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Pharmacies in the United States

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There are approximately 88,000 pharmacies in the United States. Over half (about
48,000) are located within drug stores, grocery stores, hospitals, department
stores, medical clinics, surgery clinics, universities, nursing homes, prisons, and
other facilities. The remaining pharmacies are considered to be independent or
privately owned. The top 25 pharmacy chain stores represent about 38,000
pharmacy locations in the U.S. and employ about 149,000 on-
staff pharmacists. California has 8,015 pharmacies, the most of any
state. Texas, Florida, New York, and Pennsylvania round out the top five states for
pharmacy locations.[1] Nationwide, the number of community pharmacies increased
by 6.3% between 2007-2015, and the number of pharmacies per 10,000 people
(2.11) did not change. However, the number of pharmacies per-capita varies
substantially across counties, ranging from 0 to 13.6 per- 10,000 people in 2015. [2]

Contents

 1Patient care services

o 1.1Access
o 1.2Dispensing Prescriptions
o 1.3Drug Utilization Review
 2Pharmacy chains
 3References

Patient care services[edit]

Access[edit]
Community pharmacies offer basic preliminary health assessments in addition to
dispensing prescriptions. The community pharmacist is considered to be the most
accessible healthcare professional to the general public, as they are available to
anyone on a walk-in basis. [3] Approximately 9 out of 10 Americans live within 5 miles
of a community pharmacy.[4]
Dispensing Prescriptions[edit]
The primary role of pharmacies in the US is to safely and accurately fill prescriptions
ordered by healthcare providers for patients. The pharmacy may receive a
prescription in many ways, including a hardcopy, verbally over the phone, or
electronically from the provider's electronic medical record system (EMR) is linked to
the pharmacy.[5] Upon receival, the pharmacy staff first verify or update the patient's
profile in the pharmacy computer system. The profile includes the patient's name,
date of birth, address, phone number, insurance, allergies, conditions, etc., all
factors that help ensure the correct patient receives the correct and appropriate
medication in a safe manner. The prescription details typically consisting of the
medication name, dosage form, instructions, quantity, day supply, refills, etc. are
entered into the computer. The pharmacist checks to ensure the prescription has
been entered accurately, any interactions between other medication therapies or
conditions, and appropriateness of the therapy for the patient. Depending on the
pharmacy's computer system, the claim is either submitted for payment to the
insurance, discount care, or filled for the cash price either after the prescription is
entered or after the pharmacist checks the order.[5]
Drug Utilization Review[edit]
Part of the dispensing process includes managing a patient's therapy, including
prescription drugs and over the counter (OTC) medications and assessing their
appropriateness of the therapy for the patient - this is also referred to as drug
utilization review (DUR). The DUR process is completed by the pharmacist. The
process reviews a patient's drug order in a systemic and comprehensive review
against predetermined criteria and compared against a patient’s or a population’s
data records. The DUR process often utilizes computerized algorithms to perform
key checks with known data, and the results of the algorithms are reviewed by the
pharmacist. Common issues analyzed are appropriate prescription medications
dosage, drug interactions, duplications or contraindications with the patient’s disease
state or condition. Evaluation or interactions are often classified in the following
categories: [6]

 Clinical abuse/misuse
 Drug-disease contraindications (when a
prescribed drug should not be used with certain
diseases)
 Drug-dosage modification
 Drug-drug interactions (when two or more
different drugs interact and alter their intended
effects and may cause adverse effects)
 Drug-patient precautions (gender, age, allergies,
pregnancy, etc.)
 Formulary considerations or substitutions (e.g.,
therapeutic interchange, generic substitution,
cost)
DUR can be performed in prospective, concurrently, or retrospectively. Prospective
DUR review is when a patient's planned drug therapy is evaluated before a
medication is dispensed. Concurrent review is performed during the course of
treatment with ongoing drug therapy. A retrospective DUR reviews drug therapy after
the drug therapy is completed. The retrospective review helps detect patterns in
prescribing, dispensing or administering drugs, or following with any post-therapy
issues.[6]
DUR is helpful for all areas of heathcare by providing feedback on therapy
performance and outcomes. Therapy reviews highlight prescribing behaviors
compared to pre-set criteria or treatment protocols. [6]

Pharmacy chains[edit]
The table below shows the top 25 pharmacy chains in the United States ranked by
total number of pharmacists, according to the U.S. National Pharmacy Market
Summary done by IQVIA in 2019.[1]
Pharmacist
Rank Pharmacy Chain Headquarters Store(s)
s
1 Walgreens Company Deerfield, Illinois 48,986 9,323
Woonsocket, Rhode
2 CVS Health 31,235 9,900
Island
3 Walmart Bentonville, Arkansas 15,369 4,865
Camp Hill,
4 Rite Aid Corp 10,869 2,721
Pennsylvania
5 Kroger Company Cincinnati, Ohio 7,516 1,956
6 Albertsons Inc Boise, Idaho 6,157 1,713
Chesterbrook,
7 AmerisourceBergen Corporation 4,852 1,961
Pennsylvania
8 Publix Super Markets Inc Lakeland, Florida 4,700 1,084
San Francisco,
9 McKesson Corp 4,524 1,556
California
10 Costco Wholesale Corp Issaquah, Washington 2,179 500
11 Cardinal Health Inc Dublin, Ohio 1,382 518
12 Ahold Delhaize Usa Carlisle, Pennsylvania 1,380 521
13 H E Butt Grocery Company San Antonio, Texas 1,310 270
Meijer Great Lakes Limited Grand Rapids,
14 1,080 238
Partnership Michigan
15 Southeastern Grocers LLC Jacksonville, Florida 1,059 327
West Des Moines,
16 Hy Vee Inc 1,006 249
Iowa
Hoffman Estates,
17 Sears Holdings Corp (Defunct) 945 306
Illinois
18 Kaiser Permanente Oakland, California 892 131
19 Freds Inc (Defunct) Memphis, Tennessee 778 301
20 Pharmerica Corp Louisville, Kentucky 614 89
Pittsburgh,
21 Giant Eagle Inc 594 204
Pennsylvania
Shopko Stores Operating Company
22 Green Bay, Wisconsin 574 206
LLC (Defunct)
Salisbury, North
23 Ahold Delhaize America 484 170
Carolina
 Pharmacist
Rank Pharmacy Chain Headquarters Store(s)
s
24 Wegmans Food Markets Inc Rochester, New York 479 88
Gouverneur, New
25 Kinney Drugs Inc 437 113
York

References[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:    "U.S. National Pharmacy Market
a b

Summary".  OneKey by IQVIA. July 2019.

2. ^ Qato, Dima Mazen; Zenk, Shannon; Wilder, Jocelyn;
Harrington, Rachel; Gaskin, Darrell; Alexander, G. Caleb
(2017-08-16).  "The availability of pharmacies in the
United States: 2007–2015".  PLOS ONE. 12 (8):
e0183172.  doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0183172. ISSN 193
2-6203. PMC  5559230.
3. ^ says, Dean Reardon (2016-09-06). "Community
Pharmacy".  News-Medical.net. Retrieved  2020-12-13.
4. ^ "By the numbers: How community pharmacists
measure up".  Drug Store News. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
5. ^ Jump up to:a b "Getting a prescription filled: MedlinePlus
Medical Encyclopedia".  medlineplus.gov. Retrieved 2021-
01-06.
6. ^ Jump up to:a b c "Drug Utilization Review |
AMCP.org". www.amcp.org. Retrieved 2021-01-15.

Categories: 
 Pharmacies of the United States
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 This page was last edited on 17 February 2021, at 03:16 (UTC).
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