Content about Health economics

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Take Care Health Systems, a subsidiary of Walgreens, on Tuesday announced a relationship with Cisco to operate the LifeConnections Health Center on Cisco's campus in San Jose, Calif. The LifeConnections Health Center provides Cisco employees and dependents with comprehensive and integrated health-and-wellness services, including primary care, physical therapy, chiropractic care, acupuncture, vision, health coaching and an on-site Walgreens pharmacy.

BOSTON — Employee wellness experts from Babcock & Wilcox, Caesars Entertainment and others spoke to the synergies that such a company as Walgreens' Take Care Health Systems can create across their health management strategies during a panel discussion here last week at the National Conference on Health, Productivity and Human Capital hosted by the National Business Group on Health.

Representing businesses that collectively employ more than 120,000 workers, the panelists discussed a number of emerging themes in employer-sponsored health care, including:

“Dispense-as-written” prescriptions are exacerbating medication nonadherence and costing the U.S. healthcare system up to $7.7 billion annually, according to a study by researchers at Harvard University, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and CVS Caremark.


WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — The release of the “2010 Census Report and Salary Report,” which indicated that the number of practicing physician assistants has tripled in the past 10 years is important to note, especially as the convenient care clinic model continues to expand.

(THE NEWS: Study: Physician assistant workforce reaches record high. For the full story, click here)

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Looking to challenge reimbursement rate reductions for Medicaid beneficiaries, pharmacy groups have filed a joint legal brief with the U.S. Supreme Court.

The brief was filed by the American Pharmacists Association, National Association of Chain Drug Stores, National Community Pharmacists Association and the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations in the case of Douglas v. Independent Living Center of California.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — Self-care saves cents. It's really that simple. As a nation, if we're going to get serious about reversing escalating healthcare costs, it starts by gaining a better appreciation for the value nonprescription remedies can bring to the overall healthcare table. It starts by removing counterintuitive regulations that serve as a disincentive against employing self-care options as the first line of treatment. It starts with passing bills like the Medical Flexible Spending Account Improvement Act (S.


One thing that was pretty clear in the research we conducted for the 2011 Retail Clinician Reader Survey is that an increasing number of retail-based health practitioners want the clinics they work for to expand the scope of services beyond acute care. Many readers said the one thing that would make them even more satisfied about the work they do is “moving beyond sick care,” as one reader noted, to more preventive/wellness-oriented services, including chronic disease management programs for diabetes, hypertension and more.

NEW ORLEANS — Take Care Health Systems, which is owned by Walgreens, has entered a collaborative agreement with Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center and LSU Healthcare Network to enhance coordination of care in the greater New Orleans region.

It’s like if KITT, the talking car on the 80s TV hit “Knight Rider,” consulted Hasselhoff about his excessive drinking while the two used advanced automotive and information-based technology to fight crime — and improve health outcomes.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — The emergence of the reports by Kalorama Information and Rasmussen Reports are important because they underscore the important role that retail-based healthcare clinics — and the nurse practitioners who work within them — increasingly play in the nation's healthcare system.

(THE NEWS: Kalorama projects retail clinic growth. For the full story, click here)

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Community Pharmacists Association on Wednesday announced support for the Quality Health Care Coalition Act of 2011 (H.R. 1409), which was introduced last week by House Judiciary Committee ranking member Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., and Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, in an effort to improve the quality of patient care by leveling the playing field between healthcare professionals and insurance companies in the healthcare industry.

The Obama administration on the official White House website identifies “5 Important Numbers on Health Reform.” These include:

• Zero. The amount consumers would have to pay for premiums, co-insurance or co-payments on any preventive services;

• Fifty. The number of states that now offer insurance options to all people, regardless of any pre-existing conditions;

• One million. The number of doughnut-hole rebate checks mailed to seniors under Part D as of August 2010;