In 1988 the triumphs outnumbered the tragedies - physician dispensing, AIDS patients, discounted third-party reimbursements - Pharmacy - column

In 1988 the triumphs outnumbered the tragedies

There's no question that getting older has many drawbacks. But probably the one I dislike most is the way time seems to fly the older you get. As I start another year as editor of Drug Store News/Inside Pharmacy, I find it hard to believe it's been five years since I stopped filling prescriptions full-time.

Yet, my strong ties to retail pharmacy have kept me current on its triumphs and tragedies over those years. As 1989 approaches, I took a look at some of the more memorable stories we covered last year and discovered that overall, 1988 handed pharmacy more triumphs than tragedies.

It was a year that retail pharmacists finally took a public stand on several issues. For example, two New York pharmacists attending the NARD convention in Atlanta publicly protested discounted reimbursements while nearly 1,000 miles away our cameras recorded another group of pharmacists protesting physician dispensing outside a doctor's office in New Jersey.

In Georgia, the Georgia Pharmaceutical Association launched a campaign directly at the consumer to help stop the spreading of physician dispensing while in Massachusetts, exclusive contracts were on pharmacists' minds when they formed S.T.O.P., a task force designed to Save The Open Plan. Even the chains got into the act of speaking out when Alex Grass, chairman of Rite Aid, publicly announced that the Pennsylvania-based chain will not accept costly third-party plans.

Pharmacists also received some good news from consumers. A Roper poll showed that four times as many consumers prefer to buy their prescriptions from a pharmacy rather than a physician, and in Washington, the National Council of Senior Citizens endorsed pending federal legislation to ban prescription drug sales by physicians.

As AIDS continued to spread its deadly path nationwide during 1988, more pharmacists found themselves confronted with AIDS patients at their prescription counters. In N.Y. we reported a disturbing story of a hospital pharmacist carrying the AIDS virus who was fighting for his job, and we focused on a pharmacy in Greenwich Village that showed a compassion and understanding for the AIDS patient that I believe went beyond most peoples expectations.

As new products flooded the market in 1988, consumers finally got a chance to use the first product approved for baldness as Upjohn received its long-awaited approval on Rogaine and McNeil's Retin-A suddenly became a miracle drug for getting rid of wrinkles. A JAMA study revealed that Aspirin was longer just for aches, pains and fever; taking Aspirin on a regular basis could possibly prevent heart attacks and Roche stepped up its warning on Accutane as a result of some new reports on birth defects caused by the drug.

Finally, 1988 was a rewarding year for Drug Store News. We celebrated our 60th anniversary with an issue that took a nostalgic look at retail pharmacy's past. And market studies showed that our readership of Inside Pharmacy continued to grow over the past year, and for that I thank you, our readers, for without your support none of this would be possible.

I am confident that retail pharmacy is on a rebound after a few years of struggle. I get the feeling that pharmacists have finally begun to work together as a profession and that many of the problems thrown into its path will be hurdled successfully... and to tell you the truth, as a pharmacist, that's a pretty good feeling.

COPYRIGHT 1989 Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
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