WALGREENS

This month The Drug Store News Group introduced “From the Blogs,” a hot, new content feature on DrugStoreNews.com. Meant to provide an interactive forum for DrugStoreNews.com users, DSN From the Blogs will be anchored by expert blogs written by leading opinion leaders.


WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — If you want to change any kind of misguided perception that pharmacists are mere pill-counters and quality assurance specialists who stand behind a counter with a team of pharmacy technicians, then you've got to do something dramatic. Placing the pharmacist front and center in an "information booth" armed with a technophile-friendly iPad who is proactively interacting with patients — that's dramatic.

DECATUR, Ga. — DeKalb Medical has teamed up with Walgreens pharmacists to help patients understand and comply with medication therapies following treatment at the hospital — a collaborative relationship, which already has in just its first three months of existence, improved patient care and satisfaction, DeKalb reported Thursday.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens on Thursday reported that prescriptions filled at comparable stores for the month of October increased 2.5%.

PORTLAND, Ore. — Consumer Cellular, the exclusive wireless provider for AARP members, on Tuesday announced a distribution agreement for its line of contract-free cellular phones and plans at 826 Walgreens locations throughout Florida.

The line of phones includes a Motorola WX345, which features a digital camera, MP3 player and FM radio for $34.99 and the Doro PhoneEasy 410, which features an easy-to-read color display, large buttons, backlit keypad, vibrating ringer and Bluetooth technology for $59.99.

BOSTON — Employee wellness experts from Babcock & Wilcox, Caesars Entertainment and others spoke to the synergies that such a company as Walgreens' Take Care Health Systems can create across their health management strategies during a panel discussion here last week at the National Conference on Health, Productivity and Human Capital hosted by the National Business Group on Health.

Representing businesses that collectively employ more than 120,000 workers, the panelists discussed a number of emerging themes in employer-sponsored health care, including:

ROCKVILLE, Md. — Catalyst Rx, the pharmacy benefits management subsidiary of Catalyst Health Solutions, on Friday took out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal touting the value of a Walgreens pharmacy to a large healthcare payer. Catalyst also released a case study touting that value, according to a DrugChannels.net report.

NEW YORK — New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and health commissioner Thomas Farley received their seasonal flu vaccine on Saturday at a Duane Reade pharmacy in the Bronx, demonstrating the importance of taking steps to prevent the spread of the virus.

“Every year, New Yorkers lose their lives to the flu, and a flu shot is the single most important protection against getting sick and spreading the flu to others,” Bloomberg said. “I urge everyone to go to their doctor, local health clinic or pharmacy and get a flu shot as soon as they can.”