Content about Pharmacies

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — It's no secret that something has been afoot for the last few years: Retail pharmacies have gradually metamorphosed from places to pick up pills to destinations for health care — places to get everything from vaccines to care from nurses and even from physicians.

Given retail pharmacies' evolving role, the growing number of employers starting wellness programs has opened up a number of possibilities, which some retail pharmacy companies have already started exploring.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — With as much as two-thirds of retail pharmacy operators' business tied up in the potential Express Scripts-Medco merger, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, the National Community Pharmacists Association and nine retail pharmacy companies on Thursday filed a lawsuit challenging the merger.

SUN PRAIRIE, Wis. — An organization representing independent pharmacies has joined a recently announced nationwide pharmacy network that aims to get patients to receive personalized care from their pharmacists.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Association of Chain Drug Stores on Tuesday expressed support for H.R. 4095, “The Online Pharmacy Safety Act,” which the organization said will help consumers protect themselves against the growing threat of illegitimate online drug sellers.

NACDS sent a letter in support of the bill to its sponsors, Reps. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Mike Ross, D-Ark. 

The bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services to create a public registry of law-abiding online pharmacy websites for consumer use.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS/pharmacy has introduced a program that allows pharmacy patients to receive immediate notification via text message when their prescription is ready to be picked up, the drug store chain said.

Order Ready Text Messaging, which is available on nearly all mobile carriers, offers text alerts in English and Spanish. Customers interest in enrolling into Order Ready Text Messaging can do so by speaking to a pharmacy staff member or visiting CVS.com/text. Standard message rates apply.

NEW YORK — A senator from New York is proposing new regulations that would protect pharmacies from robberies, according to published reports.

The Associated Press reported that Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., proposed stronger penalties and better security measures so that pharmacies could protect their drugs, following a pharmacy robbery on Long Island that resulted in the death of an off-duty federal agent.

When someone says “pharmacy automation and technology,” the image that most likely springs to mind is a pharmacy robot dispensing pills in a bottle or pharmacists managing operations or looking at patients’ medical records and electronic prescriptions with the latest pharmacy software.


But technology increasingly is migrating out from behind the counter as pharmacy retailers wield it not just to make the jobs of pharmacists and pharmacy techs easier, but to enhance the experience of the customer as well.


WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — The U.S. Department of Justice may have once and for all exposed the man behind the curtain, revealing many online Canadian pharmacies for what they really are: drug pushers taking advantage of Americans in search of cheaper health care. And in doing so, the Justice Department may be uncovering a bigger issue: the creeping 15% of counterfeits worldwide that gradually are cracking the U.S. drug distribution system.

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. — Nelsons on Tuesday announced a social media marketing initiative to help raise awareness around its stress-relieving product Rescue Remedy. Consumers who "like" Rescue Remedy" on Facebook as part of the "Want" To-Do List contest will be entered for a chance to win $2,500.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens on Wednesday directly appealed to benefit consultants with a letter apprising them of the chain’s withdrawal from Express Scripts’ pharmacy provider network, effective Jan. 1, 2012, and educating those consultants of the healthcare value that Walgreens still can deliver without Express Scripts.

In its “2010 Drug Trend Report,” Express Scripts attributed much pharmacy-related waste to patients failing to follow three simple guidelines: Take medications as prescribed, take drugs that maximize clinical benefit for the lowest price and use the safest and cheapest delivery channel.

WASHINGTON — An organization representing the nation's pharmacy benefit managers said that mail-service pharmacies are increasing the use of generic medications.

The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association issued a statement on Tuesday claiming that mail-service pharmacies leverage generic opportunities for savings, adding that there is no marked difference in the generic dispensing rate between mail-service pharmacy and retail pharmacy.