When all things are equal — particularly, cost! — there is no doubt that satisfied pharmacy customers are fiercely loyal to their preferred stores. But like Cyndi Lauper once sang, "Money changes everything," particularly for the 32% of Patient Views respondents who said they would be willing to change pharmacies for a savings of $5 or less, according to an exclusive survey of nearly 800 patients conducted by AccentHealth and DSN in late July and early August.

The National Community Pharmacists Association and a number of independent pharmacy entities on Monday refiled its complaint against Express Scripts concerning its acquisition of Medco, demanding either Express Scripts be compelled to "unwind their merger" or alternatively be required to divest assets acquired from Medco.

With Walgreens back in the Express Scripts network again and all of those millions of patients suddenly up for grabs, today's Patient Views infographic is an important reminder of how difficult it can be to get pharmacy patients to switch — that is, assuming things like cost and access are equal. Overall, 73% of patients said they were very satisfied with the their preferred pharmacy, according to an exclusive survey of nearly 800 patients conducted by AccentHealth and DSN in late July and early August. Interestingly enough, grocery stores finished at the top of the curve.

Walgreens on Thursday reported August sales of $5.9 billion, a decrease of 4.5% as compared with the same month in fiscal 2011.

Man, you gotta love it when a plan comes together. In the past week, two stories broke that will help position Walgreens at the top of their A-game.

AmerisourceBergen on Tuesday announced that it has signed a three-year agreement to supply approximately $18.5 billion in pharmaceuticals to Express Scripts on an annual basis.

So Walgreens and Express Scripts have buried the hatchet. The question is, can the nation’s top pharmacy retailer regain the billions of dollars in contracted prescription revenues it ceded to its competitors after the two sides severed relations in January? And, given the way Walgreens has adjusted and reset its growth strategy since then, does it matter that much?

In light of Thursday’s news that Walgreens will re-enter Express Scripts' broadest network on Sept. 15, CVS Caremark stated that it now is better able to clarify what it believes will be the overall estimate of the impact from the impasse for the remainder of 2012.

Another quality regional drug chain is about to be a memory.

It’s been cited as one of the biggest health crises facing the United States and, if solved, the equivalent dollar value of a blockbuster drug. According to the latest statistics from pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts, poor medication adherence costs the country $317 billion per year, an upgrade from the $290 billion calculated in a study released in 2009 by the New England Healthcare Institute.


The days of Walgreens quarterly conference calls focusing primarily on lost prescriptions from the Express Scripts pharmacy network soon may be over with the retail pharmacy's announcement early Tuesday morning that Walgreens and the U.K. pharmacy operation Alliance Boots would merge.

Walgreens on Tuesday posted May sales of nearly $6 billion, a decrease of 1.6% as compared with the same month in fiscal year 2011.