Retail Clinics

EAST HANOVER, N.J. — The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved Novartis Pharmaceuticals’ Amturnide (aliskiren, amlodipine and hydrochlorothiazide) tablets for the treatment of high blood pressure, according to the pharma company. 

Amturnide combines the only approved direct rennin inhibitor worldwide, Tekturna (aliskiren), with the widely used calcium channel blocker amlodipine and the diuretic hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ).

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.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The healthcare-reform bill promised to dramatically expand coverage for Americans, but healthcare consumer confidence hasn’t necessarily kept up, according to data released Monday by Thomson Reuters.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Caremark's MinuteClinic has entered into an agreement with the National Patient Safety Foundation to become the nation's first retail clinic provider to implement the Ask Me 3 health literacy program.

MinuteClinic will launch the program in early 2011 in its approximately 500 medical clinics located inside select CVS/pharmacy stores in 26 states and the District of Columbia.

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. — The Little Clinic has appointed Eileen Myers as director of prevention and health management. She will be responsible for leading the health-and-wellness initiatives and for overseeing the rollout of an expanded scope of services for the clinic operator.

WASHINGTON — According to a new report released Friday by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, a provision in the Affordable Care Act of 2010 that requires employers to provide nursing breaks and a private, sanitary place to express breast milk for most mothers employed on an hourly basis will drive breast-feeding rates up by 4% in the first six months. That translates into as many as 165,000 new moms breast-feeding each year, or more than 1 million new moms in six years, noted Robert Drago, director of research with IWPR.