Personnel Updates:
Rite Aid has appointed David Kelly as group VP construction.
Walgreens named Steve Pemberton the company’s divisional VP of diversity and inclusion, becoming the company’s first chief diversity officer.
Financial Focus:
Walgreen Co. increased the quarterly dividend 28.6 percent – the largest quarterly dividend increase in the company’s 110-year history – to 22.5 cents per share from the previous rate of 17.5 cents per share.
Industry Insight:
CVS/pharmacy announced the introduction of the “Beauty Board,” a panel of beauty and style experts who will provide interactive content and advice for the CVS Beauty Club Facebook Page. The ExtraCare Beauty Club, which launched in January 2011, is an extension of the CVS/pharmacy ExtraCare Rewards Program and provides members with additional rewards on beauty purchases and other beauty-specific benefits.
MinuteClinic and Cleveland Clinic Florida have entered into a clinical affiliation to enhance the high quality, affordable health care services they provide. MinuteClinic and Cleveland Clinic currently collaborate in 10 locations in northeast OH. Under the agreement Cleveland Clinic Florida family physicians will serve as medical directors for 12 MinuteClinic walk-in medical clinics inside select CVS/pharmacy stores from Palm Beach
Publix Super Markets is closing its network of 40 Little Clinic in-store clinics, staffed by nurse practitioners. The chain is terminating a deal with Solera Capital to “focus on its core food and pharmacy” businesses, the company said. Publix has “not decided how to use the space,” a spokeswoman said.
Walgreens and Take Care Health Systems have entered into a relationship with Core Performance to offer Core Performance corporate wellness services to Take Care Health Systems employer clients and to work jointly on innovation across the spectrum of employee health and wellness. Take Care Health Systems is the nation’s largest manager of employer health, pharmacy and fitness centers with nearly 400 locations throughout the United States
Mergers and Acquisitions:
Walgreens has acquired the 10-site retail pharmacy chain Carle Foundation, a pharmacy operator out of the Urbana-Champaign, Ill area with the majority of stores located inside medical office buildings.
Real Estate:
Duane Reade announced that a new 22,000-square-foot Duane Reade flagship store, one of the drugstore chain’s most innovative locations to date, opened in July. The new 24-hour store will have a decided “up market” focus, from its health care, food and beauty offerings to exclusive services and amenities never before seen in a Duane Reade or any other drugstore.
Green Initiatives:
CVS Caremark released its 2010 Corporate Social Responsibility Report, which provided an overview of the its commitments to environmental stewardship, improving patient health outcomes, ensuring its continued status as an employer of choice, and positively impacting people’s lives through its social investments.
