Welcome to The Donut Hole’s weekly summary. The news doesn’t stop. Lucky for you, we are here to help you take in the week that was in the business of healthcare.
Walgreens plans 9 more micro-fulfillment centers for prescription delivery
Walgreens plans to operate 11 micro-fulfilment centers across the country by the end of 2022, according to its CFO. Walgreens wants to use the fulfillment centers to create a "hub-and-spoke" model in which the centers operate in tandem with Walgreens stores. The centers would efficiently prepare the medications and then route them to a pharmacy location or the patient’s home depending on patient preference.
Walgreens highlighted that centralizing script fulfillment frees up pharmacists’ time for more counseling and diagnostic services. The company said it would be announcing more around the pharmacist-led diagnostics and services strategy later in the year.
Potential impact on you: Hopefully, initiatives like this one make it easier for patients to fill their scripts and boost adherence rates. As numerous studies show, non-adherence is a major problem in this country.
Allowing pharmacists to provide additional clinical services should also enable more comprehensive chronic care models. We look forward to Walgreens’ announcement later this year surrounding the broader strategy and hope they are bold in reimagining the role of the pharmacist in the patient journey.
Dollar General hires chief medical officer as it looks to become a health-care destination in rural areas
Dollar General has hired a Chief Medical Officer as it plans to make a push into health care. Initially, it looks like the retailer will focus on stocking more over-the-counter health products, such as cold and cough medication and dental supplies. Dollar General has recently piloted deeper forays into healthcare, though, including COVID-19 testing at select locations.
The new CMO, Dr. Albert Wu, joined from McKinsey & Company, where he led a team that focused on healthcare-related projects, such as providing care to thousands of rural patients, modeling how to support pandemic relief efforts, and designing a digitally driven health insurance.
Potential impact on you: Walmart has had its fits and starts in the healthcare space, recently slowing the pace of its health clinic strategy. It will be interesting to see how Dollar General behaves moving forward. The company has an opportunity to transform rural healthcare delivery via its 17,000+ locations across the country, but venturing into healthcare delivery is a massive leap for a consumer retailer to make. We have low expectations around the ultimate impact of Dollar General’s healthcare push, but are crossing our fingers that we’ll be pleasantly surprised. Rural healthcare access remains a huge issue.
One Medical employees announce plans to unionize
Staff members at One Medical, the high profile primary care company, recently announced their intention to unionize. According to Workers United, a Service Employees International Union affiliate, the bargaining unit will comprise ~500 staff members, including customer service agents, phlebotomists, administrative workers and assistants, front desk workers, and members of the virtual team. A spokesperson for Workers United said the decision to organize stemmed from workers' displeasure with wages, workflow, and job demands. For example, according to the spokesperson, staff members say they are "often misled" during the hiring process about the workload, complexity, and level of responsibility the job entails. The spokesperson also said that employees felt "severely underpaid" for the labor done, with salaries often below the living wage in their cities (One Medical’s clinic locations are primarily in expensive coastal cities).
One Medical pushed back on these claims but committed to recognizing a union if employees vote for one via an election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board.
Potential impact on you: This is hardly the first story of its kind in 2021. There have been numerous strikes by U.S. healthcare workers across the country so far this year, and in each case the complaints seem very similar: wages, working conditions / safety, and workload. It is interesting to see One Medical face the same labor problems as traditional community hospitals, though, and we can’t help but wonder if One Medical’s status as a public company has driven some decisions around pay and staffing models in a bid to lower operating costs.
Other news you may like:
Ochsner Health Takes Remote Patient Monitoring to a National Level
FDA revises labeling of Biogen Alzheimer's drug to emphasize early treatment
Hospitals often charge uninsured, cash-paying patients more than payers, WSJ reports
Ascension, Intermountain join funding round for musculoskeletal care startup
AliveCor gets FDA clearance for feature to measure QT interval
Have a great week!
— Hannah and Caleb Bank, Co-founders
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