Chain Pharmacy

With dramatic demographic shifts under way in this country, pharmacies should tailor their marketing to multiethnic groups.

Lindora, which is recognized for its medically supervised weight management programs in Southern California, and Rite Aid have announced an agreement to open the first in-store healthcare clinics that will also offer medically supervised treatment for weight control.

CVS/pharmacy will offer flu vaccinations in 4,500 stores nationwide.

Walgreens and the Joslin Diabetes Center, a global leader in diabetes research, care, and education, have formed an alliance to improve health outcomes for Americans with diabetes.

Rite Aid pharmacists will lead teams of walkers this fall in the American Diabetes Association?s ?America?s Walk for Diabetes.? Rite Aid teams will participate in markets where the company is located to raise funds and help find a cure for diabetes.

In a trial to be held in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Ill., beginning Sept. 7, Walgreens is being sued for allegedly mislabeling and misfilling a prescription that led to the death of a patient,Leonard Kulisek. In the papers filed during the lawsuit, Walgreens admitted that a pharmacy manager negligently misfilled the prescription.

Yet more chains are adding in-store clinics. The latest to go this route is Medicine Shoppe International (MSI), which is hooking up with MindGent Healthcare Clinics to open Classic Care Clinics.

dLife, the multimedia education network for the diabetes community, has formed a partnership with Wal-Mart to help elevate awareness and improved care for people with diabetes. For six weeks this August, September, and October, dLife will be part of the Wal-Mart and SAM's CLUB Diabetes Aware & Care program occurring at more than 2,200 locations.

Walgreen stores in Detroit have decided not to accept the Midwest Health Plan. The decision follows a recent announcement by CVS stores in Detroit that they would no longer deal with the Midwest Health Plan, which administers Medicaid coverage for 55,000 beneficiaries, and M-Care, a University of Michigan managed care plan.

Walgreens has joined forces with the National Urban League (NUL) to launch the NUL/Walgreens Wellness Tour. The tour features a customized traveling education and health-screening vehicle, which will appear at select NUL affiliates in key urban markets as part of a 12-month national campaign.

CVS/pharmacy announced that its CVS Photo Center is offering consumers the option of on-line photo processing with one-hour, in-store pickup. Features of the photo center at www.cvsphotocenter.com include: free on-line storage and sharing options, editing techniques and color-correction options, images that can be uploaded from any Internet-connected computer, and personalized photo gifts.

Retailers who fail to comply with a new federal law on methamphetamine can be fined up to $25,000 and jailed for up to two years. Furthermore, if a state or local requirement conflicts with the federal requirement, retailers must comply with the most stringent version. So warned Kevin N. Nicholson, R.Ph., J.D., VP-pharmacy regulatory affairs, National Association of Chain Drug Stores, at the association's Marketplace Conference, held in San Diego recently.

Reflecting the economic consequences of a manpower shortage, the median total compensation of staff pharmacists is pushing six figures, according to the latest survey from Mercer Human Resource Consulting.

McKesson has unveiled a radically different pharmacy franchise model designed to strengthen its independent customers by giving them the clout of a mega-chain in the dog-eat-dog world of managed care.

Walgreens has launched an initiative to hire people with disabilities at its new distribution center in Anderson, S.C., and is recruiting through a new, specially designed Web site. Walgreensoutreach.com describes jobs available at the Walgreens distribution center and is designed to be accessible by people with sensory, physical, and cognitive disabilities.

CVS Corp. announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Minneapolis-based MinuteClinic, a provider of retail-based health clinics. MinuteClinic will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of CVS Corp.

Walgreens announced that it has agreed to acquire Pittsburgh-based Medmark Specialty Pharmacy Solutions. Medmark is a leader in specialty pharmacy services and care, including injectables, infusibles, and advanced oral medications to patients with unique or chronic medication needs for conditions such as hepatitis, multiple sclerosis, HIV, infertility, hemophilia, organ transplants, and cancer.

Walgreen Co. has acquired C&M Pharmacy, LLC, a 10-year-old Chicago-based specialty pharmacy. C&M Pharmacy serves patients with HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, and behavioral health conditions.

A letter from Walgreens' head of acquisitions asking whether Part D has them ready to sell out has outraged some independent pharmacy owners. They believe the chain's own pharmacy benefit manager is one reason they're being hurt financially by the Medicare drug benefit.

Five trends will improve drug compliance in the next five to 10years. They include e-prescriptions, electronic healthcare records,standard messaging, RFID, and pay for performance.

Walgreens is offering the following suggestions to help pharmacypatients in the event of a hurricane evacuation: evacuate to a safelocation and refill your medication at a pharmacy there; take awaterproof bag with your current medication, even if the bottle isempty-the information on the label will help the pharmacistrefill your medicine once you arrive at your destination; keep awritten record of your current prescriptions, dosage, and doctor'scontact information in your valuable papers file, especially if youare taking several Rx drugs. Walgreens patients can register atWalgreens.com and print out this information directly from theirpatient profile.

The Nevada pharmacy board unanimously approved regulations topermit residents to purchase drugs from Canadian mail-orderpharmacies. Board-approved Canadian pharmacies can fill and mailscripts for drugs that are approved by the FDA and Health Canadaand that are drawn from the pharmacy's on-site inventory system.

Erin Cutler, a Marion County woman who is already suing Walgreensafter allegedly finding demeaning comments attached to herprescriptions in the section reserved for patient information, hasadded a "failure-to-warn" count to the lawsuit. Cutler claims thata Walgreens pharmacy did not warn her that her bipolar medicationdecreases the effectiveness of her birth control.

Starting April 16, CVS customers began receiving Extra Bucksrewards from purchases they made in the first quarter of 2006.Extra Bucks are free money that cardholders can spend on almostanything in the front store.

Walgreens is offering one-on-one Medicare drug benefit assistanceevery Monday through Friday from 9 A.M. to 3 P.M. through May 15 at1,000 select locations. Pharmacy staff will explain how the newprogram works, provide information on different plans, and reviewthe factors that should be considered in order to make a goodselection.