Content about New England

Here’s a shocking statistic: half of the roughly 4 billion prescriptions dispensed by U.S. pharmacies are not taken as prescribed, according to The New England Journal of Medicine, which blames the problem for 33% to 69% of all medication-related hospital admissions. Nonadherence is also linked to some 125,000 deaths every year in the United States.

When considering new, stiffer regulations governing the compounding of medicines in the wake of the meningitis outbreak, tread carefully and don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.

That’s the message chain pharmacy had for Congress as lawmakers mull new restrictions on drug compounding by pharmacists.

NEW YORK — Food and Drug Administration commissioner Margaret Hamburg is asking Congress to give the agency more power to regulate compounding pharmacies amid a nationwide meningitis outbreak linked to a Massachusetts-based compounding pharmacy that has claimed dozens of lives nationwide.

Improving medication adherence in specialty pharmacy could be equivalent to introducing a new blockbuster drug. That’s how Diplomat Specialty Pharmacy president and CEO Phil Hagerman put it at Drug Store News’ Specialty Pharmacy Roundtable two years ago. 


NEW YORK — The Northeast is still recovering from one of the worst disasters it has ever faced. Many residents remain without electrical power, while others have lost their entire homes, businesses, workplaces and in a growing number of cases, their lives.

 BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Aspirin has the potential to block tumor growth in certain patients with colorectal cancer, according to an editorial in the Oct. 25, 2012 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine by a University of Alabama at Birmingham oncologist. In a study that appears in the same issue, researchers examined the use of aspirin in the treatment outcomes of patients with colorectal cancer.

With healthcare reform on track to bring 32 million more Americans into the healthcare system in 2014, and with payers and patients looking for solutions to curb costs as the nation battles a shortage of primary care physicians and access to quality care, CVS Caremark’s role in reinventing pharmacy through its distinctive business model couldn’t be more imperative than it is today.


WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Caremark paid tribute to disabled veterans from New England with a batting camp and full-day experience at Fenway Park in Boston on Aug. 7.

The Fenway Park opportunity marked an extension of CVS Caremarkʼs national philanthropic All Kids Can program, which aims to make life easier for children with disabilities. The special camp, which took place during Fenway Parkʼs 100th anniversary season, was a joint endeavor between CVS Caremark and the Boston Red Sox.

It’s been cited as one of the biggest health crises facing the United States and, if solved, the equivalent dollar value of a blockbuster drug. According to the latest statistics from pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts, poor medication adherence costs the country $317 billion per year, an upgrade from the $290 billion calculated in a study released in 2009 by the New England Healthcare Institute.


QUINCY, Mass., and PURCHASE, N.Y. — Stop & Shop announced that its New England and New York Metro divisions and its customers were able to give back more than $22 million in 2011 into the hundreds of communities in which they operate.

WOONSOCKET, R.I., and WORCESTER, Mass. — CVS Caremark’s MinuteClinic and UMass Memorial Health Care, the largest healthcare system in central and western Massachusetts and the clinical partner of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, have entered into a clinical collaboration to enhance access to healthcare services in central Massachusetts.

NORTHBOROUGH, Mass. — Regional supermarket chain Wegmans made its New England debut on Oct. 16.

The chain opened a 138,000-sq.-ft. store, located in Northborough, Mass., which touts 70,000 products. Citing industry figures, Wegmans said the store is twice the average number for traditional grocery stores.