This is going to be a big year for community pharmacy, said Thrifty White president and CEO Bob Narveson, as the nation reaches full implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2014. “But to be successful, we are going to have to maintain access to those patients,” Narveson told DSNTV last month in a frank and broad-ranging discussion about the state of the industry, the role community pharmacy can play in healthcare reform, and how NACDS member companies like his own are innovating patient care, driving improved outcomes and lowering costs.

“The only real valuable thing is intuition,” said Albert Einstein. Within the consumer healthcare industry, nowhere is that more true than in the realm of brand management.

Money is a powerful motivator. Look no further than the sports world for validation. The PGA’s FedEx Cup encourages golfers to earn “points” towards participation in playoffs that offer a big season-ending payoff. Tennis has a similar format with the U.S. Open Series where performance in a series of events equates to a huge prize purse. Both instances use hefty prize money to help ensure the top performers participate and at high levels. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have applied this sports theory to its rankings system of Medicare Advantage (MA) and Prescription Drug Plans (PDP) plans. And there’s billions of dollars up-for-grabs for healthcare plans.

One week following the re-election of President Barack Obama, DSN spoke with Mike Cantrell, president of AmerisourceBergen's Good Neighbor Pharmacy, on the impact — and opportunity — healthcare reform holds for community pharmacies.

DSN caught up with Dave Dimas — program director of engineering, sciences and information technology at the University of California, Irvine Extension — to discuss the role predictive analytics can play in health care, as well as a new certificate program on how to best translate that consumer data into action plans.

DSN sat down with Jeff Weidauer, Vestcom International VP marketing and strategy, for some insights on who the millennial is, and when it comes to shopping, what her expectations are.

As the debate over healthcare reform in the United States rages — sometimes palpably so — a new report from healthcare market research firm IMS Health indicated that a major shift in drug-spending trends is under way between developed countries like the United States and developing countries.

Earlier this month, Walgreens announced that immunization records would be sent directly from its more than 7,800 Walgreens and Duane Reade stores and 350 Take Care Clinics to primary care providers over Surescripts’ electronic prescribing network using Surescripts’ Clinical Interoperability services. And later this year, the company plans to share immunization data with local and state public health agencies, and share Take Care Clinic patient summaries with primary care providers. Drug Store News recently had the opportunity to speak with Surescripts president and CEO Harry Totonis about the new service.

"Game change." That's the theme leading up to the Consumer Healthcare Products Association's 2012 Annual Executive Conference given the shifts in consumer demand and legislative focus. DSN caught up with CHPA's president and CEO Scott Melville before the meeting to get a sense of where the business of consumer healthcare products stands today, and what the association is working toward tomorrow.

CVS Caremark has grown from a go-getting New England-based regional player to a nearly $100 billion pharmacy healthcare giant known for its vertically integrated pharmacy-PBM model via the 2007 acquisition of Caremark, its highly successful loyalty card program and its innovative beauty concepts. Now, the industry trailblazer embarks on a new chapter with a new leader and an eye on driving medication adherence, curbing healthcare costs and improving the health outcomes of its patients.

The mayor of the nation's capital announced Thursday plans to include calorie information on vending machines in municipal buildings.