Retail Clinics

ALEXANDRIA, Va. The National Association of Chain Drug Stores is moving quickly to establish a working relationship with newly installed Medicare and Medicaid chief Donald Berwick.

NACDS on Wednesday sent a letter to Berwick, who was tapped by President Obama to serve as the new administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. NACDS president and CEO Steve Anderson urged continued collaboration with CMS on issues related to pharmacy that he said are vital to quality health care and cost reduction.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. In a new plea to Congress, the chain pharmacy industry renewed its support for the rapid nationwide adoption of health information technology as a major tool in the nation’s drive to improve patient compliance with medication therapy.

MILWAUKEE Carma Labs, the maker of Carmex lip balm products, is expanding beyond lip balm for the first time with the launch of its new skin care product line: Carmex healing lotion and Carmex healing cream.

Carmex skin care products will be available exclusively at all Walgreens locations in the United States and Walgreens.com beginning in August, and through Drugstore.com beginning in September.

WASHINGTON More than 300 medications for treating mental disorders are in development, according to a new report by a pharmaceutical industry lobbying group.

SILVER SPRING, Md. Some stolen inhalers for patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease have turned up in pharmacies, the Food and Drug Administration warned Friday.

Two lots of GlaxoSmithKline’s Advair Diskus (fluticasone propionate and salmeterol) were stolen from a warehouse near Richmond, Va., last August, with lot numbers 9ZP2255 – NDC 0173-0696-00 and 9ZP3325 – NDC 0173-0697-00. The inhalers recently found were the first from the stolen lots to turn up in commerce, the FDA said.

NEW RICHMOND, Wis. Stillwater Medical Group opened here earlier this month its second retail clinic inside a Walmart store.

The newest clinic at Walmart opened its doors on July 8 and marks its second clinic location. The first location opened in December 2009 at the Walmart in Oak Park Heights, Minn.

NEW YORK Nurses Improving Care for Healthsystem Elders on Monday announced its partnership with the AARP Foundation and the American Journal of Nursing in a recently launched project to help health professionals work more effectively with family caregivers.

Funded by a grant from the Jacob & Valeria Langeloth Foundation, the new effort will create educational materials and toolkits to help nurses and social workers provide more effective support for family caregivers.

NEW YORK Women with Type 1 diabetes may not necessarily reduce their risk of heart disease if they consume omega-3 fatty acids, according to a University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health study.