- Study: Outdated technology holding back retailers (drugstorenews.com)
Yesterday’s POS won’t cut it when it comes to providing a consistent experience across channels… retailers are struggling to unify their online and in-store experiences, with existing technology/infrastructure preventing them from moving forward with new omnichannel solutions… 77% of the surveyed retailers believe their legacy point-of-sale is preventing them from providing a consistent customer experience across channels…retailers…face significant challenges getting new technologies rolled out to stores and in helping employees respond to informed, smartphone-enabled shoppers. Key findings include:
- store and the digital experience must be brought together for a continuous, seamless experience
- getting new technologies rolled out to stores is a top challenge
- inventory insight across all channels is important
- real-time visibility into customer activity across all channels is important
- “On the Cover” – Honoring exemplary community pharmacists – Drug Store News compiled in honor of National Pharmacist Month in October (drugstorenews.com)
- Walgreens’ Markes-Wilson: Extraordinary care for all
- CVS pharmacists show commitment to diversity
- Rite Aid’s Afilaka goes ‘above and beyond’
- Excelling in diabetes management, care
- Sam’s Club’s Cavan merges passion for people, pharmacy
- H-E-B’s Lehew, Stehling ‘do whatever it takes’
- Supporting communities through the pharmacy
- ‘Best Practice’ winners set mark for innovation
- Filling local health needs with compounding, infusion
- Topeka Pharmacy is community’s service center
- Meds to Beds Program Provides More Opportunities for Patient Counseling (pharmacytimes.com)
Mail, pizza, now medicine: Some health care systems are allowing patients to get their discharge medication delivered while they are still in the hospital… main focus was on patient education and medication counseling…the program allows for more quality time with patients to make sure their medications are safe and effective for them…"When we deliver medications to patients’ bedsides immediately prior to discharge, patients seem more willing to listen and learn about their medications than when they are at a retail pharmacy in the community,"
- Publix Makes $4M pledge to Habitat for Humanity (drugstorenews.com)
After a new donation pledge from Publix Super Markets Charities, Habitat for Humanity affiliates in the southeastern U.S. will be able to build 40 new houses in 2016. The $4 million donation,…will go to more than 80 different Habitat for Humanity affiliates… In addition to the...pledge, Publix will donate groceries for the homes sponsored by the donation, and Publix associates will invest in Habitat for Humanity for their 2016 Publix Serves community impact campaign.
- PTCB names Pharmacy Technician of the Year (drugstorenews.com)
Hortense Jones of Durham...2015 Pharmacy Technician of the Year…Jones works at Durham’s Lincoln Community Health Center as the pharmacy technician supervisor, where she oversees a team of 11 pharmacy technicians…"I am truly humbled by this honor, but this is about our pharmacy team more than me," Jones said. "My leadership philosophy is to find the strengths of each employee and build an essential role for them on the team that matches their assets. As a result, they become fully engaged in advancing patient safety."
- State Change Could Help Patients Get Pain Medications (miami.cbslocal.com)
..Florida Board of Pharmacy approved a rule change…aimed at training pharmacists to change their mindset about prescriptions for controlled substances, in a reaction that followed pleas from desperate patients unable to get pain medications…change switches the rule from a focus on reasons to reject prescriptions for highly addictive narcotics to an emphasis on ensuring that legitimate patients get the medications…"Instead of starting out with trying to find a reason to doubt a prescription, you start off with an assumption that everything in the prescription is good…rule also includes requiring pharmacists to take a two-hour, "Validation of Prescriptions for Controlled Substances" course to educate pharmacists about ensuring access to pain medications for "all patients with a valid prescription."
- CVS/pharmacy brings hearing, optical services in-store (drugstorenews.com)
CVS Health…announced that it is opening Hearing Centers in seven CVS/pharmacy stores in the Dallas and Cleveland markets and will be providing optical services at CVS/pharmacy in five store locations around the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. market…"Hearing and optical services are a great fit with the existing health offerings in our stores, including industry-leading pharmacy products and services, our MinuteClinic walk-in medical clinics and a comprehensive smoking cessation program,"… "By expanding our retail health offerings…we are providing customers a convenient, single destination on their path to better health."
- In the Field: Providing Convenient Patient Care Through Mass Merchandiser Pharmacies (pharmacytimes.com)
…mass merchandiser pharmacies offer opportunities to provide patient care that may not be available to those in hospitals or smaller retail pharmacies…gives you a huge patient population to tap into…you really have a great opportunity to impact the lives of those customers…This setting is ideal for pharmacists who truly enjoy interacting with patients and being a resource for health information…we can walk the grocery department with our diabetic patients and discuss the impact their diet has on their blood sugar…mass merchandiser provides a holistic approach to the practice of pharmacy and overall health care…Do not think of a career with a mass merchandiser as a production facility or assembly line meant to mass-produce prescriptions…Remember that each prescription is tied to a person, not a number or a process.
- Walmart plans ‘America’s biggest health fair’ (chaindrugreview.com)
…retail giant…will offer free blood glucose, blood pressure and vision screenings along with product samples and health insurance information at more than 4,400 stores nationwide on Oct. 10… "We expect to set record-breaking numbers during this single day because we will have hundreds of thousands of both screenings and immunizations,"…we believe that during this health fair more than 3,000 Americans will learn that they may have diabetes, and another 7,000 will find out that they have high blood pressure."…."This is a continuation of our commitment to helping our customers live healthier lives,"…"We have a long history of making health care more affordable and accessible…
- Rite Aid turns spotlight on pharmacy team (chaindrugreview.com)
To celebrate American Pharmacist Month, Rite Aid Corp. has launched its annual "Vote for Your Favorite Pharmacy Team Member Contest."…which runs to Oct. 31, gives customers a chance to win $2,500 in Rite Aid gift cards by nominating a favorite member of their Rite Aid pharmacy team...Now in its 12th year, the contest is designed to recognize Rite Aid pharmacy associates — including pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, pharmacy managers, pharmacy cashiers and Wellness Ambassadors