In regions of the United States with large populations of people living with HIV, small, specialized pharmacies are catering to positive people’s medication needs in ways that mail-order services cannot, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports (stltoday.com, 5/21).

“It’s a way to take care of patients in a slightly different environment that’s giving more focused care,” said Glen Pietradoni, manager of HIV, AIDS and hepatitis programs for Walgreen Co. “The stores are smaller, the staff is more highly educated on the disease.”

The Post-Dispatch reports that other pharmacy chains are providing specialized HIV care, including CarePlus—a s pharmacy under the CVS Corp./Caremark Inc. umbrella—and BioScrip, a leading mail-order pharmacy. At BioScrip’s Richmond Heights, St. Louis, location, for example, 90 percent of customers are living with HIV/AIDS.