Content about Drug Fix

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — With the growth of consumer-driven care and more of the burden of managing costs falling on patients’ shoulders, there’s no doubt that patients are responding to the convenient, cost-effective health care provided by retail health clinics. Further evidence of this is the recent results of the Harris Interactive poll.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Louisiana pharmacist Randy Mire testified before Congress Tuesday that efforts to combat the diabetes epidemic in his home state and elsewhere would be significantly undermined if independent community pharmacies like his are forced to stop offering diabetes testing supplies as a result of Medicare’s competitive bidding program for durable medical equipment, according to a National Community Pharmacists Association release.

Mire appeared on behalf of NCPA before the U.S. House Small Business Subcommittee on Healthcare and Technology.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — Serving as yet further evidence to support the importance of being a multichannel retailer and supplier is the new RedPrairie study illustrating the shopping habits of Gen Y.

(THE NEWS: RedPrairie report reveals shopping preferences of Gen Y. For the full story, click here)

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — Digitizing the medical records of 150 million patients means that nearly half of the entire population of the United States will have its records stored electronically next year. It's an ambitious goal, but more importantly, it's a major step toward the transformation of the healthcare system toward an electronic, digitized model.

ARLINGTON, Va. — Electronic prescribing network Surescripts will connect its system to the interoperability platform of a company that provides electronic health records, under a partnership announced Thursday.

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Online giant Amazon.com will begin collecting a 6% state sales tax on purchases being shipped to Pennsylvania beginning Sept. 1, according to published reports.

The move is being made so that the online retailer will be in compliance with a new Pennsylvania state law going into effect that requires online retailers to collect state taxes if that retailer has a physical presence in the state.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — As of Sept. 1, some 1.2 million Pennsylvanians will be able to go to bed at night secure in the knowledge that their jobs won't be drowned out by some online juggernaut. And by the middle of September, 3.1 million Californians will be able to breathe that same sigh of relief. That's how many retail employees there are across those two states.

ATLANTA — SoloHealth announced that the number of consumer interactions made at its SoloHealth Station health-and-wellness kiosks has surpassed 2.5 million.

The data — which have been compiled since January 2011 across approximately 200 kiosks currently in select Walmart, Safeway, Publix, CVS, Sam’s Club and Schnuck's Markets locations — also included the following results:

• Each consumer spends an average of four minutes per session with the kiosk;

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — Do you doubt the importance of having a multichannel strategy to reach shoppers? If so, consider the fact that — for as little 2.5% off — nearly half of your customers will walk out of the store to make their purchase online. How about a 5% discount? Well, that number jumps to 60% of shoppers who will leave.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — The retailization of health care, as it's called on the cover of the Aug. 27 issue of Drug Store News, could turn out to be one of the most significant developments in the history of retail and health care alike.

(THE NEWS: Walmart takes a shot at expanding healthcare access. For the full story, click here.)

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — The nation’s largest retailer is expanding an in-store healthcare initiative involving 10 types of immunizations administered at its stores through Nov. 15.

Walmart said it is working with Mollen Immunization Clinics to provide 10 of the immunizations recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at 2,700 stores. In addition, the company said flu and pneumonia vaccines would be available at all 3,800 stores with pharmacies.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — Even just a few years ago, this kind of collaboration between a healthcare group and a drug store around a comprehensive food nutrition education program probably wouldn't have happened. Truth be told, it really isn't happening today. And that's because Walgreens isn't a drug store. Walgreens is a health and daily living solutions store.