MultiCare opening new pharmacy

MultiCare Health System announced Friday it will be opening a new MultiCare Rockwood Pharmacy on Monday.

The full-service pharmacy at 400 E. Fifth Ave. will feature a new service that will provide bedside-medication delivery prior to a patient’s discharge from MultiCare Deaconess or MultiCare Valley hospitals, according to a news release.

The new pharmacy is co-located with several other MultiCare Rockwood Clinic services, which will allow patients to be able to pick up prescriptions at the time they receive care, including specialty and chemotherapy medication, the release said.

In addition, mail and same-day-prescription delivery will be available to all patients. The same-day deliver will include a $10 service fee.

The pharmacy will be open weekdays from 9am-to-5:30pm and closed each day for lunch from 1p.m.-to-1:30 p.m., according to the release.

Consumers slow spending again

WASHINGTON – American consumers slowed their spending to a gain of just 0.6% in September, a cautionary sign for an economy that remains in the grip of a pandemic and a prolonged bout of high inflation.

At the same time, a key inflation barometer that is closely followed by the Federal Reserve surged 4.4% last month from a year earlier – the fastest such increase in three decades.

Sharply rising prices, in part a result of supply shortages, have imposed a growing burden on American households.

For months, annual inflation has remained far above the modest annual rates of 2% or less that prevailed before the pandemic recession.

From staff and wire reports