Retail Clinics

DALLAS — Aspirinpod recently launched its Aspirinpod emergency aspirin container — a small heart-shaped container that can be carried on a key chain.

Aspirinpod is a reminder to have aspirin with you at all times in the event of a heart attack, noted company founder Patti Frenette.

The small container, which does not include the aspirin, is large enough for two 325-mg tablets or four 81-mg tablets. Suggested retail price is $2.99.

DENVER — State health authorities in Colorado are promoting immunization to parents through a broad media campaign.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and the Vaccine Advisory Committee of Colorado, a coalition of vaccination research and policy leaders, announced Thursday the “Immunize for Good” program, which they described as a way to communicate to parents vaccinating their children that they’re making the right decision and preventing serious illnesses.

LAS VEGAS — Walgreens’ increasing use of mobile technology platforms is transforming the way the company reaches patients and is expanding its ability to deliver health services via smart phones and other devices, a Walgreens official asserted Friday.

Speaking at the opening of the Consumer Electronics Show’s Digital Health Summit this morning, Walgreens chief medical officer Cheryl Pegus laid out the ways the health services and retail pharmacy giant is leveraging technology to make personal health management easier for patients.

NEW YORK — A study published in 1998 that led to a controversy over the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine was an “elaborate fraud,” according to a British medical journal.

CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa. — Take Care Health Systems, which is owned by Walgreens and currently operates more than 370 worksite clinics nationwide, has officially announced the opening of a new on-site medical center at Intel's Jones Farm Campus in Hillsboro, Ore.

WASHINGTON — The economic recession attributed to a mere 4% rise in healthcare spending, the slowest rate of growth in the 50-year history of the National Health Expenditure Accounts, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

That number translates to $2.5 trillion, or about $8,086 per person.

CMS added that, despite the slowdown, healthcare spending growth continued to outpace overall economic growth, which declined 1.7% in 2009, as measured by nominal Gross Domestic Product.

LAS VEGAS — A designer and manufacturer of digital personal healthcare products has launched a blood-pressure monitoring system for the Apple iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.

IHealth Lab's iHealth blood-pressure monitoring system lets users measure and track their blood pressure and heart rate.



Last month, the American Journal of Managed Care published a review of more than 40 years worth of studies from various medical journals that demonstrated that the best way to improve adherence is to get patients to talk to the store pharmacist; the second-best way is to get them to talk to a nurse before they leave the hospital.