- How Specialty Pharmacies Increase Value (specialtypharmacytimes.com)
Amy Grogg, PharmD, at AmerisourceBergen Specialty Group discusses how the Affordable Care Act has emphasized the importance of specialty pharmacy services.
- Hospitals hope to beat Yelp at its own game (cnbc.com)
With online reviews more important that ever, hospitals are now getting into the physician ratings game. Instead of relying on popular review websites…hospitals want to "out-Yelp Yelp" by sharing patient satisfaction surveys with the general public,…..That's because 77 percent of consumers begin their search for health care online,…
- Federal bill aims to ban cosmetics testing on animals (drugstorenews.com)
Animal testing of cosmetic products and ingredients, and the sale of newly animal-tested cosmetics, would be phased out under legislation introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives…Passage of the Humane Cosmetics Act will bring the United States in line with more than 30 other countries that have already implemented similar bans.
- Canadian Pharmacists Association Launches “Pharmacare 2.0” (pharmacists.ca)
CPhA today launched Pharmacare 2.0 – a comprehensive multi-phased consultation to develop a national consensus for a pan-Canadian pharmacare framework. clear evidence for policymakers and a clear national consensus on priorities ….ensure that all Canadians have access to pharmacy services and appropriate drug therapies."
- Pharmacists Mull High-Dose Flu Vaccine For seniors (ashp.org)
Pharmacists say a recent analysis of Medicare claims data from the 2012–13 flu season helps make the case that for seniors, high-dose influenza virus vaccine leads to better clinical outcomes than standard-dose vaccine…. retrospective cohort study.. found 22% reductions in probable flu infections and flu-related hospitalizations among high-dose vaccine recipients.
- Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy Comments on U.S. Supreme Court’s Ruling in King vs. Burwell (pharmacytimes.com)
Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy .. “The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision upholding the contested language in the ACA is positive news for millions of Americans who will continue to have access to affordable prescription drugs,…. this decision has averted significant disruption to the health care marketplace…”
- Hope And Hype For New Type Of Antidepressant (forbes.com)
…… one an entrepreneur, the other a Columbia University psychiatrist – are claiming today that a new combination of experimental medicines may prevent suicidal thoughts….. seems like a stretch based on what is actually being published on D-cycloserine – and NeuroRx is making a mistake by emphasizing that result in its press release this morning…data come from only seven patients,….
- Medication Adherence After ACS Slightly Improving (pharmacytimes.com)
Studies have reported that up to half of patients discontinue prescribed therapies soon after hospital discharge. This is no surprise to pharmacists,… an analysis that found adherence to these treatments is improving, but still nowhere near ideal…..encouraged by more widespread use of evidence-based guidelines,…
- Having Survived Court Ruling, Insurance Markets Still Face Economic Threats (khn.org)
Despite having survived a challenge in the U.S. Supreme Court, the federal government’s health insurance markets face weighty struggles as they try to keep prices under control,….government’s insurance markets … have been operating for less than two years and are about to lose their training wheels. Start-up funds that have helped stabilize prices and partially pay for administration of the marketplaces are ending,….
- John Roberts rescues Obamacare — again (businessinsider.com)
For the second time in four Supreme Court terms, Chief Justice John Roberts has broken with conservatives and rescued the Affordable Care Act from potential oblivion. Roberts, an unlikely hero of sorts for the law, wrote the majority opinion on Thursday upholding a key provision of Obamacare that helps provide health-insurance subsidies to more than 6 million Americans.