Author: Peter

Dr. John Halamka … sound the alarm on medical device threats in the wake of the FDA late last week issuing its first cybersecurity warning about a specific medical device…urged healthcare facilities to stop using Hospira's Symbiq Infusion System, a common device for dispensing fluids/drugs to patients…the devices could be accessed via a hospital network and rejiggered to mess up a patient's dosage….this will be the first of many advisories...involving medical device vulnerabilities.

When a veterinarian prescribes a medication, that prescription is often filled at a local community pharmacy….community pharmacists have little formal training in this area….It is difficult to know how to treat veterinary "patients" when different species and breeds can have vastly different responses to a treatment….

University of Nevada School of Medicine will open its doors for physicals, immunizations and visits for uninsured people later this month...clinics are free services where medical students are supervised by faculty and community physicians. Appointments aren’t necessary and patients can be seen for a variety of well-visits, referrals, blood pressure monitoring and school physicals....The first clinic is open to all from 8 a.m. to noon Aug. 22....

Food and Drug Administration…revealed that it is working to build a software platform for precision medicine and an informatics community around it… contracted with DNAnexus, to create open source cloud-based software for sharing genomic information…will help..advance the science around the accuracy and reproducibility of next generation sequencing-based tests,..

Boston Medical Center has received a $1.3 million grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to support a demonstration project of pharmacy-based naloxone rescue kits to help reduce opioid addiction and overdose death in two New England States: Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The study will be conducted in partnership with Rhode Island Hospital.., CVS Health, which has pharmacies throughout the U.S., and several local community pharmacies…including...Eaton Apothecary.

Pharmacies have enormous potential to expand the reach and impact of critical public health interventions, just as we have seen happen with pharmacy access to clean syringes and adult immunizations...how do we do that with naloxone rescue kits?

Allergan Plc’s Actavis unit got a subpoena from the U.S. Justice Department seeking information on the marketing and prices of its generic drugs, becoming the biggest company yet to draw scrutiny in the government’s widening antitrust probe of the industry….subpoena also sought information about communications with competitors regarding the products,...

Few individuals can offer as unique a perspective on the evolving role of pharmacy technicians as Scott A. Meyers,RPh....is a member and the former chair of the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board Board of Governors, positions that have enabled him to oversee and bear witness to a number of changes in the technician profession.

Many pharmacists dedicate themselves to improving the health of their patients and communities, but some answer an additional call: to provide their skills and knowledge in service to the military.

Reno Office of Veterans Benefits, administrators gave an update on their service to veterans… "The goal for claims process, the average time, a veteran would wait is 125 days…Our veterans in Nevada wait an average of 119 days,"…new technology, methods, and a can-do attitude by staff have made all the difference…more than 95% of first-time veteran enrollees can get an appointment the same day,...New clinics have opened …more physicians and others have been put on staff…. We …have a dedicated strategic planning effort to get care closer, out in the community,…

Florida was considered the epicenter for the trafficking of illegal prescription narcotics. The DEA and local law enforcement shut down more than 250 so-called “pill mills” — clinics where doctors could sell narcotics directly to people for cash. Now Florida doctors can no longer dispense narcotics directly to patients...