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NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – The statistics are sobering. Nearly 30 million Americans have diabetes, with an estimated 86 million more with pre-diabetes, resulting in $322 Billion annually in medical costs.
 
Johnson & Johnson has been a leader in diabetes management and treatment for years, providing medication and devices to support the needs of the diabetes patient and their caregivers. 

As expectations from regulators, patients and payers change, community pharmacists are forced to be adaptive. Rolling with the changes can be difficult to do alone, but one division of Cardinal Health is working to adapt to customer needs as they are trying to navigate the changing healthcare landscape.

By 2025, it’s expected that 2-in-3 pharmacists will be women, but that ratio doesn’t carry into the realm of pharmacy ownership. That is why Cardinal Health Women in Pharmacy has taken up the task of turning more female pharmacists into pharmacy owners, and at Cardinal Health RBC 2016, there were various events and educational offerings for attendees to help women through the process of owning a pharmacy.

Cardinal Health RBC 2016 in Chicago, held July 20 to 23, included speaker Michael J. Fox, entertainment from the Blues Brothers, magicians and music at the Customer Appreciaiton Night at the Museum of Science and Industry, both a legislative and caregiver customer panel, game-show entertainment, artist, author and speaker Erik Wahl, and of course continuing education sessions, the tradeshow floor and Camp Cardinal Health.

Photos courtesy Alabastro Photography.

One-out-of-every-6 pharmaceutical products dispensed to U.S. patients travels through the Cardinal Health network. Through the company’s Pharmaceutical Distribution supply chain, Cardinal Health consolidates product orders from hundreds of manufacturers into pharmacy-specific deliveries for 33,000 retail, hospital and alternate-site locations.

Not resting on its laurels, the Cardinal Health distribution supply chain continues to focus on efforts to protect the supply chain and manage drug shortages.

Given that 51% of prescriptions in the average pharmacy are for Medicare or Medicaid beneficiaries, independent pharmacists know just how the business of pharmacy and public policy are inextricably linked. And at Cardinal Health RBC 2016, the ways pharmacists can have an impact on the legislative process were front and center.

Before the Blues Brothers took the stage Friday night, July 22 at Cardinal Health RBC 2016, attendees celebrated one of their peers — the winner of the 2016 Ken Wurster Community Leadership Award. Cardinal Health honored Ed Christofano, owner of Hayden’s Pharmacy in Youngwood, Pennsylvania with the award, which recognizes an independent pharmacist with an outstanding commitment to promoting the principles of community pharmacy.

Dave Yost and Sarah McClain have community pharmacy in their blood. Their grandfather opened Yost Pharmacy — which they now own and operate — on Main Street in Mason, Ohio, in 1945. In the ensuing 71 years, the pharmacy has become a pillar of the community in ways that go beyond the doors of the pharmacy. Drug Store News spoke with Yost and McClain about their family’s dedication to community pharmacy and how they protect Yost Pharmacy’s legacy while meeting patient needs in the 21st century.