Content about Insights and Perspectives

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT This is a fine example of how pharmacists can be both convenient and accessible and ready to answer questions about disease states and medicines, and all at the click of a mouse, or smartphone touch pad, as the case may be.

(THE NEWS: Rite Aid enters partnership with American Well. For the full story, click here)

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT Taking medications is like doing household chores or getting called for jury duty: Everybody would prefer not to have to do it, but it’s still necessary. The consequences for noncompliance could be unpleasant or severe.

(THE NEWS: CVS Caremark: Medication adherence gets in way of social life, patients say. For the full story, click here)

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT Patient-centric healthcare solutions offer a glimpse of what health reform eventually could look like by the time it is fully implemented. It’ll be a system where consumers are more in control of managing the levers that determine cost.

(THE NEWS: PricewaterhouseCoopers: Government, health leaders seek customer-centric healthcare solutions. For the full story, click here)

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT The fact that CVS Caremark presented research highlighting the benefits that pharmacy benefit management tools can have on improving medication adherence is important on several different levels.

(THE NEWS: CVS Caremark research highlights methods for improving medication adherence. For the full story, click here)

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT The uptick in prescription drug sales growth may or may not be yet another indicator of improvement in the U.S. economy, but it is, without a doubt, indicative of a return to growth for the prescription drug market and, by extension, an indicator of growth among retail pharmacies.

(THE NEWS: U.S. drug sales saw growth in 2009, IMS Health says. For the full story, click here)

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT Independent pharmacy’s toughest champion will soon be unlacing his gloves. Bruce Roberts, who has led the National Community Pharmacists Association with boundless energy and passion for nearly nine years, will step aside June 25. His exit will mark the closing of a remarkable chapter in the inspiring, hard-fought saga of independent drug store retailing.

(THE NEWS: Head of NCPA to step down. For the full story, click here)

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT After more than a year that spawned bitter debate, a tea party, a growing divide in Congress and a never-ending clash of ideas, charges, countercharges and soul-searching about the role of government and deficit spending, healthcare reform is law.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT Offering free metformin to diabetes patients in the deep South is a lot like setting up shop in the middle of Phoenix and announcing that free water is available to any dehydrated customers. That’s because when you place a map of Publix’s locations on top of a map showing where in the country diabetes is most prevalent, you’ll see that Publix is located in the U.S. diabetes hot spot. So why do it?

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT In the past three years, the CRN Foundation has interviewed a broad swathe of healthcare professionals around both their personal and professional use/recommendation of dietary supplements. Two years ago, the majority of physicians and nurses recommended the use of dietary supplements; last year orthopedic specialists, cardiologists and dermatologists each testified to the inherent value of supplements.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT There’s more than one way to help employers desperate to cut their health plan costs.

(THE NEWS: Walgreens pursuing Rx contract with Delta Air Lines, report says. For the full story, click here)

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT CVS Caremark’s Behavior Change Research Partnership with several leading universities is likely to yield some invaluable results for the industry at large because if CVS Caremark executives and the participating academic leaders can better understand customer behavior and develop ways to encourage improved healthy behaviors, then the end result likely will be lower healthcare costs.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT The news that CVS Caremark is making an investment to integrate its five pharmacy benefit management units isn’t really a big surprise and, in fact, could have some industry observers wondering what took this well-oiled acquisition machine so long.

(THE NEWS: Report: CVS Caremark to merge PBM units. For the full story, click here)