Test to assess a person’s mortality risk based on health-related factors.

FORT WASHINGTON, Pa. — Adflow Health Networks announced a large-scale deployment of its consumer health platform.

Adflow Health Networks' Personal Health Center, an interactive digital media platform, provides consumers with access to trusted healthcare content and services, together with the ability to perform a wide range of Food and Drug Administration-cleared screenings, Adflow Health said. The full-scale deployment includes implementation across retail locations, worksites and high traffic areas.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. –– McKesson Specialty Care Solutions on Wednesday announced that its Reimbursement and Access Services Solution Center located here has been ranked a top 10 call center by BenchmarkPortal and the Center for Customer-Driven Quality, founded at Purdue University.

A&P may be a supermarket chain, but judging by its string of new health-and-wellness initiatives and strong emphasis on pharmacy, one could argue that it really is a pharmacy with a grocery store wrapped around it.


Through A&P’s network of 200 pharmacies and 605 pharmacists, the company is aggressively looking for ways to improve the health and well-being of its shoppers. And that includes improving medication adherence. 


Call it “the attack of the coupon-crazed shelf sweepers.” It’s the most aggressive form of bargain hunting by consumers willing to spend hours searching out coupon deals, to stock up with enough product to last their families for a year and to turn their homes into veritable warehouses.


Counterfeit drugs are a problem that won’t go away. In a recent segment on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” Sanjay Gupta explored the dark underworld of drug counterfeiting. While covering the bust of a counterfeiting operation in Lima, Peru, Gupta ­— himself a doctor — said he couldn’t tell the drugs were fake. But luckily, several technologies have been developed in recent years that allow quick detection of counterfeits. One company developing such a technology is Mobile Data Systems.