Pharmacies chains

Several national organizations serve the professional needs of U.S. pharmacists. These reflect the practice milieu of members, eg, independent community pharmacies, chain dmg stores, and hospitals. The American Pharmaceutical Association (APhA), founded in 1852, is composed of the Academy of Pharmaceutical Research and Science, Academy of Pharmaceutical Practice and Management, and the Academy of Students of Pharmacy. Other organizations include the American Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists (ASHP), National Association of Chain Dmg Stores (NACDS), and National Association of Retail Dmggists (NARD). 

Brushwood, D.B. and J.H. Maultsby, "Judging Pharmacy Practice An Evaluation of Pharmacy Case Law and of Incident Reports from a Major Pharmacy Chain Can Records of Past Problems Facilitate Improvement in the Future ," Pharm. L. Annual, 5, 73 (1999). 

Bill in Texas to ban sale of cough medicine to minors and outlaw abuse in committee 219 Palo Alto high-school resource officer on one-man crusade to make pharmacy chains change shelf placement of DXM products 220 pharmacist in Iowa City puts DXM products behind the counter221... 

Some large pharmacy chains perform many of the wholesaler s service functions within their own organizations. These chains must assume wholesaler functions, such as purchasing, storing, financing, and delivering products to each of their units. While these chains serve as their own primary vendor, they often still use full-line wholesalers as secondary vendors to obtain selected products or in special circumstances. 

By all accounts, Alan Brouchard, Pharm.D., is a great pharmacist. He graduated at the top of his class in pharmacy school and started a successful career with a pharmacy chain in suburban Chicago. While he enjoyed working with all his patients, he especially liked counseling children and their parents. He had a reputation for being good with kids and informative with their parents, which resulted in many referrals to the pharmacy where he worked. 

It is important to recognize that mission statements and strategic plans vary among types of organizations, especially within health care. The mission statement and strategic plan of a not-for-profit children s research hospital likely will be different from that of a for-profit pharmacy chain (Table 24-1). The aspects of a professional service that will need to be emphasized in a business plan will vary as well. The not-for-profit children s research hospital may want to see how a new professional service will result in enhanced clinical outcomes or benefit the greatest number of children at the lowest possible cost. On the other... 

Figure 33-3. Detailed organizational chart for a national pharmacy chain.

For example, at least one national pharmacy chain has a customer satisfaction training program for associates. Pharmacy managers are responsible for all new associates and for the experienced associates to participate in the training. There is a rewards program... 

The PTCB exam is used and endorsed by many national pharmacy chains, many independent community and hospital pharmacies, and the U.S. military. Employers use the exam as a condition of employment as a requirement to perform selecfed functions, to justify career or salary advancement, and so forth. To create a minimum standard for pharmacy technician capabilities, a growing number of state boards of pharmacy require technicians to be PTCB cerhfied. In addition, many state boards of pharmacy have developed processes for technicians to register with the state. This process allows pharmacy boards to identify individuals currently employed as technicians in their states. Most professional pharmacy organizations and state boards of pharmacy oppose licensure of pharmacy technicians. As the roles of pharmacy technicians continue to evolve and the public becomes more aware of their contributions, the profession will need to provide the required training and competencies to assure the public that the technicians are able to fulfill their vital roles in pharmacy. 

The majority of pharmaceuticals are distributed through wholesalers to retail pharmacies, with large pharmacy chains now dominating the market. There are approximately 11,000 community pharmacies in the United Kingdom. In recent years, pharmacy services are increasingly available in supermarkets at the expense of local independent pharmacies. 

Actual ownership of the PBMs varies. Some companies are privately held corporations (e.g., National Prescription Administrators). Some are publicly traded (e.g., Express Scripts). Some are now or have been owned by managed care organizations (e.g., PacifiCare s ownership of Prescription Solutions or Prudential s ownership of Integrated Pharmacy Solutions). They have also been owned by retail pharmacy chains, as in the case of Rite Aid s ownership of PCS prior to its evolution into Advance PCS. Pharmaceutical manufacturers have purchased PBMs (e.g., Merck owns Medco and Lilly at one time owned PCS). 

A further complication when one makes comparisons is that in particular situations the prices charged may differ from the norm. It has already been noted that a company may charge different prices in the public and private sectors. In addition special discounts may be offered to bulk drug purchasers such as hospitals and retail pharmacy chains, and such discounts may or may not be passed on to the ultimate payer. Where these practices are widespread they can signihcantly affect the actual hgures, both as regards true margins and consumer prices. 

A member of a large pharmacy chain (>10 pharmacies typically 100-350 stores)... 

In order to learn more, and if possibly decrease environmental impacts through adjusted prescription patterns, the Research-based Pharmaceutical Industry in Sweden (LIE [20]) has developed an enviromnental classification scheme for pharmaceutical substances[21] The model for presenting environmental data was developed in collaboration with Stockholm County Council, the pharmacy chain Apoteket AB, the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SKL), and the Swedish Medical Products Agency MPA. The goal was to develop a model, which clearly shows environmental information, both to interested members of the public, to healthcare professionals and pharmacists. The environmental information draws on data from the pharmaceutical companies, often generated in the preparation phase... 

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