Walgreens helping to transform retail pharmacy almost on a daily basis

Walgreens reached a 19.1% prescription market share for its fiscal year ended Aug. 31. But that wasn't the story to come out of the Chicagoland retailer's conference call. The story was how far along Walgreens has come in its pledge to transform pharmacy. 

Truth is, there isn't one aspect of the pharmacy business that hasn't been touched by Walgreens' focus on transformation. And with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act yet to come in 2014, Walgreens is far from done. See for yourself: click on DSN's Walgreens news feed — all Walgreens news, all the time — and you have one story after another about how Walgreens is helping to redefine what retail pharmacy means to employers, payers and most importantly, the patient, almost on a daily basis. 

Just earlier this week, Walgreens president, CEO and "chief roadblock remover" Greg Wasson joined Sona Chawla at the Shop.org Annual Summit 2013 to talk about how Walgreens has created a culture that embraces technology to the point that it permeates everything they do. During the hour-long presentation, Wasson shared that it was a discipline shared among the senior echelons of management to incorporate an e-retailing element into every facet of the chain's business. 

Also earlier this week, Walgreens partnered with GoHealth to provide a resource for those patients looking to explore the new health insurance marketplace. It's more than just a value add for those patients who patronize Walgreens' stores. Walgreens has become health-and-wellness resource-rich; with their teams of pharmacists, nurse practitioners and health guides, if Walgreens can't answer a health-and-wellness question, there very likely isn't an answer to be had. 

Walgreens' health-and-wellness reach even extends beyond the typical retail pharmacy and into specialty pharmacy. On Monday, Walgreens issued a report on the positive impact the company's infusion pharmacists can have on patient care. 

Walgreens is a company worth watching often, because if a conceivable health-and-wellness offering isn't being offered by the chain today, they're very likely to announce that new service tomorrow. And you can find all here at DrugStoreNews.com.