Author: Peter

McKesson… announced it has been selected as a 2015 C. Everett Koop National Health Award recipient in recognition for the company’s employee health and wellness program…Our...program…promotes the physical, mental and social wellbeing of our employees and their families…focus is on improving health, we’re pleased that the wellness initiatives have created opportunities to lower health care costs…includes health risk assessments and screenings, educational tools, physical activities and prevention efforts. The program has had increased employee engagement each year since its inception…and has evolved from a payout for completed health assessments into a comprehensive health promotion program with an integrated incentive structure that rewards participants for healthy behaviors.

pharmacy workers within Target Corp's store in Brooklyn, New York, have won a vote to form a microunion, making it the first unionized store at the retailer since its inception in 1902…a group of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians won an initial ballot, 7-2, to form the union,.. "It is a big win for us," said…director of the United Food and Commercial Workers union that supported the vote…

What’s in a reputation?.. A lot… The level of antagonism toward pharma in the U.S. is a surprise... considering how deep it goes.. Overall, the corporate reputation of the entire biopharma industry was low, verging on abysmal…"[T]he pricing of oncology drugs is driving a rift between pharma and patients."… At the other end of the healthcare reputation spectrum.. retail pharmacies at the very top…75% of those surveyed believed that retail pharmacists have an "excellent" or "good" corporate reputation. Patients responded positively to the community-based, patient-oriented focus of retail pharmacists,..

New report details lax management of contractors, missed deadlines, process in disarray… contracts awarded for the development, implementation and operation of HealthCare.gov, the HHS Office of the Inspector General found the supervision of contractors on the job to be sorely lacking…The report…offers details of the lackaidaisical contract oversight – and often the lack of supervision altogether.

• Contractor delays and performance issues were not always identified,
• A contractor incurred unauthorized costs that increased the cost of the contract
• Contracting officers in all government agencies did not have access to contractor past-performance evaluations when making contract awards
• Critical deliverables and management decisions were not properly documented

Large U.S. health systems are buying clinics, physician practices and digital resources in search of growth opportunities in lieu of traditional acquisition of other hospitals,… which is being driven by the need to gain economies of scale, shift from volume to value-based care, compete in local markets and expand digital health and healthcare IT capabilities…To deal effectively with greater complexity, higher volumes and other changes resulting from increased acquisitions, industry providers will need to manage their businesses with the mindset of a portfolio manager…

Department of Health and Human Services said …signed a deal with British drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc to develop antibiotics... will share costs…to develop a portfolio of drugs to treat illnesses caused by bioterrorism agents and antibiotic-resistant infections… Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority .. will initially provide $50 million,… The first drug candidate to be explored is a combination of two antibiotics, Aztreonam and Avibactam

By 2020, a staggering 26 billion IoT-enabled devices will be installed worldwide..When the Federal Bureau of Investigation issues an alert to healthcare organizations and others warning of the serious cyber risks the Internet of Things presents, it's probably best to pay attention…And they're not necessarily all the devices you might think of. They also include things such as HVAC remotes, Wi-Fi camera, insulin dispensers, thermostats and any type of wearable and other medical devices. These devices,...are notorious for having serious security deficiencies… healthcare industry is not as resilient to cyber intrusions compared to the financial and retail sectors, therefore the possibility of increased cyber intrusions is likely,…

Health care just got a whole lot more convenient in Manhattan, where a pair of health app developers …began coupling their offerings in what may become the ultimate in fast service — doctors to your door by way of Pager quickly followed by an on-demand prescription delivery from Zipdrug...Pager was launched…a healthcare startup reinventing the traditional doctor-patient experience…connects patients to board-certified doctors who make home, office or hotel visits within two hours…. Zipdrug…employs a trained delivery staff who picks up prescriptions at the pharmacy of the patient's choice and delivers them to the patient's doorstep.

Schizophrenia patients treated with an experimental drug from Intra-Cellular Therapies reported fewer antipsychotic symptoms compared to a placebo in a large, phase III study, the company said Wednesday. Intra-Cellular shares climbed 73% to $45.36, an all-time high, on the positive results from the study and the belief that the drug, ITI-007, could generate billions of dollars in schizophrenia sales if eventually approved.

VoicePort International…announced that its suite of adherence solutions, PharmaPhonetics would be launching in Costco Canada pharmacies…. is a service that focuses on automated prescription pickup notifications to ensure patients pick up their medicine and take it in a timely manner… medication synchronization services, patient counseling, written translation and instruction services..