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One in six seniors in the U.S. regularly uses potentially dangerous combinations of prescription and over-the-counter medications and dietary supplements, according to new research...This is a major public health problem...Many of these potentially deadly drug interactions involve prescription and non-prescription medications and supplements that are not only commonly used, but are increasingly being used by older adults. While it is not known how many older adults...die of drug interactions, the risk seems to be growing and public awareness is lacking...study authors identified 15 potentially life-threatening drug combinations...health care providers should carefully consider the potential adverse effects of commonly used prescription and nonprescription drug combinations...and counsel their patients about the risks...Improving safety in the use interacting medication combinations has the potential to reduce preventable, potentially fatal, adverse drug events...We need to create systems that support an ongoing process of monitoring medications...Such systems would help us periodically assess the benefits, harms and ongoing need for each of a patient's medications, as well as the reasonableness of the medication regimen as a whole. These systems could also help physicians with deprescribing, for example by supporting gradual down-titration of a medication and monitoring patients for adverse drug withdrawal reactions after a drug is stopped...

...small towns are looking to this corner of Story County for an answer to a chronic challenge: How can rural areas provide crucial pharmacy services, especially for elderly people who have trouble traveling?...Zearing leaders say the key is tucked in the corner of a former beauty parlor that has been transformed into a small drugstore. Next to the counter, organizers set up a video screen through which customers can interact with pharmacists working in larger towns...The pharmacists explain how patients should take medications and avoid interactions with other drugs. Customers can ask questions and raise concerns. The video conversations, which usually take a minute or two, could soon become more common around the state...Iowa legislators are considering a bill that would let state pharmacy regulators routinely approve tele-pharmacies instead of handling them as limited pilot projects.

Has Obamacare Reduced Costs?...Those family cost savings, of course, have not materialized...the health care cost curve is still on an upwardly mobile trajectory...Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services data show that total per capita health insurance spending will rise from $7,786 in 2016 to $11,681 in 2024. Looking at the future of employer-based health insurance costs, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that job-based premiums are poised to increase by almost 60 percent between now and 2025...the Affordable Care Act...calls for sustained payment cuts to the popular Medicare Advantage program. It also has scheduled some big Medicare payment reductions over the next ten years for hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies and even hospice care programs...Medicare trustees report that, if policymakers really go through with these Affordable Care Act provisions, 50 percent of America’s hospitals, 70 percent of the nation’s nursing homes and 90 percent of the nation’s home health agencies will be operating in the red in the next 24 years...This...will jeopardize seniors’ access and quality of care.

If a drug does a good job of treating lung cancer, but is less effective at combating pancreatic cancer, you might think that the price should be lower for pancreatic cancer patients. But it doesn’t work that way in the convoluted world of pharmaceutical pricing, where a one-size-fits-all approach is generally used...Now, though, a new drug pricing scheme is gaining traction that would base payments on how well a medicine actually works...The concept, which is known as indication-specific pricing, would set different prices for the same drug to reflect the extent to which a medicine is effective for multiple purposes. The goal is to calibrate spending with performance and, in turn, lower overall health care costs.

Aprecia Pharmaceuticals announced the U.S. availability of its Spritam (levetiracetam) tablets...The epilepsy medication is the first tablet made using the company’s ZipDose 3D printing technology to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration. It is designed to dissolve with a sip of liquid, easing the process of taking medication for patients with difficulty swallowing...

American Associated Pharmacies, a member-owned cooperative comprised of over 2,100 independent pharmacies located in 49 states, announced...that it has reached an agreement to acquire the assets of Partners in Pharmacy Cooperative, an independent pharmacy cooperative with more than 300 members in 19 states...The acquisition of PIPCo fits within AAP's growth strategy and solidifies its position as a leader in the independent pharmacy cooperative market... AAP has a successful track record of business consolidation, helping to strengthen independent pharmacy's influence in the marketplace...In addition, AAP realizes additional cost synergies through its recently announced joint venture, Arete Pharmacy Network, the fourth largest nationwide Prescription Service Administrative Organization.

Treatment cost for the average patient would go down by 16 to 20 percent, but for 40 percent of patients, the cost may go down by as much as 50 percent...Hepatitis C patients are often cured before completing a treatment regimen, suggesting patients require less of the drugs needed to fight the disease, according to a recent study...Researchers at Loyola University devised a mathematical model that predicts the length of time patients need direct-acting antiviral drugs, potentially limiting the cost of being treated with an expensive drug...Using more frequent blood testing, the researchers were able to determine hepatitis C levels and predict when the drug sofosbuvir, combined with one of three others, could be stopped...Treatment currently is standardized to be given for a set period of time, not tailored to the patient...In many cases, this may result in the prolonged use of expensive drugs with essentially no additional positive effect...

Two California hospitals – Chino Valley Medical Center in Chino and Desert Valley Hospital in Victorville – have been attacked by hackers demanding a ransom...The latest hit comes just a month after Hollywood Presbyterian paid hackers a $17,000 ransom to regain control over its computer systems and during the same week on the heels of ransomware attacks against Methodist Hospital in Henderson, Kentucky, and Ottawa Hospital in Ontario, Canada...Organizations with a good defense-in-depth strategy, advanced detection capabilities and solid response and contingency plans will fare far better when attacked...Make no mistake about it. Protecting information assets is a business issue and organizations that don't recognize this will pay for it.

The raging dispute between Anthem...and Express Scripts...is winning notice because the companies are battling over billions of dollars in prescription drug costs. Specifically, Anthem contends Express Scripts, which manages prescription drug benefits for health plans, failed to pass along rebates negotiated with drug makers...The battle, which is described in a lawsuit filed in federal court in New York...Anthem claims emphatically that Express Scripts has not been transparent because a third-party consultant conducted an audit and found the insurer was overpaying Express Scripts by about $3 billion annually...Anthem is seeking $15 billion in damages and wants out of its contract with Express Scripts...The outcome "could have far-reaching effects" on pharmacy benefits management..."The lawsuit challenges a fundamental aspect of PBM-insurer relationships: the value of a PBM’s negotiating power" with drug makers. The dispute could "embolden other (Express Scripts) clients to do the same" thing and claim they are not receiving rebates to which they are entitled...Another industry watcher...suggests that Anthem may have an additional motive for its lawsuit beyond recovering money. Anthem plans to merge with Cigna...which happens to have its own pharmacy benefits manager..."Anthem likely wants to bring its PBM function back in house as part of a combined Anthem-Cigna company,"..."Perhaps Anthem’s dispute with Express Scripts is in part a way to convince the FTC to approve the Anthem-Cigna merger because it would increase competition in the PBM market."...

India has defended its right to grant licenses allowing local firms to override patents and make cheaper copies of drugs discovered by big Western drugmakers, and said reports to the contrary were "factually incorrect"...The Commerce Ministry statement comes weeks after...media in India quoted the...U.S.-India Business Council, as saying India had given private assurances that it would not grant such "compulsory licenses"..."In this regard, it may be noted that India has a well-established TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) compliant legislative, administrative and judicial framework to safeguard IPRs (intellectual property rights). Under the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement Public Health, each member has the right to grant compulsory licenses and the freedom to determine the grounds upon which such licenses are granted."...The USTR (U.S. Trade Representative) has placed India on its "priority watch" list for two years in a row, saying the country's patent laws unfairly favor local drug makers. A legal provision that allows granting of "compulsory licenses" has been a key bone of contention.