INSIGHTS AND PERSPECTIVES

SAN FRANCISCO — While pressure to grow will drive more large drug makers to pursue mergers and acquisitions, diminished resources and competition from biotech and specialty pharmaceutical companies will challenge their ability to do so, according to a new report.

WASHINGTON — Several retailers got top scores from a gay-rights organization for their efforts to prevent discrimination against and to include lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees.

The Human Rights Campaign released its 2013 Corporate Equality Index, which gives companies ratings of up to 100% based on their policies regarding LGBT employees and also released a buyer's guide for LGBT consumers.

The National Community Pharmacists Association last week noted that language in the "fiscal cliff" legislation that averted the worst of potential tax consequences for individuals nonetheless had a chance to negatively impact diabetics who buy their supplies from their local community pharmacy. 

After 20 years at the helm, Safeway CEO Steve Burd last week announced his retirement to spend more time with family and pursue interests in health care. He will be leaving behind a Safeway that's gaining market share with each passing quarter within a highly competitive sector. 

But he shouldn't go far. As a champion of health reform and consumer directed care, Burd will likely continue to be a pioneer in the healthcare space as companies begin to implement Obamacare in 2014.

BOSTON — People making New Year's resolutions, mostly centered around health, this year say they behave more responsibly than they did five years ago compared with those not making them, according to a new survey.

The online survey, by Liberty Mutual Insurance, included more than 1,700 adults, gauging how Americans define personal responsibility and how their perception of it varies with age, marital status, gender and whether they have children.

BLOOMFIELD, Conn. — Reaching out to discharged hospital patients by telephone could help reduce the chances they'll be readmitted in the future, according to a new study by a healthcare service company.

Rite Aid last week posted a third quarter profit of $61.9 million, marking the first time Rite Aid has been back in the quarterly black since June 2007. The quarterly report beat analyst expectations as the generic wave and retention of Express Scripts customers helped drive better-than-expected adjusted EBIDTA.

Walgreens executives last week were upbeat looking ahead to calendar 2013, identifying the company's growing base of Well Experience format stores, the expanding role retail pharmacy plays in the delivery of health care and the promise to be realized through creating a global pharmacy operator as the three primary reasons lifting their spirits.