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CVS Health will ratchet up scrutiny of opioid prescriptions in an effort to reduce misuse and abuse of the overprescribed painkillers...CVS, which also operates one of the nation’s largest pharmacy benefit managers in Caremark, said it will roll out an “enhanced opioid utilization management approach for all commercial, health plan, employer and Medicaid clients as of February 1, 2018 unless the client chooses to opt out.”...CVS said its program will include “limiting to seven days the supply of opioids dispensed for certain acute prescriptions for patients who are new to therapy; limiting the daily dosage of opioids dispensed based on the strength of the opioid; and requiring the use of immediate-release formulations of opioids before extended-release opioids are dispensed.”...

In an effort to differentiate itself, CVS Health is looking to tap into the 24.8% of the workplace the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects will be aged 55 years and older by 2024. The company — which currently has a workforce that is 24% older than 50 years of age — has announced that it’s actively recruiting older employees...Mature workers play an integral role in the culture at CVS Health by providing increased experience, dependability and a desire to learn new skills...the company’s efforts around mature workers is its Talent Is Ageless initiative, which was created to recruit and retain employees aged 50 years and older by cultivating public and private partnerships...9% of Americans aged 65 and older are using at least one prescription drug a month, and 40% use at least five...we see the baby boomer generation age, having colleagues across the company who can personally relate to these customers and patients is a differentiator for us...

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...

Middlemen who manage drug benefits for employers and insurers should be under greater government oversight of their pricing and billing practices to make health care cheaper, an independent pharmacists’ group said (National Community Pharmacists Association)...plans to lower prescription drug costs will only succeed if greater transparency is imposed on pharmacy benefit managers...Benefit managers engage in price negotiations that are often kept secret for competitive reasons, with manufacturers on one end and pharmacies on the other. Pharmacists have criticized these discussions, as well as so-called clawbacks -- extra profit for the PBM after co-pays for cheap, generic medicines exceed the price of the drug itself...PBMs...continue to operate in a virtual black box...As the outcry over drug pricing intensifies, the middlemen have gained more attention...

The pharmacy community is working to make sure Florida residents are prepared as Hurricane Irma bears down on the state. Gov. Rick Scott authorized pharmacies to dispense up to 30-day emergency prescription refills to patients...In addition, CVS Pharmacy and Walgreens are emphasizing the importance being prepared by keeping prescriptions stocked, or at least on-hand. "Prescription preparedness is one of the most important steps individuals and families can take in the lead up to potentially severe weather, and CVS Pharmacy is working to ensure that our patients have the medications they need in advance of the storm," says CVS Health EVP retail pharmacy and supply chain Kevin Hourican. Walgreens is reminding patients to follow evacuation orders and get to a safe location before refilling their prescriptions, noting that all locations can access a patient's records and that the Walgreens app can be used to refill prescriptions and pick them up nearby.

In 2015, the State of Wisconsin was third in the nation with 45 pharmacy armed robberies. In 2016, the state dropped to 31st in the nation with only 6 pharmacy robberies. That’s 39 fewer robberies than in the previous year or a 750% decrease..." Wisconsin AG Unveils New Effort to Prevent Pharmacy Robberies."...Wisconsin Attorney General, Brad Schimel, along with the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin and law enforcement have formed a "comprehensive pharmacy robbery prevention and response training program."...Attorney General Schimel...told me, "we have a strong relationship with the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin and have been working closely with them for the past 3 years. Certainly it was the high numbers (robberies) in 2014/2015 that concerned us. It’s probably been in the last 6 months that we have been working most intensively with them and this program."...the robbery program focuses on the following:

• Opening and closing practices at retail pharmacies
• Good in-store surveillance camera placement
• Time-delayed opening narcotic safes
• Phone etiquette
• Signage within a pharmacy (Time delayed safes, video equipment is use, etc.).

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

In response to the devastation associated with Hurricane Harvey, several retailers have stepped up their giving...H-E-B...early into the storm donated $100,000 toward Hurricane Harvey relief efforts and have begun accepting customer donations for the families and communities devastated by the storm...H-E-B has received numerous requests from customers about how they can help support victims and communities affected…In Victoria, Texas, Walgreens loaned the city a generator in order for them to help power their sewage facility and prevent from comprising the water supply of 70,000 residents with sewage backflow. "We proactively staged generators in the area and were able to quickly provide one to the city during this emergency,"...CVS Health and the CVS Health Foundation gave $200,000 in cash and in-kind product donations to organizations helping with relief efforts for those affected...The CVS Health Foundation has donated $50,000 each to the Greater Houston Community Foundation and the American Red Cross, as well as $25,000 to Salvation Army, to aid the greater Houston area in supporting local residents...Walmart and the Walmart Foundation have made a $1 million commitment to provide support for relief efforts through cash and product donations. As a part of this commitment, Walmart is working closely with organizations like the American Red Cross, Salvation Army and Convoy of Hope while coordinating efforts with elected officials and governmental entities to help meet the needs of those affected...

When CVS Caremark rebranded as CVS Health in 2014, it pledged to help customers venture down the road to better health. But it looks like the pharmacy retailer could use a bit of a checkup...While the brand reported a 3% net revenue increase in Q1 2017, it also experienced a 3.8% decrease in retail and long-term care segment revenue, which it partially attributes to a 4.7% decrease in same-store sales...its net income decreased 16.9%, according to its quarterly results…Generating customer loyalty is crucial to CVS's business...generating repeat business can be difficult...the main differentiators for CVS are the brands that it carries in its stores — some of which are exclusive — and its customer shopping experience — an experience that it's able to personalize using data from its ExtraCare program.

• Personalization based on purchases...CVS is able to mine these members' purchase and demographic data and pair it with internal research to deliver personalized offers and marketing communications to its customers.
• In-store innovation...the brand revealed a new store design which includes the debut of "discovery zones." These designated setups allow customers to learn about new trends and be exposed to different products…
• Mobile moves...Mobile is a good way for CVS to bridge the digital and in-store shopping experiences. Customers can download the CVS app to manage their prescriptions, order photos, and see wait times for CVS's walk-in clinics, MinuteClinic, and hold their place in line. They can also scroll through their available coupons, filter them, and forward them to their ExtraCare card to be used at checkout. Furthermore, customers can forward ExtraBucks to their cards, and pay directly through the app.
• Keeping customers at the core...it's important for CVS to engage customers via their preferred channels…CVS's receipts as an example of how the brand does this...CVS has received media attention for the length of its receipts...the brand made it possible to digitize receipts if desired...customers can even opt to have their transaction history printed on a paper receipt and have their coupons emailed to them directly.

Eric Pusey has to bite his tongue when customers at his pharmacy cough up co-payments far higher than the cost of their low-cost generic drugs, thinking their insurance is getting them a good deal...Pusey’s contracts with drug-benefit managers at his Medicap Pharmacy in Olyphant, Pennsylvania, bar him from volunteering the fact that for many cheap, generic medicines, co-pays sometimes are more expensive than if patients simply pay out of pocket and bypass insurance. The extra money -- what the industry calls a clawback -- ends up with the benefit companies…Clawbacks, which can be as little as $2 a prescription or as much as $30, may boost profits by hundreds of millions for benefit managers and have prompted at least 16 lawsuits since October. The legal cases as well dozens of receipts obtained by Bloomberg and interviews with more than a dozen pharmacists and industry consultants show the growing importance of the clawbacks.