Industry Poised for 'Historic Paradigm Change,' NACDS Chief Anderson Tells Pharmacy Leaders

Drug Store News
August 30, 2010

SAN DIEGO (Aug. 30) Retail pharmacy is going through a “historic paradigm change” as pharmacists and pharmacy leaders expand their patient-care and clinical capabilities and provide new solutions to a “broken” healthcare system undergoing rapid change.

That was the message delivered Monday by Steve Anderson, president and CEO of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, on day two of the 2010 NACDS Pharmacy and Technology Conference. Buoyed by a series of legislative and policy-making victories –– and by the growing recognition from public and private health plan payers of the role pharmacists can play in improving patient outcomes and lowering health spending –– the pharmacy industry is poised for a “renaissance” in how pharmacy is practiced and how pharmacists collaborate with other healthcare professions, Anderson told NACDS members...

“Everywhere we turned, we told decision-makers about the $290 billion in annual costs that are related to poor adherence, as estimated by the New England Healthcare Institute,” Anderson said. “That’s important to understanding the value of medications, and those who help patients manage them.”

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