Prescription drug cost is one of the few issues everyone can agree needs addressing, yet very few politicians seem able to abandon party-line rhetoric to confront the issue. Wealthy corporate campaign donations are now overriding basic common sense when it comes to reining in obvious systemic problems. Like climate change…

If you thought 2021, aka the follow-up to When Satan met 2020, seemed like a mixed bag of forward momentum and frustrating setbacks in the move to reform PBMs, you’re in good company. As we look over the year that was 2021, we’re encouraged by many of the high points…

It’s feeling a lot like PBM reform is getting really real as the largest pharmacy benefit managers, especially those that might own or exert enormous influence over large retail pharmacies, come under fire for issues related to real-world concerns for patient safety, drug pricing and limiting access to medications. First…

Like many community pharmacies, Newman Family Pharmacy is the kind of pharmacy patients choose for its incomparable commitment to service and care. A smaller pharmacy located in the heart of Chesapeake — Virginia’s working class and military family neighborhoods — Newman Family Pharmacy was set up to serve the very…

In the world of Big Healthcare mergers and acquisitions, it’s deja vu all over again. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is investigating UnitedHealth Group’s proposed purchase of Change Healthcare, self-described in its Wikipedia entry as “a provider of revenue and payment cycle management and clinical information exchange solutions, connecting…

4 AM, Saturday morning. The pharmacist packs her car with vaccine supplies and documentation, then hits the road. It’s well before sunrise, but 5 hours and counting until the community clinic starts. …

2021. So far for pharmacies, it’s been a wild ride. The much-anticipated advent of the COVID vaccine(s) has spawned additional issues with rollout and availability capabilities — many of which can be tied back to misinformation, corporate territorialism, and lack of proper planning. Does anyone else hear a common PBM…

Carl Savoie’s mother died alone in a nursing home. “She didn’t die from illness. She died of loneliness,” the Opelousas, Louisiana-based pharmacist and owner of Carl’s Thrifty Way Pharmacy told local newspaper the Daily World. “She never got to touch her grandkids anymore. …

The polio vaccine was never patented. The insulin patent was sold for $1. The average price for epinephrine is around $109 while the 2-pack EpiPen sells for somewhere between $650-$700. …