- What’s Behind Walmart’s Pharmacy Profit Warning? (drugchannels.net)
Wal-Mart Stores surprised everyone by highlighting reduced profits from its pharmacy business. In corporate-speak, these were called "headwinds from pharmacy reimbursements" on its quarterly and annual earnings. Investors took note, especially since Walmart usually discloses nothing about its pharmacy business. Walmart didn’t provide many details about what caused the margin reduction, but I believe two factors played a key role:
- lower margins from newly insured consumers (compared with cash-pay consumers)
- Walmart’s aggressive participation in preferred networks
- Overlake CEO: Retail health clinics bring about a paradigm shift for hospitals (bizjournals.com)
..more and more, health care providers are teaming up with drugstores to provide care via in-store health clinics…trend based around convenience..shifts to focus more ..on the consumer, adapting means providing more services,..same-day access to a doctor, allowing people to interact with the health care system easily, and providing transparency...about the costs of procedures and quality of care.
- Brookshire Grocery brings FlavoRx to customers (drugstorenews.com)
Brookshire Grocery announced this week that it would be equipping its pharmacies with Fillmaster Plus dispensing technology…feature FlavoRx medication flavoring….using FillPure’s water purification system for all water used in antibiotics and powdered suspension,...The machines make pharmaceutical reconstitution and flavoring easy while reducing dispensing errors…
- Counseling Points for Patients on Oral Non-Insulin Diabetes Medication (pharmacytimes.com)
Jessica Kerr, PharmD, CDE, and assistant department chair at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville discusses counseling points for patients taking oral non-insulin diabetes medication (video)
- Clinical Inertia’s Effect on Diabetes Management (pharmacytimes.com)
Kristene Diggins, MBA, manager of professional practice at MinuteClinic, discusses what pharmacists should know about clinical inertia, and its effects on diabetes. (video)
- Walgreens Settles Pharmacist Consultations Lawsuit (pharmacytimes.com)
Walgreens will pay a $500,000 settlement concerning a civil complaint that the retail pharmacy giant was not compliant with California regulations related to pharmacist consultations… noncompliant with rules requiring pharmacists to perform consultations with patients receiving new prescriptions or new dosages…
- Walgreens partners with Providence Health & Services on clinic expansion (drugstorenews.com)
Washington and Oregon Walgreens locations will be getting new retail clinics through a new partnership with Providence Health and Services…The partnership will see three new Swedish Express Care and Providence Express Care clinics…Walgreens is harnessing Providence’s name recognition in the region to create a more coordinated care effort for retail clinics and move them beyond urgent care...
- 5 Most Lucrative Retail Pharmacies in Rx Revenues (pharmacytimes.com)
Prescription revenues provide insight on the power of top retail pharmacy businesses.If you’re curious to know how the retail pharmacy giants stack up against one another on prescription sales, here are the top 5 pharmacy chains based on 2014 figures:
- CVS Health $48 billion in Rx revenues, $88.4 billion in pharmacy services revenue
- Walgreens $49 billion
- Express Scripts $38 billion
- Walmart $18.8 billion
- Rite Aid $18 billion
- Walmart pledges $25M disaster relief commitment, will host preparedness events (drugstorenews.com)
As the 10th anniversary of Hurrican Katrina approaches, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation are making a commitment to disaster relief efforts… the two organizations would be donating $25 million over five years to worldwide disaster relief and recovery efforts… We will continue to help communities prepare for - and recover from - the unexpected…
- DSNTV: Menasha’s Paul Murphy talks solutions for improving care, front-end sales (drugstorenews.com)
Menasha has created a solution to educate pharmacists about front-of-store items that can not only provide better care for patients with chronic conditions and improve adherence, but also encourage basket-building among patients…Menasha’s Paul Murphy, senior director of retail sales and new business development,…bridge the merchandising strategy gap between pharmacists and front-of-store, which can help improve care. (video)