Project One - Walgreens?

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Anyone working in one of these pilot stores? Same thing as POWER? Please share...
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I don't work at one, but there is one down the street from me. Seems kind of like POWER. Pharmacist sits outside of the pharmacy, and techs basically do everything in the pharmacy. All the phone calls are handled off-site, and all prescriptions are typed off-site as well. The pharmacists are supposed to F4 and do immunizations. :rolleyes: There is even an immunization room. It doesn't seem to me like the immunizations, cholesterol testing, A1C testing etc. has really caught on though, at least at my store. It seems like there are a lot of these stores coming around here. I don't like the sound of it.
 
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pharaday said:
I don't work at one, but there is one down the street from me. Seems kind of like POWER. Pharmacist sits outside of the pharmacy, and techs basically do everything in the pharmacy. All the phone calls are handled off-site, and all prescriptions are typed off-site as well. The pharmacists are supposed to F4 and do immunizations. :rolleyes: There is even an immunization room. It doesn't seem to me like the immunizations, cholesterol testing, A1C testing etc. has really caught on though, at least at my store. It seems like there are a lot of these stores coming around here. I don't like the sound of it.
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Today at rotation orientation they opened the day with "guess what, Walgreens just released a statement that they'll be rolling out point of care testing at all their stores". I wonder if this is a good thing for our profession, or if it comes along with something negative.
 
pharaday said:
I don't work at one, but there is one down the street from me. Seems kind of like POWER. Pharmacist sits outside of the pharmacy, and techs basically do everything in the pharmacy. All the phone calls are handled off-site, and all prescriptions are typed off-site as well. The pharmacists are supposed to F4 and do immunizations. :rolleyes: There is even an immunization room. It doesn't seem to me like the immunizations, cholesterol testing, A1C testing etc. has really caught on though, at least at my store. It seems like there are a lot of these stores coming around here. I don't like the sound of it.
Click to expand...

That really does not sound like POWER. POWER has nothing to do with immunizations or testing of any sort. POWER is about increasing efficiency to reducing payroll, period. Is that what Project One is all about? I don't understand what "pharmacist sits outside the pharmacy" means. Why is the pharmacist outside the pharmacy? If it is to do shots and tests, well that sounds like a good thing to me.

bacillus1 said:
Today at rotation orientation they opened the day with "guess what, Walgreens just released a statement that they'll be rolling out point of care testing at all their stores". I wonder if this is a good thing for our profession, or if it comes along with something negative.
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We are a very cynical bunch, aren't we? Sounds like a good thing to me, but I want more details.
 
owlegrad said:
That really does not sound like POWER. POWER has nothing to do with immunizations or testing of any sort. POWER is about increasing efficiency to reducing payroll, period. Is that what Project One is all about? I don't understand what "pharmacist sits outside the pharmacy" means. Why is the pharmacist outside the pharmacy? If it is to do shots and tests, well that sounds like a good thing to me.
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Parts of it are like POWER. Phone calls and prescription typing is handled off-site etc. I think this is only the beginning though. I have some ideas about where this is headed.
 
pharaday said:
Parts of it are like POWER. Phone calls and prescription typing is handled off-site etc. I think this is only the beginning though. I have some ideas about where this is headed.
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All prescriptions filled at a central fill facility with one pharmacist and a clerk filling emergency prescriptions, immunizations ect at the local pharmacy.

Kroger is beginning to roll out their central fill facility nationwide. Like I said when Walgreens POWER came out. What one does all the rest will follow.

I am officially shocked at how fast things have changed. No hyperbole, no doom and gloom just genuine shock as to what is happening. I literally could not sleep last night because of what I know is coming around the corner.
 
MountainPharmD said:
I am officially shocked at how fast things have changed. No hyperbole, no doom and gloom just genuine shock as to what is happening. I literally could not sleep last night because of what I know is coming around the corner.
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What are you thinking?
 
pharaday said:
Parts of it are like POWER. Phone calls and prescription typing is handled off-site etc. I think this is only the beginning though. I have some ideas about where this is headed.
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The mechanics sound vaguely POWER-like, but if the intention is for the pharmacist to shift focus onto provider-like services, then it is nothing like POWER. I don't care so much where the prescriptions are typed up, I do care the reason for shifting the workflow. If it is done centrally for efficiency sake, that is essentially POWER. If it is done for other reasons, well then I would like to know more.

EDIT: Opps, I meant to ask what your ideas are for where this is headed.
 
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Its Z said:
What are you thinking?
Click to expand...

I do not feel very comfortable. I feel the foot steps of 20 unemployed new grads desperate for work. I feel that even the slightest miss step, missed metric, or ridiculous customer complaint could result in my termination. I feel the crushing weight of the ever increasing tasks and responsibilities placed upon me.

Finding out about Kroger's central fill plans and hearing about the number of pharmacists laid off in the Denver area with more to come has hit me like a load of bricks and made all of this doom and gloom talk very real all of a sudden.
 
MountainPharmD said:
I do not feel very comfortable. I feel the foot steps of 20 unemployed new grads desperate for work. I feel that even the slightest miss step, missed metric, or ridiculous customer complaint could result in my termination. I feel the crushing weight of the ever increasing tasks and responsibilities placed upon me.

Finding out about Kroger's central fill plans and hearing about the number of pharmacists laid off in the Denver area with more to come has hit me like a load of bricks and made all of this doom and gloom talk very real all of a sudden.
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Why you gotta scare kids like that.
 
MountainPharmD said:
All prescriptions filled at a central fill facility with one pharmacist and a clerk filling emergency prescriptions, immunizations ect at the local pharmacy.

Kroger is beginning to roll out their central fill facility nationwide. Like I said when Walgreens POWER came out. What one does all the rest will follow.

I am officially shocked at how fast things have changed. No hyperbole, no doom and gloom just genuine shock as to what is happening. I literally could not sleep last night because of what I know is coming around the corner.
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Where are CVS, Walmart, and Rite Aid with this?? Anybody know?

Also, Mountain, who laid off all the pharmacists in Denver... was it Kroger? Or was it spread across companies? Is Denver even saturated??
 
owlegrad said:
That really does not sound like POWER. POWER has nothing to do with immunizations or testing of any sort. POWER is about increasing efficiency to reducing payroll, period. Is that what Project One is all about? I don't understand what "pharmacist sits outside the pharmacy" means. Why is the pharmacist outside the pharmacy? If it is to do shots and tests, well that sounds like a good thing to me.



We are a very cynical bunch, aren't we? Sounds like a good thing to me, but I want more details.
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Currently 1400 stores are offering cholesterol, A1c, BP, blood sugar tests. Here is a breakdown of price.

Total cholesterol and HDL - $30
Blood glucose - $20
A1C (for self-identified diabetics only) - $35
Blood pressure – free with every health test
 
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DYSF777 said:
Currently 1400 stores are offering cholesterol, A1c, BP, blood sugar tests. Here is a breakdown of price.

Total cholesterol and HDL - $30
Blood glucose - $20
A1C (for self-identified diabetics only) - $35
Blood pressure – free with every health test
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Kroger does the same thing and has for at least 5 years. Thanks to Walgreens we now do free blood pressure screenings once a month.
 
StevePerry said:
Where are CVS, Walmart, and Rite Aid with this?? Anybody know?

Also, Mountain, who laid off all the pharmacists in Denver... was it Kroger? Or was it spread across companies? Is Denver even saturated??
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Rite aid will be out of business soon. Walmart has some central fill locations and CVS I am sure will join in very soon so they are not left behind.

Kroger is laying off pharmacists in Denver. Denver is also where the first central fill location will be. I am shocked at how fast things turned around. 4 short years ago they were still giving sign on bonuses for certain locations in Colorado. I am told the layoffs and cutting of part time pharmacists has even hit Colorado Springs.
 
owlegrad said:
Nothing in your link describes it as a step beyond POWER. The only thing it says is that the pharmacist stays outside of the pharmacy, though it is still unclear to me why. Why? I assume it is not arbitrary.
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Pharmacists REMOTELY verify the PRODUCT in addition to the hard copy / DUR / etc... Come on man! You know what the next step will be.
 
I'm somewhat confused as to what the pharmacist is doing out of the pharmacy - is he simply in the store to fulfill the legal requirement that a pharmacist must be on site during hours of operation?

If yes - then sound all alarms. The Titanic is going down and I don't think the Carpathia is around the corner anymore.

If no - what duties is the pharmacist performing? OTC selection/counseling, prescription counseling, etc.?

I can't imagine the pharmacist is there strictly to provide immunizations, Walgreens could hire an LPN to do that for much less money. Is there any one who is able to provide the facts of the operation, or is it all hearsay?
 
Praziquantel86 said:
I'm somewhat confused as to what the pharmacist is doing out of the pharmacy - is he simply in the store to fulfill the legal requirement that a pharmacist must be on site during hours of operation?

If yes - then sound all alarms. The Titanic is going down and I don't think the Carpathia is around the corner anymore.

If no - what duties is the pharmacist performing? OTC selection/counseling, prescription counseling, etc.?

I can't imagine the pharmacist is there strictly to provide immunizations, Walgreens could hire an LPN to do that for much less money. Is there any one who is able to provide the facts of the operation, or is it all hearsay?
Click to expand...

Think about it, the pharmacist is there now BECAUSE OF THE LAW. There are already laws for remote pharmacies in other states where no pharmacist has to be on duty. These are limited geographically. If you can't see where Walgreens (first major CHAIN to do this in URBAN areas) is headed with this, you are nuts. All the counseling and immunization are the easiest things to outsource next.
 
StevePerry said:
Think about it, the pharmacist is there now BECAUSE OF THE LAW. There are already laws for remote pharmacies in other states where no pharmacist has to be on duty. These are limited geographically. If you can't see where Walgreens (first major CHAIN to do this in URBAN areas) is headed with this, you are nuts. All the counseling and immunization are the easiest things to outsource next.
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Exactly! It is only a matter of time. By having the pharmacist outside of the pharmacy, they'll surely try to convince the state boards that the pharmacy is operating just fine with no pharmacist in there, and then everything will be done remotely. I just don't buy that pharmacists will be doing immunizations and health testing all day.
 
Project One.. perhaps it means one pharmacist per store...just a body with a license to meet the pharmacist on site regulation while RX fill is done by whoever wherever. For those states that actually still require physical presence.

This is going to be a big thread.
 
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There are ways to do central fill, data entry, call center, etc without being an evil corporation that's laying everyone off. My retail rotation at Wegmans had all of those things, and 5 pharmacists working over the course of the day. It was great to not answer the phone calls "do I have any refills? is there an rx waiting for me?" all day since the call center could do that. When you got a call, it was either a doctor or a patient with a legitimate question. The remote data entry was only on monday and tuesday, and a tech would basically go to the corporate office and type in the rx that were scanned all day. This was helpful and freed up the in-store techs to actually wait on people and do the filling. Also, it was a tech from our store, not some anonymous corporate person who was taking somebody's job.

Of course, you could also turn any convenience into an evil machine, and just lay off as many workers as possible, but the other idea seemed better.
 
Its Z said:
Project One.. perhaps it means one pharmacist per store...just a body with a license to meet the pharmacist on site regulation while RX fill is done by whoever wherever. For those states that actually still require physical presence.

This is going to be a big thread.
Click to expand...

That's awesome! Or one pharmacist for the whole company....One pharmacist to verify 1 million scripts.....The possibilities are endless!
 
Walgreens POWER is the hand writing on the wall. The United States has the most expensive, inefficient system of drug distribution in the world. A 100k a year pharmacist in every corner pharmacy with a half a million dollars in inventory is an unsustainable business model.

The chains are looking to maximize their profits anyway possible. A good first step is removing as many 100k a year pharmacist as possible. A second step is reducing the amount of inventory sitting on the shelves. Central fill and central calls centers accomplish all of this quite nicely.

Honestly, I think the day will come when a community pharmacy is staffed by techs and clerks. There will a pharmacist in India available via video conference for counseling that no one wants or cares about.
 
Walgreen's is now owned by a consulting firm that has done nothing for the last 3 years but slashed employee payroll and benefits (and brought up the stock in the process). I'm sure they had the same goal in mind when they cooked up this scheme.
 
Praziquantel86 said:
I'm somewhat confused as to what the pharmacist is doing out of the pharmacy - is he simply in the store to fulfill the legal requirement that a pharmacist must be on site during hours of operation?

If yes - then sound all alarms. The Titanic is going down and I don't think the Carpathia is around the corner anymore.

If no - what duties is the pharmacist performing? OTC selection/counseling, prescription counseling, etc.?

I can't imagine the pharmacist is there strictly to provide immunizations, Walgreens could hire an LPN to do that for much less money. Is there any one who is able to provide the facts of the operation, or is it all hearsay?
Click to expand...


I am not at all sure we are ever going to get anyone with first hand knowledge to actually explain the program. Such is life.

The pharmacist is in the store - Walgreen's would not pay a pharmacist to do nothing. S/he is doing something. What? God forbid it be anything besides verifying. :rolleyes:
 
Not saying doom is not on the way...

But my first question in regards to this scenario is..."who is handling the oxycontin?"
 
Hibiclens said:
Not saying doom is not on the way...

But my first question in regards to this scenario is..."who is handling the oxycontin?"
Click to expand...

The narcies will save us! We will be fighting for those roxy 30mg #270 scripts from FL.
 
Wow, they actually topped Power, like mountain said let's see when the remote verify gets shipped to India because:
1. gov't both state and federal are cash strapped d/t the econ and can easily be swayed by the deep pockets of corporate pharm
2. It will save $ in 'healthcare reform' as they could now have a $1 list instead of a $4 list
3. No one cares about counseling/who's giving it in a retail setting and the apathetic nature of every pharmacist means no unionization or fight against it *****case in point read the post about jobs in NV/AZ, that person posted an article of when they were laid off and it said the pharmacy was hardest hit yet went on to show that only the nurses were fighting it

I just wish this profession would just hurry up and decide if it's gonna implode or go ahead an Peter on indefinitely so I can go ahead and get into med/dent before I'm over 30. Thank the good lord I kept my GPA up (when all my buddies were getting B s and C s thinking the pharm gravy train would last for a whole career) and have no student debt. Even tho I work in hospital, it will just be a matter of time before this whole thing affects the entire profession. Between this, the econ, and all the schools opening it doesn't look good.
 
Not trying to get anyone to jump off a bridge w/ my prior post, but I just wanted to speak candidly.
 
Its Z said:
Project One.. perhaps it means one pharmacist per store...just a body with a license to meet the pharmacist on site regulation while RX fill is done by whoever wherever. For those states that actually still require physical presence.

This is going to be a big thread.
Click to expand...


Z, you nailed it, that is exactly what it will be and the sad thing is that they could name it something so blatantly in line with what they're after and all the RPH minions at the store level would never be the wiser. They only see it as one more hoop to leap through, except their imminent demise just happens to be on the other side. I can see them squabbling all day about how great 'project one' will be to their DMs and corporate, too shortsighted to see there will on be one of them remaining at the store level.

On another note, your post above saying are you trying to scare the kids to mountain made me laugh out loud, awesome.
 
owlegrad said:
Glad to see we are keeping a new program that we no virtually nothing about in perspective. :thumbup:
Click to expand...

C'mon Owle, your neutral to positive outlook is totally ruining the negative buzz of this thread man, why would you want to say something logical like that!
 
We're being told this concept is on its way to Texas "in the near future." Of course they said the same thing about POWER years ago, and we never saw that, so who knows.

All I know is it scares me. Not only from the standpoint of job security, but also because if the techs at my store are given that much responsibility people will die.
 
This is my first day here, I just signed up.

About an hour ago, I was 100% confident with my career.

Then, I read this thread.

What up with the doomsday talk? Always good to carve up a niche for yourself
with any profession of course, but you folks are making it sound like we've got
about a couple months left of employment regardless of your talent. How many walgreens employees are
in this thread? Have you all been brainwashed? Have I been comatose under a rock for a while?

And, FWIW, I thought the next big thing with Walgreens was called 'Bridge'. It sounded very similar to 'Project One', from what I've read here. Anyone heard of this?

It's a good thing I don't suck at what I do, or you folks would have me worrying about having a job in the next few years:eek:
 
Coconut Rob said:
This is my first day here, I just signed up.

About an hour ago, I was 100% confident with my career.

Then, I read this thread.

What up with the doomsday talk? Always good to carve up a niche for yourself
with any profession of course, but you folks are making it sound like we've got
about a couple months left of employment regardless of your talent. How many walgreens employees are
in this thread? Have you all been brainwashed? Have I been comatose under a rock for a while?

And, FWIW, I thought the next big thing with Walgreens was called 'Bridge'. It sounded very similar to 'Project One', from what I've read here. Anyone heard of this?

It's a good thing I don't suck at what I do, or you folks would have me worrying about having a job in the next few years:eek:
Click to expand...

Is this the first thread on SDN you have ever read? :laugh:

Certain folks around here are overly negative and certain users (such as myself) like to counter all the negativity with boundless optimism. Actually that does not describe me at all, but my slight optimism often seems boundless by comparison.


:welcome:
 
Exact words from a preceptor:

"You may have to just carve a niche for yourself and essentially create your position, which is what I did. Or move to a remote area [insert conversation about high paying position in BFE]... or just wait until someone dies because they probably aren't going to retire."

--well respected, highly experienced/networked clinical director
 
MountainPharmD said:
Walgreens POWER is the hand writing on the wall. The United States has the most expensive, inefficient system of drug distribution in the world. A 100k a year pharmacist in every corner pharmacy with a half a million dollars in inventory is an unsustainable business model.

The chains are looking to maximize their profits anyway possible. A good first step is removing as many 100k a year pharmacist as possible. A second step is reducing the amount of inventory sitting on the shelves. Central fill and central calls centers accomplish all of this quite nicely.

Honestly, I think the day will come when a community pharmacy is staffed by techs and clerks. There will a pharmacist in India available via video conference for counseling that no one wants or cares about.
Click to expand...

exactly! also, big corporate retail pharmacy has a POWERFUL lobbying body that has lobbied for some time to have laws on foreign graduate pharmacists to become licensed easier in the USA.

the surplus of pharmacists helps their corporations in the long run.

1.) Undercut independents and kill their business
2.) Help push for a surplus of pharmacists
3.) cut salaries on pharmacists
4.) destroy the pharmacy profession
 
Is this real? How is this even possible? How do you think the public will respond to no actual PHARMACIST in the PHARMACY?? This is bad, real bad. I always feared this day would come. Guess it's time to start thinking about going back to school? The question is what field is secure anymore? America as a whole is becoming unraveled... Nothing is safe anymore...Nothing is guaranteed. Well one thing I know is that pharmacy as a profession, regardless of your practice area, is pretty much screwed in the years to come.
 
PharmDStudman said:
Is this real? How is this even possible? How do you think the public will respond to no actual PHARMACIST in the PHARMACY?? This is bad, real bad. I always feared this day would come. Guess it's time to start thinking about going back to school? The question is what field is secure anymore? America as a whole is becoming unraveled... Nothing is safe anymore...Nothing is guaranteed. Well one thing I know is that pharmacy as a profession, regardless of your practice area, is pretty much screwed in the years to come.
Click to expand...

I do not see the hospital pharmacists I work with going anywhere anytime soon. If anything their department is growing...physicians are requesting expansion of more services in hospital and amb care site of the health system. It all depends on your practice setting and the established pharmacy leadership in your organization. Amb care and hospital have areas for pharmacy services to branch out to within the system to improve care, efficiency, Joint Commission measure compliance, formulary management, etc.

In retail, the opportunities to branch out outside of distributive role is tough and the future does not look bright in my opinion. Personally, I truely enjoy community pharmacy but it is in a downward spiral. Like Mountain said " something has to change, the system is not sustainable. between lobbying, automation, and central fill...there are going to be less pharms in store"
 
PumpkinSmasher said:
I do not see the hospital pharmacists I work with going anywhere anytime soon. If anything their department is growing...physicians are requesting expansion of more services in hospital and amb care site of the health system. It all depends on your practice setting and the established pharmacy leadership in your organization. Amb care and hospital have areas for pharmacy services to branch out to within the system to improve care, efficiency, Joint Commission measure compliance, formulary management, etc.

In retail, the opportunities to branch out outside of distributive role is tough and the future does not look bright in my opinion. Personally, I truely enjoy community pharmacy but it is in a downward spiral. Like Mountain said " something has to change, the system is not sustainable. between lobbying, automation, and central fill...there are going to be less pharms in store"
Click to expand...

Hospital and am care jobs are few and far between. Not to mention the people who do actually get those jobs are going to hold onto them for life so essentially they never open up. Retail/community pharmacy is where > 60% of pharmacist jobs are currently. So if the number of retail pharmacists is drastically reduced, it seems bad for the entire profession... Have you noticed that many clinical hospital positions and am care positions are often funded by faculty positions at colleges of pharmacy? Well if retail pharm goes away, dont you see a huge decline in students interested in pursuing pharmacy, hence closing of pharmacy schools and cut backs/ elimination of clinical pharm/faculty positions?
 
PharmaTope said:
exactly! also, big corporate retail pharmacy has a POWERFUL lobbying body that has lobbied for some time to have laws on foreign graduate pharmacists to become licensed easier in the USA.
Click to expand...

Do you care to cite any sources or evidence of this? I've felt it to be the opposite. I think the problem is more of a home-grown American one of graduating too many students domestically. Far more. Care to cite any stats on the percentage of domestic and foreign pharmacist licensing?

I'd suggest that the change to requiring a 5 year pharmacy degree by the NABP to write the FPGEE and the changes to requiring a PharmD in many jurisdictions make it HARDER for foreign graduates to become licensed in the USA. Heck, one state won't even license pharmacists on any visa, regardless of their competence, even if they graduate from a school in that state! The ACPE has also clamped down on labour mobility for those stick-out-like-a-sore-thumb Canadians too.

H1-b visas are largely taken by tech employees, and the visa limit is regularly hit very early in the yearly process. The number issued is capped at 65000, and hasn't been raised in years (except for 3 years of the early 2000s (ie: tech boom) when they let in A LOT more, and since there's a 6-year max, those people have already left or had to re-apply under the lower caps).

I wouldn't worry about what you call a "POWERFUL lobbying body", their track record is deplorable.
 
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First off I think the route this thread has taken is a little skewed. From what I know of the program and I'm not a first hand account is that the program combines some of the ideas from POWER along with Walgreen's vision for the future of pharmacy.

I think we all agree that central fill/POWER like programs will improve efficiency and decrease payroll in the short-term. We all know this is a direction companies are taking and shouldn't be surprised. I believe the stores that will be hit the hardest are the busier locations (500+ rx's/day) that might lose a middle pharmacist.

As for this new pilot Walgreen is doing, from what I hear its only in a few select locations in the Chicago area. They basically take the pharmacist out of the pharmacy and put them in their own little booth out of the floor. They take out a lot of the mundane tasks (yielding phone calls, ringing patients, etc.) and get rid of them by putting the pharmacist on the floor. While on the floor, the pharmacist can counsel patients, immunize, MTM, do health screenings and if nothing else is going on, do data review and entry.

I think their idea is to get the pharmacist more involved in patient care and do more clinical activities. We all know pharmacy is an evolving profession with change that is inevitable. Walgreen wants to continue to expand the role of the pharmacist and establish more roles for us in the health care profession. After all, that is how they run their business right? The old days of counting pills and pounding out as many RXs as you can and nothing else is no longer a viable business model as reimbursement rates keep falling and Wal-mart and others tend to de-value the profession with cheap drugs.

I am not blind to the fact that some facets of the program my increase efficiency and thus eliminate some workforce. Overall I think Walgreen model for the future of pharmacy is a one-stop health care solution with pharmacists as the face of their business. Without pharmacists they have no business. We have to keep increasing our role as a professional and offer additional services such as health screenings, immunizations etc. When we increase these roles, we have to get rid of some of the other time consuming tasks that we face as a retail pharmacist such as answering phones, ringing customers, etc. The model that has been described in this post is a completely redesigned store with a new innovative pharmacy, a ARNP/PA staffed clinic, a durable medical shop and of course your typical everyday necessities at the front of the store.

Also, remember, that this is a pilot and doesn't mean that it will be rolled out to all stores. A lot of pilots turn out to be flops. Sometimes they take what they learned from the flop and create solutions. Most stores would also have to undergo renovation to bring this design to life which is costly. Most retail pharmacies are also leased properties with 30 year leases, so the retail store isn't going anywhere anytime soon. The whole idea sounds promising to me as it appears that the company is trying to promote our profession and our worth as a pharmacist to the public. The pharmacists that may be hurt are those that lack people skills, clinical knowledge and the desire to produce results. I'd rather be counseling and doing more clinical activities than behind the counter any day.
 
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PharmD RPh said:
I think their idea is to get the pharmacist more involved in patient care and do more clinical activities. We all know pharmacy is an evolving profession with change that is inevitable. Walgreen wants to continue to expand the role of the pharmacist and establish more roles for us in the health care profession. After all, that is how they run their business right? The old days of counting pills and pounding out as many RXs as you can and nothing else is no longer a viable business model as reimbursement rates keep falling and Wal-mart and others tend to de-value the profession with cheap drugs.
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I like your point of view.

Hopefully Rphs don't have to start giving breast exams and pap smears at Walgreens though (start at 3:22 on this video: http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/381282/april-11-2011/pap-smears-at-walgreens)....
:smuggrin:
 
I heard walgreens is simultaneously lobbying for advanced scope of practice, and that their long term pharmacy vision is to have pharmacists as community health practitioners performing a sort of pharmaceutical care oriented 'minute clinic' alongside np's. and that walgreens eventually wants to make this one of its major profit generators. Sounds like project one is a step towards examining the sort of business flow that that type of model would require
 
PharmD RPh said:
I think their idea is to get the pharmacist more involved in patient care and do more clinical activities.
Click to expand...

PharmD RPh said:
Walgreen wants to continue to expand the role of the pharmacist and establish more roles for us in the health care profession...
Click to expand...

PharmD RPh said:
Without pharmacists they have no business...
Click to expand...

kool1.jpg
 
StevePerry said:
Think about it, the pharmacist is there now BECAUSE OF THE LAW. There are already laws for remote pharmacies in other states where no pharmacist has to be on duty. These are limited geographically. If you can't see where Walgreens (first major CHAIN to do this in URBAN areas) is headed with this, you are nuts. All the counseling and immunization are the easiest things to outsource next.
Click to expand...

Honestly, you still haven't answered my question. I'm approaching this with as much skepticism as the next guy because that is how I approach life.

However, until you can answer my question with something beyond "Think about it", I can't agree with you. I think Walgreen's has done their absolute best to bastardize the profession and all that I love about it until this point - but this seems like it might be (when I get a REAL answer) something that could be positive.

I've worked in corporate retail for eight years - I know how easily things can get screwed over. I just, for once, want something beyond "logical" antecdote. If your answer to this is "think about it," then tell me how a State Board of Pharmacy, comprised of majority pharmacists, will ever approve a deal that removes pharmacists from the pharmacy. Theoretical corporate conflicts of interest don't count.
 
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