Long anticipated and much discussed, a new era in community pharmacy is finally unfolding. Spearheaded by a small group of visionaries, traditional brick-and-mortar pharmacies have started to evolve into community-based health care centers, even as e-commerce companies try to shift the profession’s primary point of contact with patients from the physical to the digital realm.
This space in the last issue of Chain Drug Review was devoted to the alarming results of a survey conducted by the National Community Pharmacists Association that show 58% of independent drug store owners think it is either somewhat or very likely that continued downward pressure on pharmacy reimbursements, particularly DIR fees, will force them
The nation’s independent pharmacies are under severe stress and, unless the economic conditions in which they operate change dramatically, many of them could begin to disappear from the scene. That sobering conclusion stems from a new report by the National Community Pharmacists Association, which not only sounds the alarm about the uncertain prospects for that
Anyone who had doubts about the depth of Walmart’s commitment to playing a bigger part in the nation’s health care system received a needed corrective in recent weeks as the company unveiled a series of initiatives designed to strengthen its impact in a sector that accounts for almost 20% of the U.S. economy. Following up
Chain drug store operators and other mass market retailers are confronted with a long list of complex issues today that bear not only on the success of their businesses but on the well-being of their customers and the communities they serve. In addition to the central retail questions about what products and services to offer,
When Sam Walton opened the first Walmart store in Rogers, Ark., in 1962, he set in motion an enterprise that fundamentally transformed the way Americans shop, giving them convenient access to high-quality consumer products at the lowest possible price. Now, 57 years later, the company has embarked on a pilot test to apply the principles
DALLAS, Ga. — When Sam Walton opened the first Walmart store in Rogers, Ark., in 1962, he set in motion an enterprise that fundamentally transformed the way Americans shop, giving them convenient access to high-quality consumer products at the lowest possible price. Now, 57 years later, the company has embarked on a pilot test to
TORONTO — Shoppers Drug Mart is innovating across its business to protect the balanced sales equation that makes it the envy of its counterparts in the U.S. Like American drug chains, SDM is known for pharmacy and an expanding array of health care services, but it is also a leader in beauty in Canada and
Five years ago next month, CVS Health stopped selling cigarettes and other tobacco products. The move — a bold departure for a pharmacy chain in this country, one that sadly has yet to be matched by any of the company’s peers — was intended to discourage smokers from indulging in a habit that is clearly
As stakeholders in chain pharmacy gather this month for the National Association of Chain Drug Stores’ Total Store Expo in Boston, the industry confronts a host of important issues — legal proceedings in which it is asserted that retailers and drug wholesalers bear at least some responsibility for the ongoing opioid epidemic; the emergence of
WASHINGTON — With the Senate Finance Committee expected to begin making decisions on spending bills as early as today, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores has launched a telephone hotline — (866) DIR-RE4M — that pharmacy advocates can use to urge the inclusion of DIR fee relief in drug-pricing legislation. An NACDS RxImpact grassroots
Even as a misguided federal judge continues to review its merger with Aetna — a deal that was finalized last November — CVS Health is moving forward expeditiously to overhaul the health care delivery model. President and chief executive officer Larry Merlo and seven of his colleagues from the combined company’s management team recently laid
IRVING, Texas — A week before he succeeded John Hammergren as chief executive officer of McKesson Corp., Brian Tyler wrote on the company’s website that he was getting ready for the job of a lifetime. Tyler might have added that, in light of the serious problems that continue to plague the health care system in
The community pharmacy profession was blindsided by the Trump administration last month when the Department of Health and Human Services issued the final rule that will govern the Medicare Part D and Medicare Advantage programs in 2020. In a radical departure from the proposed rule released earlier in the year, the eventual regulation offered no