Health care prescription

Dear Editor,

With annual healthcare costs expected to double to $12,000 per person by 2015 (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services), America's healthcare crisis has become one of the hot-button issues of the 2008 presidential campaign.

Yet, while the candidates offer proposals, America's community pharmacists are delivering results-and consumers have noticed. In fact, according to a recent report from the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, consumers trust their community pharmacists more than health-related Web sites, friends and family, insurers and employers, government, sometimes even their own doctors.

As the issues facing our national healthcare system are brought into greater focus, most suggested solutions are centered on the cost of medications. However, I believe that America's pharmacists are demonstrating that there is much more to healthcare reform than reducing costs.

Dedicated pharmacists across the country are making noteworthy strides to address the broader issues of quality, effectiveness, and yes, costs-community by community, one patient at a time. Their prescription includes an expanded array of healthcare programs and preventive services to improve patient outcomes, such as medication therapy management, adherence (ensuring patients take their medicine as directed), wellness counseling, disease screening, and more.

Next time you have a prescription to be filled, I encourage you and the residents in your community to visit your local community pharmacist and experience the extraordinary healthcare expertise available at the pharmacy counter.

Best regards,

Angela E. Langan R.P.

U-Save Pharmacy

& Medical Supply