Duane Reade Launches Comprehensive "Patient Transition Plan" for Express Scripts Members to Minimize Disruption and Inconvenience

NEW YORK, January 04, 2012 - Duane Reade, along with Walgreens (NYSE: WAG) (NASDAQ: WAG), has launched a comprehensive local effort to help patients who are covered by an Express Scripts, Inc., pharmacy network to continue using Duane Reade stores when possible or to make a smooth transition to another community pharmacy. The plan seeks to minimize patient disruption and inconvenience now that Express Scripts, a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), has ceased in-network coverage of prescriptions filled at Duane Reade and Walgreens as of Jan. 1, 2012. Patients whose prescription insurance is managed through other PBMs are not impacted by the Express Scripts situation.

This Patient Transition Plan is assisting Express Scripts members who depend on Duane Reade’s more than 250 pharmacies in the New York metropolitan area after the PBM rejected Walgreens offer to reach a negotiated agreement before the existing contract expired on Dec. 31, 2011. Duane Reade was acquired by Walgreens in 2010.

“With the start of the new year, many of our customers and patients are frustrated over losing access to Duane Reade pharmacies as a result of Express Scripts’ actions,” said Jeff Koziel, market vice president for Duane Reade stores. “They want to continue the longstanding, personal relationships they’ve developed with their trusted Duane Reade pharmacists. As a result, they are asking us about ways that they can continue accessing our pharmacy, health and wellness services. That’s why we have a comprehensive plan to continue serving our patients when possible, and in other cases ensure a smooth transition and minimize the disruption and inconvenience they may face.”

The Duane Reade plan for Express Scripts members is designed to help patients during this transition period and includes providing additional pharmacist and staff consultations, letters to patients that are also available in stores, targeted communications with high-volume patients and additional call center staffing. The plan also includes communications with employers and health plans to help them inform their members of the Express Scripts situation and their choices. In addition, Duane Reade is providing coupons for discounted health and wellness products and gift cards to eligible Express Scripts members.

“This disruption to pharmacy patients is especially troubling because it could have been avoided,” Walgreens President of Pharmacy, Health and Wellness Solutions and Services Kermit Crawford added. “In the middle of December we made another serious attempt to reach an agreement before Jan. 1 with an offer that included concessions to avoid patient disruption. Unfortunately, the response we received was not meaningful and their proposal to push negotiations into the new year has placed patients in this unfortunate position.”

In addition, Crawford said, “We do not believe that there will be any meaningful cost savings to justify this needless hardship to patients, since we offered to keep rates flat and Express Scripts itself has stated that the elimination of Walgreens from its pharmacy network will not provide any reduction in costs for clients. As the saying goes, it’s all pain with no gain.”

Duane Reade and Walgreens will continue to work closely with employers, health plans and mid-tier PBMs that wish to maintain access to the company’s pharmacies and expanding health and wellness services. To date, more than 120 Express Scripts clients have informed Walgreens that they have either switched to a different PBM or taken other steps, consistent with their contracts, to maintain access to Walgreens pharmacies in 2012.

The Duane Reade and Walgreens patient transition plan for Express Scripts members includes several elements:

• Increasing staff at the 1-800-Walgreens call center to help patients with information and guidance with the transition
• Making pharmacy computer system changes to support transferring multiple prescriptions at once
• Where allowed by states, providing a website to allow other pharmacies to electronically communicate a patient’s transfer request to Duane Reade and Walgreens
• Supporting some of Duane Reade’s and Walgreens higher-impacted locations by a centralized call center to handle transfer requests
• Making Duane Reade pharmacists and staff available to spend quality time with patients to discuss their options

About Duane Reade

Founded in 1960, Duane Reade is the largest drug store chain in New York City. In keeping with company’s brand vision of New York Living Made Easy, Duane Reade provides New Yorkers with prescriptions, health products and services, beauty products and services, food and convenience items for daily life in the City… everything for “How I Feel”, “How I Look”, and “What I Need Now”. The company operates 250+ stores throughout the metropolitan New York region. Duane Reade is part of the Walgreens family of companies, the nation’s largest drugstore chain with more than 7,800 stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

About Walgreens

Walgreens (www.walgreens.com) is the nation's largest drugstore chain with fiscal 2011 sales of $72 billion. The company operates 7,811 drugstores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Each day, Walgreens provides nearly 6 million customers the most convenient, multichannel access to consumer goods and services and trusted, cost-effective pharmacy, health and wellness services and advice in communities across America. Walgreens scope of pharmacy services includes retail, specialty, infusion, medical facility and mail service, along with respiratory services. These services improve health outcomes and lower costs for payers including employers, managed care organizations, health systems, pharmacy benefit managers and the public sector. Take Care Health Systems is a Walgreens subsidiary that is the largest and most comprehensive manager of worksite health and wellness centers and in-store convenient care clinics, with more than 700 locations throughout the country.

Walgreens
Michael Polzin, 847-315-2920
http://news.walgreens.com