Walgreen reinvents pharmacists role

By Bruce Japsen

New York Times / October 22, 2011

Text size – +

As the Walgreen Co. pushes its army of pharmacists into the role of medical care providers, it is bringing them out from their decades-old post behind the pharmacy counter and onto the sales floor. The pharmacy chain, the nation’s largest, has renovated 20 stores in the Chicago area and is converting more than 40 in Indianapolis to get the pharmacist closer to patients. Pharmacists in the revamped stores are being kept away from the telephone, where administrative tasks occupy 25 percent of their time, Walgreen says.

For more from BostonGlobe.com, sign up or log in below