BOSTON — Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader William H. Frist addressed the Pharmacy & Technology Conference of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, Alexandria, Va., this week in a speech that was unusual for a politician at a trade show in that it directly referenced the interests of his audience. On the topic of “Responsible Health Care Reform,” Frist, who is a doctor, created a fictional character in the year 2015, and described how health spending accounts and other advances helped in dealing with injury and disease. “All that will be modified as we learn more about consumer-directed care,” he said. “Modified HSAs have a very, very positive future. It will also enable competition in the health care marketplace to work, he added. “To generate transformational change to such a consumer-driven, patient-centered, provider-friendly health care system will require entrepreneurial, collaborative kinds of partnerships. Obviously, the community-based retail pharmacy plays a vital role in these partnerships because of the trust and unique value they bring to the individual patient. These partnerships must combine the innovation of the business world, the passion and humanity of the nonprofit world, and inclusive networked culture of the digital world,” Frist said.

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