drugs

Pharmacist Controversy Holds Big Retail Lessons: Opinion Brief

Many supermarket operators are big proponents of the role pharmacists play in stores. So it’s surprising that a contentious debate is now raging about how much value retail pharmacists bring.

Late last month the National Association of Chain Drug Stores blasted the CEO of pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts, George Paz,  for “comments that disparage pharmacists.”

In a conference call with analysts, Paz had remarked about the end of a contract with Walgreens, which had filled Express Scripts prescriptions, according to an AP story. “At the end of the day … Nexium is Nexium, Lipitor is Lipitor, drugs are drugs, and it shouldn’t matter that much who’s counting to 30,” Paz said.

NACDS responded in a press release that pharmacists would be outraged “at any incorrect and derogatory suggestion that they merely count pills.” The association said Paz’s statement evokes remarks last fall by David Snow, CEO of Medco, another PBM, who, according to trade press reports, dismissed the notion that retail pharmacists engage with customers and contended that Medco’s “robots” are “23 times more accurate” than human pharmacists.

It’s amazing this topic is being raised at all given the positive impact pharmacists are having in stores. Consider that Meijer has placed a diabetes care pharmacist in every store. Consider that Piggly Wiggly South Carolina has featured grocery items at the pharmacy counter with signage encouraging shoppers to discuss health benefits with pharmacists.

A crucial factor fueling this debate is the proposed merger of Medco and Express Scripts, a deal that would create a giant PBM. This combination is opposed by NACDS and organizations including Food Marketing Institute. FMI has contended the merger would destroy competition.

Let’s put aside the merger topic for now and recognize pharmacists are playing an important supermarket role.

But this isn’t just about pharmacists. Supermarkets should further enhance and promote a wide range of in-store roles — everything from dietitian to produce clerk — to improve service and make it harder for anyone to question the value of the in-store experience.

If customers view these and other roles favorably, it will be more challenging for anyone — from a pure-play online retailer to a nontraditional food retailer — to downgrade the supermarket experience in making a competitive pitch.

That’s a prescription worth trying because it goes to the heart of defending the viability of supermarkets in a shifting landscape.

via Pharmacist Controversy Holds Big Retail Lessons | Viewpoints.

Judge: DEA Can Suspend Drug Sales at CVS Stores

There’s no doubt that there is a prescription drug abuse problem in the U.S. today. Some pharmacies post signs in stores telling addicts and likely armed robbers that painkillers such as oxycodone are not kept on the premises.

There are, however, a small percentage of pharmacies around the country that do a steady trade dispensing addictive drugs prescribed by physicians to people for reasons outside of legitimate medicine.

Recently the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has made headlines by taking steps to prevent pharmacies from selling addictive drugs. But instead of the stores being some stereotypical back alley operation, they were CVS pharmacies. The two locations in Sanford, FL had their licenses suspended for what the agency believed were unusually high sales of oxycodone.

CVS had gone to court and gotten a temporary restraining order that blocked the DEA, asserting the agency had acted in an arbitrary manner. But a judge at a U.S. District Court vacated the restraining order yesterday after determining the government had acted appropriately.

According to The Associated Press, CVS argued that it has retrained pharmacists and reduced the level of oxycodone prescriptions in the two stores by 86 percent over the past year.

The DEA countered that, even with the improvement, the locations were dispensing far more than they should be. The government also said that it had met with CVS in 2010 and 2011 to warn it of possible consequences if it did not comply with guidelines to deter prescription drug abuse.

U.S. can stop some drug sales at 2 CVS stores: judge – Reuters

Judge Rules Against CVS in Oxycodone Fight – The Wall Street Journal

Judge upholds suspension of 2 Fla. CVS pharmacies from sale of controlled substances – The Associated Press/The Washington Post

via RetailWire Discussion: Judge: DEA Can Suspend Drug Sales at CVS Stores.