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Retail News Breaks Archives Walgreen Co. has launched an awareness campaign with health insurer Coventry Health Care to educate employers in select market areas about how they can maintain employee access to the chain's pharmacy services. Discount Drug Mart is sticking with Eastman Kodak Co. as its exclusive supplier of photo finishing technology, products and services. Kinney Drugs aims to remodel over a dozen locations next year as part of long-term rollout of a new store concept. Pharmaceutical revenue through primary health care distributors has climbed as distributors continue to enhance their value to the prescription drug industry, according to a report by the Center for Healthcare Supply Chain Research. The National Association of Chain Drug stores has endorsed sales tax legislation designed to remedy what it calls a competitive disadvantage for brick-and-mortar retailers versus Internet merchants and catalog retailers. Men and women with type 2 diabetes see the impact of the disease on their lives differently, according to a survey by Rite Aid and online health information portal WebMD. Walgreen Co. has certified more than 500 of its pharmacies as HIV Centers of Excellence in communities that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has identified as highly impacted by HIV. More than half of the nation's doctor's offices and nearly all of its retail pharmacies are now handling electronic prescriptions, according to Surescripts. CVS Caremark Corp. has added a chronic cardiovascular care component to its Pharmacy Advisor medication adherence program, bringing a pharmacy-based approach to managing what the company noted is one of the most prevalent and expensive chronic illnesses. Rite Aid Corp. has launched what it called a "more powerful" photo website that offers added image storage and more options and convenience in ordering prints, photo books, calendars and other photo products and gifts. Earnings climbed in the third quarter at Shoppers Drug Mart Corp. despite slim gains in total revenue and same-store sales. Walmart is hoping to do for health care what it has done for retailing. The Centers for Medicard & Medicaid Services (CMS) hasn't adjusted federal upper limits (FULs) for Medicaid generic drug reimbursements to pharmacies despite being warned that patient access to pharmacy services could be jeopardized, according to the National Community Pharmacists Association. Pharmacy services fueled an uptick in revenue in the third quarter at BioScrip Inc. One of the missing pieces for Walgreen Co. in its transformation into a "health and daily living" retailer has been a customer loyalty program. But that won't be for much longer. In Texas, a new mandate requiring a meningitis immunization for all college students has led MinuteClinic to boost its availability of the vaccine in the state. The National Community Pharmacists Association has created two awards to recognize pharmacists who provide superior medication adherence services to patients. A national coalition of pharmacists and pharmacy owners has begun a public information campaign focusing on what they say are inflated prescription drug prices set by pharmacy benefit managers.
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