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Rite Aid announced...the grand opening of its new distribution center in Spartanburg, S.C....first in 16 years," stated John Standley, Rite Aid chairman and CEO. "Featuring highly efficient and advanced technologies, this facility will play a crucial role in our company’s supply chain, supporting more than 1,000 Rite Aid stores across the southeastern United States, and help us deliver a superior customer experience."...approximately 600 new jobs...will have a tremendous impact on the entire state and is a testament to the competitive business environment...The 900,000 square foot distribution center sits on 97 acres...Some of the features of the new facility include:

• High efficiency LED and T5 fluorescent light fixtures and occupancy sensor controlled warehouse lighting;
• An on-site truck maintenance facility, including a fueling station, trailer weigh scale and wash area;
• High-speed automated palletizers, ergonomically designed manual palletizing stations and automatic label applicators;
• State-of-the-art warehouse and labor management system;
• Voice pick technology; and
• 60,000 square feet of office space, including an associate cafeteria, fitness center and other amenities.

Robert Sztar is the founder of Pharmactive and has developed a unique 4-step method of ‘Transpharmation’ which covers:

1. Education – I teach you the purpose of the currently available technologies.
2. Discovery – I help pharmacy owners to discover processes in their business which can be aided or automated by technology
3. Partnership – I introduce pharmacy owners to the right technology partners who will help them to plan, implement, train and maintain their products in their pharmacy.
4. Optimisation – I help you review the solutions implemented to ensure that the original objectives have been delivered upon, and discussing areas of potential improvement.  (podcast 24:29 min)

With extra training, Health Education England says there is potential for independent prescriber pharmacists to help manage patients attending emergency departments...Pharmacists have the potential to manage the care of up to 36% of patients attending hospital emergency departments, according to the results of two studies by Health Education England...Based specifically on completion of a 12-month, level 7, postgraduate diploma advanced practice… training course, with modules in clinical examination skills and clinical health assessment and diagnostics, it is estimated that the achievable level of pharmacist management may be 27% of all cases...This study provides an evidence base for maximising advanced clinical training for ED pharmacists...Results show that the pharmacists had the greatest potential impact in the management of the general medicine cases (13.2%), followed by orthopaedics (9.7%), respiratory (1.8%), ear nose and throat (1.6%) and gastroenterology (1.3%)...For both the pharmacy profession and patients, it is important that this novel practice is grounded in what only pharmacists can offer – medicines expertise. Over the coming years, it will be interesting to see how pharmacists working in this enhanced clinical role deliver both pharmaceutical and medical care to emergency department patients...

A public health campaign in Vermont is getting naloxone into the hands of those who may need it, and pharmacists at the state's major academic medical center are doing their part to help...a pilot program operated by the Vermont Department of Health distributed 8723 "naloxone rescue kits" or kit refills from a network that now includes 10 sites around the state...The sites, which are operated by drug treatment, harm reduction, and recovery centers, get the kits at no cost from the health department and distribute them to patients who are at high risk for an opioid overdose. Friends and family members may also pick up the kits...Meghan Groth, emergency department pharmacist at the University of Vermont Medical Center...developed a similar protocol for dispensing naloxone rescue kits to patients in the ED...Mark DiParlo, manager of UVMC's outpatient pharmacies, expects to have a pharmacy-based naloxone dispensing plan in place by summertime...

Brian Haug, president of The American Journal of Managed Care. Welcome to This Week in Managed Care, from the Managed Markets News Network.

A recent Wall Street Journal op-ed assessing ways to reduce medical errors in the U.S. strongly recommends including pharmacists on care teams. "How to Make Hospitals Less Deadly" by James B. Lieber notes that pharmacists’ extensive knowledge of medications offers an important barrier to common medical errors... "Doctors have only glancing knowledge of how an ever-multiplying number of drugs interact with diet, age, disease, body type and each other," he writes, pointing to a study that showed placing pharmacists in patient areas decreased errors by 45% and cut errors leading to death or severe harm by 94%..."Studies have long demonstrated that pharmacists have much to offer in terms of ensuring appropriate prescribing and optimal medication therapy outcomes," said ASHP CEO Paul W. Abramowitz, Pharm.D.

Justin Gallagher, associate publisher of The American Journal of Managed Care. Welcome to This Week in Managed Care, From the Managed Markets News Network.

Mike Glaicar, Business Development: Pharmacy Times...(PTNN) This weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.

The imminent chain-wide arrival of digital receipts was first unveiled on Friday evening on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live, in a surprise appearance featuring CVS Pharmacy President Helena Foulkes. The show acknowledged the...feedback shared by millions of customers – including host Jimmy Kimmel himself, who has put CVS Pharmacy receipts and ExtraCare Rewards in the spotlight several times in the past...We are excited to roll out the much-anticipated launch of digital receipts. We heard loud and clear that while our customers love receiving coupons and special offers, many wanted a paperless option...This feature lets our customers continue to make personalized choices as to how they engage with us, and will let our members choose to say 'So long!' to the long paper receipts at check-out...

Mike Glaicar, Business Development: Pharmacy Times...(PTNN) This weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.