Company Overview Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. or better known as Walgreens currently operates as one of largest retail drugstore chain in the world. With over 12,800 stores in 11 countries, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. has solidified its standing as a leader in the retail drug market. The newly formed corporation was designed with a holding company structure and has a presence in over 25 countries and employs upwards to 370,000 people making it the largest retail pharmacy destination in both the United States and Europe (Annual Report, 2014). Walgreens gained a 45 % stake in Alliance Boots at the end of 2012 in an attempt at creating a global brand. Walgreens decided to take an option of a complete buyout which would be finalized in 3 years, …show more content…
In the summer of 2012 Walgreens announced the rollout of their electronic health record (EHR) solution known as the Walgreens Cloud EHR. This EHR system feeds from the Oracle Healthcare Data Repository, a framework for integrating and managing healthcare data and customer information from all of its stores (Greenway Health). The system integrates HIPPA compliance and allows pharmacists at over 8,000 chain stores to access uniform patient data. Senior vice president, chief information officer and innovation and improvement officer, Tim Theriault states “Having a chain-wide EHR platform enhances our pharmacists’ ability to provide individualized immunization and health testing recommendations, which is key to closing gaps in patient care that exist today,” (Greenway Health). The rollout was completed in August of 2014 and currently gives pharmacy staff at more than 8,200 locations a uniform view of patient data (Forbes).This initiative was one of many to …show more content…
With the enactment of HIPAA, the ability to accurately and reliably share data across these various systems is crucial. A data breach is a very real risk associated with cloud computing and as cloud-based platforms for big data get more popular; they will become targets of malicious activity. Also with so many devices feeding into one service, it is crucial that the cloud application has secure API’s that cannot be bypassed or circumvented. If measures are not taken to assure stakeholders that these standards are met, the sustainability of this initiative will be short