Category Archives: Pharmacy

Pembroke Pines residents stood in line in the rain this morning while they waited for the new Navarro Discount Pharmacy store to open in the Westfork Plaza. The new 16,000-square-foot store, located at 15825 Pines Blvd., is the companys first location to open in Broward County since the closure of a previous store more than three years ago. They have products that Walgreens and CVS doesnt have, said Migdalia Prater, a longtime Navarro Discount Pharmacy shopper. Opening a store here was the best idea. Prater said she would drive nearly a half hour south to Hialeah to shop at the Navarro store there once the former Pembroke Pines store closed. They have the best Spanish products that no one else has, she said. And the prices are always good. Each store sells pharmacy supplies, personal care and household products, limited grocery selections, some electronics and has a fragrance counter. Navarro Discount Pharmacy stores also offer photo processing services and sell cell phones from a select few major service providers. The pharmacy also sells its own private label brand called Vida Mia inside the Pembroke Pines store. Vida Mia product information is listed in English and Spanish on labels. View post: … Continue reading →

Recently, CVS Caremark (NYSE:CVS - News) along with Harvard University and Brigham and Women's Hospital, conducted an extensive research on health policy and came up with some new ways to save more money while being treated. Through the study, they pointed out the importance of a single pharmacy home for pharmacy customers. According to the research data, patients using a single pharmacy are more likely to connect with their own pharmacists on a regular basis. The researchers consider this twice as effective as taking prescribed medications and this will automatically reduce health care costs by thousands of dollars annually. This is more applicable to patients aging over 65 years who take two to three times more prescription medications than others. Around 10,000 people per day are expected to enter into the 65 years age group in the U.S. in the next 8 years. As a result, down the line, this pharmacy home concept of CVS is expected to gain more importance. CVS is gradually gearing up its performance in the field of Pharmacy Services. After a sluggish phase in fiscal 2010, the company exhibited improved performance in this segment throughout 2011 and has started off the 2012 selling season on … Continue reading →

By Chito O. Aragon A drugstore agent, also known as a canvasser, was shot dead by a lone assailant near the gate of the Vicente Sotto Medical Center (VSMMC) on B. Rodriguez Street, Cebu City. Louie Labitad, 26, alias Lupin, died of two gunshot wounds in the head and chest. A retired police official and a woman were wounded after they were hit by stray bullets. Labitad, a resident of sitio Kawayan, barangay Sambag Dos, was a nephew of slain illegal drug suspect Crisistomo Llaguno. Llaguno was gunned down in a campaign sortie in 2010. Police said three angles are being looked into as possible motives for the killing. Senior Insp. Jul Mohamad Jamiri, chief of the homicide section of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), said investigators are checking if the killing was drug-related or the victims previous theft and robbery cases had something to do with the attack. He had a lot of cases at the Theft and Robbery Section, said Jamiri in Cebuano. Jamiri said Labitad was jailed previously due to his involvement in petty crimes. Police said it was also possible that the killing had something to do with the mans being a canvasser. Police said … Continue reading →

TONASKET A Tonasket pharmacy technician has lost her certification after taking 2,000 oxycodone pills from a Tonasket pharmacy in 2010, the state Department of Health announced Friday. Kelly J. Anderson, 24, had her credential to practice as a pharmacy technician suspended indefinitely in January when she didnt respond to a state Pharmacy Boards charges that she took the pills from Roys Pharmacy, where she had worked since 2007, the Pharmacy Boards Jan. 27 order states. According to the charges: A pharmacist at Roys noticed in June 2010 that a bottle of oxycodone was missing, and confronted Anderson. She admitted that she took the pills for herself, and for a cousin and boyfriend. She returned four bottles of the drugs that were in her purse. An inventory later determined that 20 bottles, each with 100 pills of oxycodone ranging in strength from 5 to 30 milligrams, were missing. The incident was reported to police, but after the pharmacy fired her, they opted not to pursue criminal charges, said Tonasket Police Chief Robert Burks. Its not unusual for this kind of case to go without a criminal charge, said state Department of Health spokeswoman Kate Lynch. It may be that the board … Continue reading →

By Jon Kamp and David Benoit There has been some chatter lately that Cigna could potentially unload its pharmacy-benefit manager business, a move Cigna considered in 2009. Speaking at Cowen health-care conference,CEO David Cordani doesnt definitively say one way or the other, but he does say Cigna will remain open to structural alternatives that maximize shareholder value so long as they continue to enable me to deliver our promise to ourclients and customers. At the same time, he says this is an important business that is well performing based on a variety of measures. In 2009, there was a rash of consolidation discussions in the pharmacy-benefit manager business including Express Scriptss $4.68 billion deal for health-insurer WellPoints in-house pharmacy-benefit manager operations. Medco Health, Aetna and Cigna all talked up expectations. Aetna would eventually sign a contract to outsource its operations to CVS Caremark, but Cigna said it was sticking with its business. Flash forward to 2012 and the industry is again abuzz with consolidation talk as Express Scripts is waiting on regulatory approval for its nearly $30 billion deal for rival Medco Health. As Cigna closed its deal for medicare insurance company HealthSpring, which outsources its own pharmacy-benefits operations to … Continue reading →

SAN DIEGO, March 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --CareFusion today announced an agreement to acquire PHACTS, LLC, a Seattle-based technology and consulting company that helps hospital pharmacies better manage inventory, reduce pharmaceutical costs and streamline operations. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition will advance CareFusion's strategy to offer hospitals safe and efficient systems to manage medication throughout their facilities from the loading dock to the patient bedside and through to waste segregation. By adding PHACTS to the company's core Pyxis dispensing technologies portfolio, CareFusion will be able to provide health systems better visibility into drug inventories, helping to reduce on-hand inventory, streamline staff workflow, manage drug shortages and improve financial performance. In November 2010, CareFusion announced a global marketing relationship as the exclusive reseller of PHACTS pharmacy inventory management software and automation. Through this partnership, PHACTS expanded its base of customers by 50 percent to more than 200 customers. "With the addition of PHACTS market-leading products to our portfolio, CareFusion is better positioned to help hospitals realize significant savings, including a reduction in medication inventory on-hand levels by up to 40 percent," said Tom Leonard, president of Medical Systems at CareFusion. "The acquisition will enable us to more directly … Continue reading →

Any week now, the Federal Trade Commission is expected to rule on the proposed merger between Medco Health Services and Express Scripts. Pills Trouble is, outside of Wall Street and the drug industry, theres little interest in the deal. Thats because by its very nature, the arcane world of pharmacy benefit managers isnt exactly the thing of dinner table conversation. Yet what they do is. Theyre the middleman between you, your drug store and your insurer. They control the cost of what you pay for drugs and which drug stores you should use. And based on deals they strike with drug companies, they even try to influence what drugs you takein some cases refusing to fill the script recommended by your doctor. "Since when is less competition ever good for all but investors? Id go so far as to say theyre the key player in what some might argue is one-step removed from a legal drug cartel. Few markets are as concentrated, opaque and complex and subject to rampant anticompetitive and deceptive conduct such as the PBM market, is the way industry critic David Balto, a former FTC lawyer, put it in testimony before the Department of Labor in 2010 … Continue reading →

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- At the IMS Managed Markets Services/Data Niche Conference in Las Vegas on March 1, Walgreens National Medical Director Robert London, M.D., outlined how Walgreens research has demonstrated the ability of face-to-face pharmacy and Take Care ClinicSM programs to drive better health outcomes across a number of conditions and disease states. Dr. London also highlighted the benefits of these types of programs for the Medicaid population in particular. In his presentation titled, Leveraging a New Delivery Paradigm to Improve Quality in the Medicaid Population, Dr. London discussed why traditional disease management efforts have shown to be lacking. He then highlighted the advantages that the new offerings provided by Walgreens have shown, including: The power of pharmacist and nurse practitioner-led, face-to-face programs is clearly demonstrated, said Dr. London. Whether delivered through a community pharmacy, retail clinic or worksite health center, these interactions allow for an individualized approach to disease management while meaningfully improving health outcomes. The Medicaid population in particular stands to benefit from these types of outcomes-driven, face-to-face programs. With a huge expansion in the Medicaid eligible population looming, cost control becomes even more important. It will be vital to find solutions such as those offered by Walgreens … Continue reading →

LAS VEGAS -- A Las Vegas pharmacy that has been around for decades is closing its doors. White Cross Drugs on Las Vegas Boulevard can no longer stay in business after it's supplier cut them off from ordering prescription drugs. White Cross has been at the same location for 60 years. It has served locals, tourists, and even the stars performing on the Las Vegas Strip. It was also the first 24-hour pharmacy in the valley. On Tuesday at 7 p.m., the pharmacy will be no longer. For store employees and customers, the sudden news is something of a shock. "It's a family. You come in and they know who you are. It's not a Walgreens, its not a CVS, not a Rite Aid, it's a neighborhood pharmacy," said George Goodman who has been a customer for more than 30 years. He's had knee replacement surgery, throat cancer, and others illnesses. His story is just one of many since the pharmacy opened in 1960. "We use to service Elvis, the Rat Pack, everybody came here, the showgirls," said White Cross Drugs owner Marcie Davis. She has worked at the pharmacy for 21 years. Eight years ago, she bought the pharmacy, … Continue reading →

By Andrew Dillard - March 5, 2012 | Tickers: CVS, ESRX, MHS | 0 Comments Andrew is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network -- entries represent the personal opinions of our bloggers and are not formally edited. This morning I was reading a colorful article by CNBCs Senior Stock Commentator Herb Greenberg about the problems with the pharmacy benefit management industry. In his article Herb egregiously attacks PBMs such as Express Scripts (NASDAQ: ESRX), Medco (NYSE: MHS) and CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS) arguing that PBMs are one step removed from a legal drug cartel and the inner-workings of PBMs and the mechanics of the deals they strike with drug companies are simply too complicated. The primary goal of this article I believe is to protest the pending merger between Express Scripts and Medco, because as Mr. Greenberg puts it, Since when is less competition ever good for all but investors? However, the half-hearted attempt at writing a unbiased article has clouded the point Mr. Greenberg is making and unfairly painted PBMs as an evil industry. Mr. Greenberg could not be farther from the truth, and heres why. In the article, Mr. Greenberg over-simplifies the role that PBMs play … Continue reading →