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Walmart Inc’s efforts to develop closer ties with health insurer Humana Inc, which came to light...point to a brave new world of retail where superstores become healthcare centers offering basic medical care...They are also aimed at boosting Walmart’s slowing growth in brick-and-mortar store sales as it faces increasing pressure online from Amazon.com Inc. Deepening its existing partnership with Humana, or even acquiring the company outright, could be a step toward turning its 4,700 or so U.S. stores into healthcare centers that aim to attract more shoppers over 65...The end goal here is to get more people in their stores, get them to buy drugs and make an additional purchase while they are in the store...If Walmart can offer “competitive rates” on primary care and other health services...it “can grow traffic and push store visits.”...“It allows them to get ahead of everybody from warehouse club operators like Costco, Target and other retailers who run chain drugstores as well as food and drug combo operators like Kroger and Wegmans.”...

CVS is reportedly in talks to buy Aetna in a deal that could help protect its business from the entry of the tech giant in to the healthcare space...CVS should focus on its vertical integration strategy, according to Morgan Stanley, and steer clear of gong head to head with Amazon in next day or same day delivery...Don't go head-to-head with Amazon...Goldwasser said that CVS' strength is its vertical integration. CVS has made a number of acquisitions over the past decade, such as Caremark RX, a pharmacy benefits manager, Omnicare, a leading pharmacy services provider and Target's pharmacy and retail clinic businesses. That push puts the company on a better footing to engage consumers, improve access to care, and deliver cost savings, he said.Goldwasser said however that any plans to go head-to-head with Amazon in next-day or same-day delivery service of prescriptions may impact the company's front-store sales. CVS already offers this service and plans to expand it to all of its locations in 2018.

Some ailing veterans can now use their federal health care benefits at CVS "MinuteClinics" to treat minor illnesses and injuries, under a pilot program announced...by the Department of Veterans Affairs...The new program, currently limited to the Phoenix area, comes three years after the VA faced allegations of chronically long wait times at its centers, including its Phoenix facility, which treats about 120,000 veterans...The Phoenix pilot program is a test-run by VA Secretary David Shulkin who is working on a nationwide plan to reduce veterans' wait times...Veterans would not be bound by current restrictions under the VA's Choice program, which limits outside care to those who have been waiting more than 30 days for an appointment or have to drive more than 40 miles to a facility. Instead, Phoenix VA nurses staffing the...medical center's help line will be able to refer veterans to MinuteClinics for government-paid care when "clinically appropriate."..."We believe in the MinuteClinic model of care and are excited to offer our health care services as one potential solution for the Phoenix VA Health Care System and its patients," said Tobias Barker, chief medical officer of CVS MinuteClinic...

...Walgreens said...it would end its relationship with Theranos, in another blow for the blood-testing company that was once lauded for its innovative approach but has increasingly come under scrutiny...Walgreens said it would shutter all 40 Theranos Wellness Centers at its stores in Arizona, having already stopped Theranos laboratory testing services at its location in Palo Alto, California..."In light of the voiding of a number of test results, and as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has rejected Theranos' plan of correction and considers sanctions, we have carefully considered our relationship with Theranos and believe it is in our customers' best interests to terminate our partnership," Brad Fluegel, Walgreens senior vice president...Theranos was once praised for its fast, less-invasive blood testing technology but the company has found itself in the spotlight after media reports raised questions about the accuracy of its proprietary tests...Federal prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney's office and the SEC have investigated Theranos over whether it misled investors...

Pharmacists call shortage of small-volume parenteral solutions "severe"...The shortage...is affecting virtually all U.S. hospitals, according to results of a survey by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists... that limited inventory of the critical product has required health care providers to adopt new procedures and use alternative therapies to treat patients...Survey respondents are taking a variety of steps to mitigate the shortages, including using alternative methods of administration such as intravenous push, intramuscular injections, or oral dosage forms; using nonformulary premixed solutions and/or frozen products; and implementing protocols that restrict the use of product...The shortage of SVPs is the latest in a series of shortages of critical medications, including sodium bicarbonate and epinephrine. Drug shortages pose a significant threat to the safety and quality of patient care in hospitals and other health care settings and may result in delayed treatment and increased risk of adverse reactions and medication errors...“We strongly believe that the current drug shortage situation is unacceptable and unsustainable,” said ASHP CEO Paul W. Abramowitz, PharmD...“It threatens harm to patients, wastes valuable health care resources, causes great uncertainty, and disrupts the health care system.”

A five-year integrated pharmacy degree, leading to pharmacist registration, is set to be introduced throughout Scotland in three years’ time. However, the detail of how the workplace learning will fit into the degree timetable and which model to adopt, has not yet been decided...Shona Robison, the Scottish secretary for health and sport, is backing the proposal from the special advisory group that...published its report, ‘Five-year integrated initial education programme for pharmacists in Scotland’…"Given our current focus on workforce planning and development and the extending role of pharmacists within multidisciplinary teams, this report provides a real opportunity to better prepare our new pharmacists for practice in Scotland by ensuring they are able to practice in the evolving NHS health and social care landscape."...there is also a need for more "enhanced experiential learning in clinical practice" and a recognition of the benefits of workplace learning which can reinforce confidence and professional competence...The new degree also supports the Scottish government’s priorities to strengthen the primary care workforce and its desire for every GP practice to have access to a pharmacist with advanced skills...

For people living in rural areas of the U.S., access to health care providers can be a serious challenge. Pharmacists can be part of the solution. And in a welcome show of bipartisanship, Republicans and Democrats in Congress are co-sponsoring legislation that can help...The Pharmacy and Medically Underserved Areas Enhancement Act...would include pharmacists on the list of recognized health care providers that can be reimbursed by Medicare for providing much needed patient care in underserved areas. USP supports this legislation as a major step forward in improving health care. Here are three reasons why:

• Pharmacists are highly trained health care professionals
• Pharmacists are easily accessible to patients
• Pharmacists improve health care

CVS Health said on Sunday that it had agreed to buy Aetna for about $69 billion in a deal that would combine the drugstore giant with one of the biggest health insurers in the United States and has the potential to reshape the nation’s health care industry...The transaction, one of the largest of the year, reflects the increasingly blurred lines between the traditionally separate spheres of a rapidly changing industry. It represents an effort to make both companies more appealing to consumers as health care that was once delivered in a doctor’s office more often reaches consumers over the phone, at a retail clinic or via an app...A combined CVS-Aetna could position itself as a formidable figure in this changing landscape. Together, the companies touch most of the basic health services that people regularly use, providing an opportunity to benefit consumers. CVS operates a chain of pharmacies and retail clinics that could be used by Aetna to provide care directly to patients, while the merged company could be better able to offer employers one-stop shopping for health insurance for their workers.

All-party parliamentary group recommends community pharmacy play a bigger role in the NHS to take pressure off Gps...Giving all community pharmacists the opportunity to become prescribers by 2022 and introducing a minor ailment service throughout England are among a series of recommendations made in a report by the All-Party Pharmacy Group, following an investigation into the impact of government reforms...The APPG, which is made up of a cross section of MPs with an interest in pharmacy, has also called on NHS England to outline their strategy for implementing the recommendations of the Murray Review into "community pharmacy clinical services"…Community pharmacy is a highly valued, but an underutilised resource, the APPG said, and the profession needs to play a more integrated role in both primary care services, and the treatment of patients with long-term health conditions...The health service is facing huge challenges due to patient demand, and by working to develop services, community pharmacy can shoulder some of the burden facing GPs, and other parts of the NHS...

The roll out of the pilot will see a further 1,500 pharmacists working in general practice by 2020-2021...NHS (National Health Service) England has announced an additional £112m ($137m) investment to roll out a pilot scheme embedding clinical pharmacists in GP surgeries...a commitment set out in the ‘General practice forward view’...The expansion...follows a “successful” pilot that involved 490 clinical pharmacists working in approximately 650 general practices across 90 sites...The goal of the scheme is to ease pressure on the NHS by increasing capacity in general practice, which will free up GP time as well as ensure safer prescribing by offering specialist advice and support for patients with chronic diseases…The success of the initial pilots has shown the benefits of having more clinical pharmacists in general practice, reducing GP workload and helping ensure patients are seen by the right professional in a more convenient and timely way...the scheme was welcomed by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, which says it is a “significant step” towards its shared vision with the RCGP ( Royal College of General Practitioners) that every GP practice should have access to the expertise of a pharmacist...