INSIGHTS AND PERSPECTIVES

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — Pharmacists at a retail pharmacy are the most influential healthcare "voice" in getting patients to take their medications as prescribed, followed by nurses talking with patients as they are discharged from a hospital, according to research sponsored by CVS Caremark.

MADISON, N.J. — Nearly one-third of pregnant women are not being screened by a laboratory test for gestational diabetes mellitus (gestational diabetes), according to a study of more than 900,000 American women published online Tuesday on the Obstetrics and Gynecology site.

WASHINGTON — The Council for Responsible Nutrition on Monday announced plans for a joint education effort with the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners and the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Foundation to help raise the level of awareness within the supplement industry and with consumers about the valuable role of nurse practitioners in the quest for good health.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT — Rite Aid is a glass-half-full/glass-half-empty kind of company. If your glass is half full, you’re looking at the sequential improvements in pharmacy margins and front-end comps, and the excitement around the chain’s still-new Wellness+ loyalty program. If your glass is half empty, you’re making note of the seven straight quarters of script declines and the fact that Rite Aid had to lower sales projections … again. Our glass is half full.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — Patent settlements between branded and generic drug companies, sometimes called “pay-for-delay” deals, aren’t going away any time soon.

(THE NEWS: Report: Banning 'pay for delay' settlements likely won't happen. For the full story, click here)

WASHINGTON — More than 6% of women who gave birth in hospitals in the United States in 2008 had diabetes or developed gestational diabetes during pregnancy, according to a new analysis by the federal government's Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

NEW YORK — Community-based healthcare models, and the nurse practitioners who work within them, are particularly helpful in assisting diabetes patients with such underlying health conditions as depression, according to a recent study published on Nurse.com.

NEW YORK — A link may exist between diabetes and the use of inhaled corticosteroids to treat asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to published reports.

HealthDay News reported that researchers analyzed data on 380,000 patients in Quebec, finding a 34% increase in the rate of new diagnoses of diabetes and progression of the disease among those who used inhalers, with greater risk among those using higher doses.