Walgreens 2008 Annual Report Download - page 9

2008 Walgreens Annual Report Page 7
Serving patients from
hospital to home
Christie Fishel, manager of the Walgreens
pharmacy in Northwestern Memorial Hospital
in downtown Chicago, works closely with
doctors, patients and other staff as part of
the health care team. The Northwestern site
is one of 73 medical center pharmacies
Walgreens operates in hospitals and clinics.
“Patients come from all over to be treated
at Northwestern,” says Fishel. “When they
fill their first dose with us, they’ll usually refill
it at the Walgreens in their neighborhood.”
In-store clinics expand
health services
As of fiscal year-end, Take Care Clinics were
located in 217 Walgreens drugstores across
29 markets. Nurse practitioners and physician
assistants in these clinics have delivered care
to more than 660,000 patients since Take Care
Health Systems opened its first clinic in
November 2005. The clinics offer accessible
and affordable services, including treatment of
minor illnesses and injuries, school and sports
physicals, and immunizations. The company
just rolled out additional vaccinations and men’s
and women’s health evaluations, focusing on
prevention and wellness.
Sources: IMS Health and Walgreens
“I love the personal attention we get from
Walgreen pharmacists 24 hours a day,” says
Wolf. “We recently had a late-night emergency
where I needed an antibiotic for my husband
immediately. My physician phoned in the
prescription and five minutes later, as I walked
to the counter, the pharmacist was putting the
label on the bottle. It gives me peace of mind
to know that I can count on reliable service
from Walgreen pharmacists.”
Wolf – a native of New York City – and Walgreens
have a long shared history. As a college student
in the 1940s, she “hung out” at a Walgreens
soda fountain in Manhattan. Now Wolf, like
millions of other patients, appreciates the
company’s convenient pharmacy services,
including automatic online or phone refills,
automatic credit card payments, prescription
directions in large print, instructions in one
of 14 languages and the new Prescription
Savings Club, which offers discounts on more
than 5,000 medications.
Retail Prescription Market Share
In percent
Prescription discounts
are in the cards
To assist more than 45 million uninsured patients,
as well as people who are underinsured, the
Walgreens Prescription Savings Club offers
the retail pharmacy industry’s most
comprehensive prescription dis-
count plan. More than one million
people have enrolled in the plan to
take advantage of discounts on over
5,000 brand name and generic
medications. Other benefits include
more than 400-plus generic medications
that cost less than a dollar a week.
Members also receive rebates on private
brand purchases throughout the store.