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The majority of pharmacies in the United States now offer vaccinations, but there is still significant opportunity to turn a well-run vaccination program into a profitable endeavor that benefits both patient and pharmacy...According to the CDC, just 37.1% of adults received the flu vaccine during the 2017-2018 flu season. This presents a significant opportunity for pharmacies to improve these numbers by expanding their immunization efforts, marketing their programs to the community, and relying on what makes a pharmacy a unique healthcare setting...READ MORE

Nicole Grassano, PTNN, Pharmacy Week in Review, this weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.

Laura Joszt, Managing Editor at The American Journal of Managed Care. Welcome to This Week in Managed Care from the Managed Markets News Network

With eight months of data under their belts, CVS Health is seeing strong performance out of its early HealthHUB retail stores in the Houston area...CEO Larry Merlo said on the company's earnings call...that these concept stores, which dedicate more than 20% of retail space to health services, outperform control retail pharmacies in script volume, MinuteClinic visits, front store sales, foot traffic and store margin..."rapid rollout" of the HealthHUB stores is proceeding on track, he said, with the healthcare giant expanding into three additional metro areas by the end of this year. CVS plans to transform 1,500 of its stores into HealthHUBs by 2021...READ MORE

Christina Mattina, welcome to This Week in Managed Care from the Managed Markets News Network

Disparity found in analysis of practice data from CCGs (clinical commissioning groups) using First Databank’s prescribing decision tool...Drug and medical device knowledge company First Databank is urging GP practices to standardise their approaches to routine testing and monitoring of drugs, after its data revealed variance in compliance across key safety indicators for drug prescriptions...figures from analysis of...usage in 2018/2019 “suggest the need for prescribers to increase essential routine testing of clinical markers for patient harm from medications, and for more robust recording of test results into the primary care clinical system.”...READ MORE

Nicole Grassano, PTNN, Pharmacy Week in Review, this weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.

It’s no secret that healthcare is in a state of rapid shifts—it has been for a long time, and it shows no sign of slowing in its evolution—and pharmacy is no exception. From independents to big box to large chains to hospitals, every pharmacist is going to feel (and is already feeling) significant changes...Perhaps the greatest shift in recent years, however, has come from chains. Changes in chains affect not only the pharmacists working in those chains, but show how pharmacy as a whole is evolving...READ MORE

Walgreens retail clinic business has been floundering. Last week, Walgreens announced that it would shut the last of its in-house retail clinics and in favor of outsourcing clinic operations to hospitals and health systems...Other retailers are investing in more expansive healthcare services to realize the promise of store-based healthcare. That’s one reason why CVS Health is rolling out its HealthHUBs, while Walmart is phasing out its traditional retail clinics in favor of a more comprehensive Walmart Health offering...Many large retail chains operate clinics, but their strategies and growth rates differ. I expect the traditional retail clinic model to fade in favor of locations with broader healthcare services. This new direction will put pharmacies in more direct competition with urgent care clinics and primary care providers...READ MORE

According to the Association for Accessible Medicines 2019 report with data from IQVIA, generic drug savings totaled $293 billion in 2018, which resulted in a 10-year savings of almost $2 trillion. Other key findings include that 4 billion generic prescriptions were filled across the U.S. in 2018, which is 90% of all dispensed prescriptions. Additionally, 95% of generic prescriptions were filled at $20 or less with an average copay of $5.63 whereas the average brand copay is $40.65. In 2017, patients who were prescribed more expensive brand products were 2-3 times more likely to leave the pharmacy without their prescriptions...There were 68,353 pharmacy stores that provided cash prices for the study; results revealed that independent pharmacies and small chains had the highest cash prices for generic drugs, while big box pharmacies had the lowest prices compared with large chains...READ MORE