Walgreens to pay workers' tuition to bolster pharmacist ranks
Walgreens is rolling out a new tactic to replenish its ranks of pharmacists: paying for current employees' college prep to better position them for pharmacy school.
Why it matters: Long hours, burnout and tuition costs are hindering pharmacy chains' ability to fill gaps in their ranks even as they position themselves to offer more services and patient monitoring.
Efforts to encourage technicians and other support staff to take the next step in their careers haven't caught fire because of the cost and time to get prerequisite schooling.
Driving the news: Walgreens on Wednesday was set to announce an initiative called PharmStart with talent development company Guild to offer prerequisite classes online and paid for in full, the company told Axios first.
Workforce surveys showed nearly roughly 3 in 4 technicians want to attend pharmacy school, Rick Gates, chief pharmacy officer for Walgreens, told Axios.
"But the bottlenecks were around the cost of tuition, their prerequisite requirements and balancing work and family," he said. "This helps solve all three to some extent."
Up to 300 workers across six states, including Oklahoma, Texas, Oregon, Illinois, Wisconsin and Kentucky, will be selected to take advantage of the program.
What they're saying: The industrywide numbers around the pharmacy shortage are alarming, with a 20% drop in new graduates between 2018 and 2024, said George MacKinnon, pharmacy school dean at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
If the trend continues, that figure will grow to a reduction of 33% — or from nearly 15,000 down to 10,000, said MacKinnon, a member of Walgreens' Deans Advisory Council, which connects the company with pharmacy school deans.
"Where you're seeing the implications of this is we have pharmacies that can't staff because they don't can't cover the hours. You can't cover the weekend. It's impacting all of us as consumers and patients," he said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Axios
12 hours ago
- Axios
Republicans worry DOGE cuts will sink them in Virginia governor's race
Republicans are increasingly worried that budget cuts by Elon Musk 's DOGE could cost them dearly in November's vote for Virginia governor — an early electoral test of President Trump 's policies. Why it matters: Virginia has one of the highest percentages of federal employees in the country — more than 5% of the state's workforce by some estimates — and Republicans' internal polls are starting to show the damage from tens of thousands of federal layoffs. Zoom in: The University of Virginia's Weldon Cooper Center has projected that 32,000 jobs could be lost in the state this year, many of them federal positions. "Northern Virginia is filled with people who suffered the consequences of the DOGE cuts, and it's hard to see them being sympathetic to a Republican candidate who supports the DOGE cuts," said Whit Ayers, a veteran Republican pollster. "I suspect this will be an albatross around the neck of every Republican candidate this year," said Virginia Republican Bill Bolling, a former lieutenant governor. By the numbers: A private poll done for the campaign of a statewide Republican candidate suggested that just 39% of voters had a favorable view of DOGE. Nearly half of voters surveyed said they knew of someone impacted by the DOGE cuts, according to results shared with Axios. The poll showed Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears trailing former U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D) by single digits, outside the margin of error. Between the lines: DOGE could especially hurt Earle-Sears' campaign for governor in Northern Virginia and Norfolk, sections of the state where huge segments of the population are federal workers or have jobs tied to the government. Those areas played a role in Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin's win in 2021, when he cut into Democratic margins and improved on the GOP's performance in 2017. (Virginia governors can't succeed themselves, so Youngkin isn't allowed to run again.) The D.C. suburbs of Northern Virginia are home to upper- and middle-income voters, many of whom have ties to the government and are particularly likely to vote. Even non-federal workers in those areas could be impacted by DOGE, given the role federal funding plays in driving the local economy. Flashback: Republicans already are comparing DOGE's potential impact on Virginia's 2025 election to that of the GOP-led government shutdown of 2013, which resulted in hundreds of thousands of government workers being placed on unpaid leave. Democrats swept the state's highest offices that year — an outcome many GOP strategists blamed on the shutdown. "Washington, D.C., politics have long shaped the outcome of Virginia off-year elections," Virginia-based GOP strategist Jimmy Keady said in a text to Axios. "With over 230,000 Virginians working in or around the federal government, especially in Northern Virginia and Norfolk, any proposal that threatens those jobs — like DOGE — turns into a high-stakes issue," he added. The other side: Democrats are making DOGE a centerpiece of their election playbook. Virginia's Democratic Party has been running ads highlighting Earle-Sears' comments accusing the media of overhyping the impact of DOGE cuts. Other Democratic commercials are linking Republican state legislative candidates to Musk. Behind the scenes: Youngkin has taken steps to try to soften the blow to the state's federal workers, launching a " Virginia Has Jobs" initiative aimed at helping laid-off workers find new positions. Reality check: Republicans say Earle-Sears has an uphill climb, even without DOGE. In every election since 1977 besides one, the state has elected a governor from the opposition party to the sitting president. Top GOP officials — including some close to Trump — have criticized Earle-Sears and her campaign. Chris LaCivita, Trump's 2024 co-campaign manager and a longtime player in Virginia politics, has called her team " amateurs." What they're saying: Peyton Vogel, a spokesperson for Earle-Sears, rejected the notion that federal cutbacks could hurt the GOP candidate.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Trump Is Bleeding Hundreds of Millions Thanks to Musk's War
The explosion of Donald Trump's once-cozy friendship with Elon Musk is hitting them hard where it hurts most—in the pocketbook. As reported Thursday, Musk's personal fortune was cut by $26.6 billion after Tesla shares slumped by more than 14 percent, wiping a mind-boggling $150 billion off the EV giant's market value. But Trump isn't escaping unscathed. According to Axios, Trump Media & Technology Group stock declined 8 percent, while his MAGA-fueled $TRUMP cryptocurrency tumbled 12 percent—bleeding him of more than a billion dollars. The website reported that the 8 percent dip in Trump Media & Technology Group cost the president around $202 million. But he may be more concerned by the roughly 10 percent decline in the value of of his Official Trump meme coin, potentially costing him nearly $900 million. As Axios noted: 'Both men got to vent their frustrations publicly, and it only cost them about $21 billion.' The dramatic split was triggered when Musk, having departed his DOGE post on May 30, torched Trump's so-called 'One Big Beautiful Bill'—a sprawling tax-and-spending package—as a 'disgusting abomination.' Musk, who had personally poured nearly $300 million into Republican campaigns in 2024, tweeted: 'Without me, Trump would have lost.' After an uncharacteristic delay, Trump hit back—threatening to strip federal contracts from Musk's companies, which would kill electric vehicle tax credits and cost Tesla $1.2 billion this year, according to JPMorgan analysts. Musk then pressed the nuclear button by alleging Trump's name appears in sealed legal files on the late pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. He also called for Trump's impeachment, responding 'yes' to a user on X who wrote: 'Trump should be impeached and JD Vance should replace him.' However, a truce may be on the horizon, as Trump and Musk are expected to speak in person on Friday, according to Politico's White House Bureau Chief Dasha Burns. Perhaps, as the old adage goes, money really does talk.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
White House Aides Blame Trump Loyalist for Fueling Musk Feud
President Donald Trump's feud with Elon Musk shows no sign of abating, and inside the MAGA machine the knives are out for one of the president's closest aides. Axios reported that furious Trump advisers are pointing the finger at Sergio Gor, the president's personnel chief and longtime family loyalist, for pushing Trump to torpedo Musk's top choice to lead NASA, billionaire entrepreneur and astronaut Jared Isaacman. According to the advisers, Isaacman's rejection for the role had to do with his previous donations to Democratic organizations, as was previously reported. Yet the advisers said it was Gor in particular who repeatedly opposed the nomination to Trump behind the scenes—sealing the decision to pull Isaacman's nomination. Gor—who co-founded a publishing venture with Donald Trump Jr.—reportedly oversees key loyalty tests for the Trump administration's hires and is known for ruthlessly protecting Trump's interests. He reportedly 'spun up the president' against Isaacman 'by just constantly mentioning the donations,' a Trump adviser told Axios. In a Wednesday interview with the 'All-In Podcast‚' Isaacman appeared to mention Gor as the 'influential adviser' who had Trump's ear while reviewing his associations. He also suggested that his relationship with Musk didn't do him any favors as changes were being made in the White House. 'I'm not going to play dumb on this—I don't think timing was much of a coincidence… there were other changes going on the same day,' said Isaacman. He added, 'The President's got to make a call and move on.' Trump announced in a May 31 Truth Social post that he was withdrawing Isaacman's nomination days before he was set to be confirmed by the Senate, the Associated Press (AP) reported. He added that the withdrawal came after a 'thorough review' of Isaacman's 'prior associations' and he will soon 'announce a new Nominee who will be Mission aligned, and put America First in Space.' On Thursday, taking press questions in the Oval Office, Trump suggested pulling Isaacman's nomination was one of many reasons Musk was 'upset' and torching him online. Musk even threatened to pull SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft from NASA missions before awkwardly backpedaling, AP reported. Meanwhile, both men have seen their stock portfolios take major hits amid the escalating drama. Axios quoted White House communications director Steven Cheung saying in a written statement that Gor 'is a vital member of the team and he has helped President Trump put together an administration that is second to none.' The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for a response.
