It's probably no surprise that for the 9-of-10 patients who say they have a preferred pharmacy that the pharmacist is a very important factor in choosing one pharmacy over another (37% overall), according to an exclusive survey of nearly 800 patients conducted by AccentHealth and DSN in late July and early August. It should be even less surprising that this number was even higher among patients who listed the local independent as their preferred pharmacy (54%).

Although fully one-third of patients use multiple pharmacies to fill their prescriptions, 9-of-10 say they actually do have a preferred pharmacy, according to an exclusive survey of nearly 800 patients, conducted by AccentHealth and DSN in late July and early August.

Can you feel that? 
It’s the seismic shift that currently is occurring in health care in this country. And really, it’s just a tremor. The intense stuff isn’t expected to hit until 2014.


One-third of pharmacy customers say they use multiple pharmacies to fill their prescription needs — and that sets up multiple opportunities to foul up patient adherence and negatively impact patient outcomes.

“It’s actually an illusion that those boxers are separate entities. The separate entities are just the way we choose to perceive them. The boxers, you, me — we’re all part of the same quantum field. Think of the two boxers as ocean waves or currents of air — two tornadoes, say. They appear to be two separate things, but they’re not. Tornadoes are just wind. The wind stirred up in different directions. The fact is nothing is separate. Everything is connected. The shapes we see exist only in our own consciousness.”

The Council for Responsible Nutrition on Tuesday announced it will join the new professional networking website Generation NP, an online community that enables its users to have easy access to information most relevant to nurse practitioners.

The Drug Store News Group on Sunday co-hosted a breakfast with CVS Caremark. Larry Merlo, CVS Caremark president and CEO, shared with attendees CVS’ focus on leveraging personalization opportunities, through both marketing and assortment, to engender loyalty. And suppliers were introduced to new CVS/pharmacy president Mark Cosby and chief merchant Judy Sansone.

“How does that help me sell more cases, pallets and truckloads?” That’s a question I have been asked repeatedly, particularly as the world of retail pharmacy has evolved to play a larger role in health care. With that, the business that we cover in Drug Store News has become incredibly more complicated.


Hamacher Resource Group will be participating in The Drug Store News Group's Diabetes Leadership Forum, part of the Industry Issues conference, to be held Nov. 29 at the New York Athletic Club.

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.


I’m not going to lie about it. The first thing I thought as I checked into the U.S. Capitol on official business for the story that appears at the bottom of this page was: “Wow, this is pretty cool.”


It is with great sadness that Drug Store News reports the unexpected passing of ECRM CEO and founder Charlie Bowlus, who has died from complications following emergency surgery three weeks ago.