Intense focus on the COVID-19 pandemic and its pervasive impact on life in this country should not be allowed to obscure what at any other time would be seen as one of the year’s most important developments in the retail pharmacy sector. Rite Aid’s new management team, headed by president and chief executive officer Heyward
A new report on the cost of dispensing prescription medications brings into sharp focus the difficult economic challenges faced by retail pharmacy operators. It should come as no surprise that the study — conducted by Abt Associates and the MPI Group for the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, the National Community Pharmacists Association and
If Karl Marx was right when he asserted that, above all else, economic factors determine the course of history, there may finally be some real hope that the issue of climate change will be addressed with the seriousness it requires. Business and financial leaders are stepping up to the challenge, giving every indication that the
CALHOUN, Ga. — Walmart is on a mission to improve the accessibility and affordability of health care in this country. A walk through the second Walmart Health center, which opened in this rural community in northwest Georgia at the end of January, makes the breadth of its commitment clear, but the scope of Walmart’s ambition
DEERFIELD, Ill. — Richard Ashworth has been named president of the Walgreens drug chain, the largest component of Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA). In his new role, Ashworth, a 28-year Walgreens veteran, succeeds Alex Gourlay, who remains WBA’s co-chief operating officer and continues to oversee the Walgreens and Boots businesses. Ashworth will be responsible for developing
The National Association of Chain Drug Stores has opened a new front in the battle to maximize the impact of pharmacy care on the well-being of patients and the efficient operation of the health care system. In an extensive set of comments sent to Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General by
DEERFIELD, Ill. — During its 119-year history, a spirit of innovation has always been a part of Walgreens’ DNA — from the introduction of child-resistant prescription containers to the first drive-through pharmacy. Since the retailer merged with Alliance Boots in 2014, the evaluation and deployment of new ideas has accelerated even further, and the combined
The new year will be a time of testing for drug stores, as a confluence of forces call into question their function in the marketplace and long-term viability. At the same time that the economics of health care continue to weigh heavily on pharmacy margins, drug store operators must learn how to compete more effectively
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
