Retail Clinics

NEW YORK — Retail-based health clinics continue to grow and likely will become a durable part of the healthcare system, according to a report by independent healthcare market research firm Kalorama Information.

The firm estimated retail clinic sales at $733.4 million, an increase of 81% per year since 2005, in its latest report, "Retail Clinics 2011: Market Assessment, Supplier Sales, Key Players and Trends."

NEW YORK — Many U.S. voters are in favor of expanding the use of nurse practitioners for routine medical care, and most believe that the quality of health care would improve if routine care was handled by nurse practitioners and doctors were able to focus more on challenging healthcare issues, according to the findings of a recent survey.

According to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of 1,000 adults, 67% of likely U.S. voters favored training and licensing nurse practitioners to expand the level of routine care they provide.


ORLANDO, Fla. — Studies have indicated that the best people to get patients to adhere to their medication therapies are store pharmacists, while the second-best people are nurses. Thus, it’s only natural that getting nurses and pharmacists to collaborate will further improve adherence. The collaborative care track that The Drug Store News Group will introduce at the Retail Clinician Education Congress in August is a step in that direction.


SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first vaccine for preventing meningococcal disease in children as young as 9 months old, the agency said.

The FDA announced the approval of Menactra, made by Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines arm of French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis. Meningococcal disease is a life-threatening illness caused by Neisseria meningitidis bacteria that infect the bloodstream and the lining surrounding the brain and spinal cord.

With a new leader at the helm, a robust management team in place and an unwavering focus on driving medication adherence and reducing healthcare costs, CVS Caremark remains squarely on the growth path and continues to play an increasingly important role in U.S. health care with its far-reaching store network and arsenal of products and services.


“After all, we’re from around here, too.” That message, delivered to millions of Texas consumers via the pharmacy page on H-E-B’s heavily scanned website, lies at the heart of the San Antonio-based supermarket chain’s seemingly unshakeable grip on both customers and patients in the Lone Star State. The H.E. Butt Grocery Co. maintains high marks for customer loyalty, innovative patient care services, a quality shopping experience and plenty of healthy choices in its food aisles.


HOUSTON — RediClinic, which operates 29 clinics inside H-E-B grocery stores in Houston, Austin and San Antonio, is launching in May the new Weigh Forward medically supervised weight-loss program.

Weigh Forward, which was developed in partnership with weight-loss expert David Katz, will be available starting May 16 at all 29 RediClinic locations.


In response to the news last month that Rite Aid named Tony Montini EVP merchandising, DSN shared this exchange with an online reader:


Dear DSN;


I am a Rite Aid pharmacist in the small desert town of Needles, Calif. Needles is a poor town with a lot of our business being Medi-Cal — state Medicaid. ... This is the rub: There are no Medi-Cal providers in the city! Most people have to go to the emergency room, or those with Medicare D plans [travel] 20 miles across the Colorado River to Arizona. ...