Walgreens stops new Medicaid prescriptions

Walgreens has told state officials that as of April 16, it no longer will fill prescriptions for new Medicaid patients at its 121 Washington pharmacies because it isn’t being reimbursed enough by the state. In a news release, the Deerfield, Ill.-based drugstore chain said it will continue to serve its existing Medicaid patients, but it can’t take on additional losses because of reductions in the state’s payments. The chain said the state reimburses it at less than its cost to break even on nearly 95 percent of brand name medications it dispenses to Medicaid patients. Last month, Bartell Drugs stopped taking new Medicaid patients at all 57 of its stores in Washington, though it still fills prescriptions for existing Medicaid customers at all but 15 of those stores.

Third new 747-8 joins flight tests

The third and final Boeing 747-8 Freighter to take part in the new jet’s flight test program flies for the first time. Boeing Co. says the plane took off from Everett’s Paine Field on Wednesday afternoon for a two-and-a-half-hour flight before landing at Boeing Field in Seattle. The huge plane reached an altitude of 30,000 feet and flew about 280 miles per hour. At 250 feet long, the jumbo jet is the biggest plane Boeing has ever built. The first plane in the test program made its initial flight on Feb. 8. After the three jets complete about 3,700 hours of testing.

Sears uses Twitter to promote jobs, self

Sears Holding Corp. said Wednesday that more than 7,000 job openings at Sears and Kmart will be posted on Twitter, a move experts say is a way to advertise and market its brands to 18- to 34-year-olds, the mainstay of the social networking site. “It allows for multiple ways to communicate a positive message and achieve multiple goals within an organization from marketing to (human resources),” said media strategist Mike Dwyer. Sears Holdings said the job tweets will be posted by TweetMyJobs.com, which also handles similar postings from McDonald’s and Motorola. Though Twitter is free, TweetMyJobs.com charges from $4,000 for 500 postings to $8,000 for unlimited postings.

Palm reports loss as phone sales fizzle

Palm Inc. on Thursday reported sales figures that showed it’s having a difficult time getting consumers to pay attention to its phones in a market dominated by iPhones and BlackBerrys. The company shipped 960,000 smart phones to stores and distributors in the quarter that ended Feb. 26, 23 percent more than in the previous quarter. However, the number of phones that were actually bought by consumers was 408,000, down 29 percent from the previous quarter. Palm reported a loss of $22 million, or 13 cents per share, for the quarter, its fiscal third. That was mitigated by an accounting effect. Excluding that, the loss was $102.8 million, or 61 cents per share. In the same period a year ago Palm lost $98 million, or 89 cents per share.

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