Consumer Guide to Steamboat Bodyworks-Pharmacies

Lyon's Corner Drug

No names are listed so no credentials can be checked.

Pharmacy is a term with Greek roots meaning sorcery, poison, drug, or medicine. In modern times, pharmacy is a health care profession that provides and dispenses drugs and medicine, and as such, pharmacists are required to have state licensing.

RX is from the Latin word meaning recipe.

Drugstores are a hybrid that combines the dispensation of prescription medicine with retail sales of cosmetics and other miscellaneous products. Enterprises that include pharmacies, such as grocery stores and general merchandise stores, are required to follow HIPAA (Health Information Portability and Accountability Act) to protect patient privacy, which includes communication between patient and pharmacist. Most of these kinds of businesses use some type of controls, such as barriers and signage, that is intended to keep shoppers and waiting customers some distance away from patient-pharmacist consultations. This is called reasonable safeguard, the minimum requirement under HIPAA laws, which do not require the elimination of all risks of breach of privacy as long as reasonable safeguards are used.
However, not all establishments have easily discernible reasonable safeguards and shoppers, waiting customers, pharmacy employees and retail employees may not be aware of how they might be infringing on patients' privacy. In that regard, patients' and consumers' considerations in protecting their privacy would be in their own best interest. It is always reasonable and appropriate to ask a pharmacist to ensure the privacy of all patient-pharmacist communications.

"Best of the Boat" is a designation that is not of much use for consumers. It is an advertising gimmick resulting from a popularity contest in which people vote for their favorite stores or businesses. However, the contest itself is not very popular. With a low participation rate, some businesses and stores win their category on a single vote, with other participants in the same category receiving no votes. All votes can come from relatives or friends or anyone with a vested interest in a store or business. "Best of The Boat" is designed to generate advertising dollars, not to assure consumers of quality of goods or services of any particular store or business.