The impacts of unused and expired prescription medications have created legal, health, societal, and environmental problems. A 2020 study revealed that 42% of customers surveyed store leftover prescription medications in their home. Additionally, a 2018 survey found that approximately 36% of patients prescribed opioids said they did not know they needed to dispose of their leftover medication.

It seems like lately we have been inundated with news and information about COVID boosters, many of them conflicting, making it difficult for pharmacies to effectively plan. The good news is that there is a process of checks and balances from both a regulatory and scientific standpoint for the approval of any vaccine (and needed booster) and the associated vaccination schedule. Understanding this process, and timing of it will help you in your strategic vaccine and pharmacy operations planning.

The visible impacts of climate change such as historic forest fires, warming temperatures, rising tides, and changing weather patterns are seen almost daily in the news. Many companies, including a large number retailers across the U.S., have developed plans and have committed to reduce and/or offset their carbon emissions. However, retail pharmacy’s participation in such programs has been absent or limited.

The first half of 2021 has seen another valiant attempt by over 250 retail pharmacies, consumer advocacy groups, healthcare organizations and a bi-partisan group of legislators, to ensure that any pharmacy price concessions assessed by Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) are clearly conveyed at the pharmacy point of sale and that the PBMs are held accountable for retroactively back charging fees on pharmacies. These fees, also known as DIR fees, are the result of a current Medicare program loophole.