Content about Medical prescription

This will be a big year for implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and the National Community Pharmacists Association will track the process closely on behalf of NCPA members and the patients they serve. NCPA recently submitted comments about the ACA’s Multi-State Plans, or MSPs, being designed by the Office of Personnel Management.

The world market for generic drugs will jump more than 15% this year and reach a global total of $127.8 billion, a British market research firm predicted.

LINCOLN, Calif. — A drug-security product has won a drug-abuse prevention award.

The Locking Cap was named as one of the "Top 5 Technologies to Reduce Prescription Drug Abuse" by the Center for Lawful Access and Abuse Deterrence.

The cap is a four-digit combination-locking lid for prescription medication bottles. The maker of the cap, Cap-n-Lock, launched an updated version of the cap at the beginning of the year to attract the attention of shoppers.

If you are like a lot of people, hanging a new calendar has inspired you to embrace new beginnings and experimentation. Every January morning begins with plans to put insights into action.

And if you are like a lot of other people, you’re feeling desperate for different outcomes in 2013, while still doing things the 2012 way.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Both the strong incidence of influenza and the rise in the number of flu shots administered in December positively impacted comparable prescriptions filled at Walgreens on a day-fall adjusted basis, the company reported Friday. Flu shots administered at pharmacies and clinics season-to-date were nearly 5.5 million versus approximately 5.3 million last year, the retailer noted. 

Walgreens executives last week were upbeat looking ahead to calendar 2013, identifying the company's growing base of Well Experience format stores, the expanding role retail pharmacy plays in the delivery of health care and the promise to be realized through creating a global pharmacy operator as the three primary reasons lifting their spirits. 

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Rite Aid beat analyst expectations in third quarter 2013 as the generic wave and retention of Express Scripts customers helped drive better-than-expected adjusted EBITDA and produced the company's first profitable quarter in five years.

"I am proud that we have achieved this significant milestone by putting our customers first and challenging ourselves to better serve them," Rite Aid president, chairman and CEO John Standley said in a conference call with Wall Street analysts Thursday morning.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. and SULPHUR SPRINGS, Texas — CVS/pharmacy and Medicine Chest Pharmacy announced on Friday that CVS will acquire 19 Medicine Chest drug stores in Texas during the last weekend of December.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

CVS/pharmacy will operate nine of the acquired locations and relocate 10 other Medicine Chest pharmacies into nearby existing CVS/pharmacy locations. Medicine Chest will continue to operate its remaining 10 locations.

NEW YORK — Thousands of patients in Los Angeles with serious, chronic diseases could soon find themselves unable to get their drugs from community pharmacies, advocates for the pharmacies said.

DALLAS — AffordRx.com is making a prescription discount card that offers savings of up to 75% at more than 56,000 pharmacies across the country available to all residents of the United States, the company said.

The company said the cards would be available without restrictions on membership and that there were no income requirements, age limitations or applications.

"We are excited to launch this program, potentially saving Americans millions of dollars on their prescription medication," AffordRx spokesman Dylan Marc said.

CAMP HILL, Pa. — As expected, Hurricane Sandy left its mark on Rite Aid's monthly sales as the chain reported a decline in comps for November.

The company said the 3% decrease in same-store sales for the five-week period ended Saturday included a 0.5% decrease in front-end comps and a 4.2% decrease in pharmacy comps, while same-store prescription count increased 2.2% compared with the same time last year.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens Wednesday morning reported November sales of $5.9 billion, a decrease of 3.9% versus the same period last year. Total front-end sales decreased 0.3% compared with the same month in fiscal 2012, while comparable store front-end sales were down 1.7%. Customer traffic in comparable stores was down 4.9% while basket size increased 3.2%.

However, registrations for Walgreens Balance Rewards loyalty program, which launched in September, totaled more than 38 million through November, denoting a strong start for the program.