HEALTH

Want to weigh in on healthcare reform? What do you think it weighs, anyway—Congress’ Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act? Drug Store News printed out the 2,400-plus page document, and with no binder clips big enough nor a stapler aggressive enough to contain it, we have kept it in a 9 in.-by-12 in. box that is roughly 10 in. deep—the pages overflow by about an inch.

I spot it at about 25 lbs. or so.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT To borrow from the great Mark Twain, it would appear that the reports of the demise of retail clinic growth have been greatly exaggerated. Drug Store News has a two-word answer for why retail clinics will continue to grow for a very long time: health reform. And there are 32 million reasons why that growth will be quite dramatic.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT Taking medications is like doing household chores or getting called for jury duty: Everybody would prefer not to have to do it, but it’s still necessary. The consequences for noncompliance could be unpleasant or severe.

(THE NEWS: CVS Caremark: Medication adherence gets in way of social life, patients say. For the full story, click here)

CINCINNATI Kroger has appointed Kroger executive Michael Stoll to serve as CEO of The Little Clinic business.

Stoll brings 34 years of experience with Kroger in corporate benefits, human resources management and store operations to his new role. In his most recent position as VP corporate benefits, Stoll played a key role in developing the healthcare strategy and pension plans for Kroger’s 334,000 full- and part-time associates.