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Medicare program's shift from volume to value continues with the finalization of the regulation setting inpatient payment rates for fiscal year 2016, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced on July 31…annual update to Medicare's inpatient prospective payment system affects discharges occurring on or after October 1, 2015,..

• Hospital-acquired conditions reduction program…will continue its policy of reducing by 1% the reimbursement rate of hospitals in the bottom performance quartile...
• Value-based purchasing program…incentivizes rather than penalizes hospitals, will include new measures during 2016 that will be used for 2018 payment calculations, including one measure directly related to medication use.
• Add-on payments…authorizes a "new technology add-on payment" for blinatumomab,…for the treatment of a form of B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia…maximum add-on payment for the drug during 2016 is $27,017.85 per case,..authorize add-on payments for new technologies or medical services—including drugs—that produce greater clinical benefits than existing technologies..
• Update on "two-midnight rule."…rule was intended to clarify when patients should be treated as outpatients—generally under observation status—or admitted as inpatients…patients who are expected to require care spanning two midnights (i.e., 12:00 a.m. on two consecutive days) should be admitted as inpatients,… although inpatients and patients on observation status receive the same care, observation patients face higher out-of-pocket costs for medications because Medicare pays differently for drugs in inpatient and outpatient settings.

National Community Pharmacists Association…announced that it will collaborate with consumer-direct lab testing innovator, Ulta Lab Tests, to roll out an online community lab testing platform to participating community pharmacy members across the country. The arrangement will offer community pharmacy patients direct access to lab tests and health screenings...customers can order select low-priced lab tests without the need to obtain a prescription from a local physician…then can easily access lab test information…review and track their test results for each biomarker from their personal and secured dashboard at their convenience.

EU needs to better define mercury limits for drugs and dietary supplements say Polish researchers who want pharmaceuticals in Europe to be tested more regularly….because patients are also exposed to environmental sources of the metal those taking pills regularly could build up harmful accumulations of the metal…. Low-quality raw materials, inadequate control during the production and drug counterfeiting can lead to high concentrations of mercury in the final product, which can pose a health threat to consumers, poisoning and even death.

Declaring they had "potentially lifesaving information," federal health officials said on Friday that they were ending a major study more than a year early because it has already conclusively answered a question cardiologists have puzzled over for decades: How low should blood pressure go? The answer: way lower than the current guidelines… The study found that patients who were assigned to reach a systolic blood pressure goal below 120 — far lower than current guidelines of 140, or 150 for people over 60 — had their risk of heart attacks, heart failure and strokes reduced by a third and their risk of death reduced by nearly a quarter.

Xerox announced…that it would be continuing its partnership with MO HealthNet, Missouri’s Medicaid division, to help combat prescription drug abuse by coordinating patient care between providers, MO HealthNet and pharmacists…Xerox’s prescription clinical authorization tool, pharmacists can investigate whether a patient recently received an opioid prescription and will receive a notice to acquire prior authorization before dispensing it…Missouri does not have a statewide, electronic prescription drug monitoring program, so physicians and pharmacists have limited visibility into other medications a patient has...

Restore Health…it has entered into an agreement to acquire the compounding pharmacy assets of Diplomat Pharmacy… services include the preparation of personalized medications for patients and compounding pharmacists who work with prescribers to customize a medication to meet a patient's specific health needs.

Interview with H. D. Smith’s – Third Party Network manager Katie Geisler to talk about the importance of Medicare Part D enrollment and reimbursement changes in 2016.  (podcast)

Egalet Corporation…launched…An immediate-release oral formulation, Oxaydo (oxycodone HCI) is intended to manage acute and chronic moderate to severe pain where the use of an opioid analgesic is appropriate,..it is one of the first immediate-release oxycodone tablets designed to discourage abuse by snorting…designed to discourage abuse with no food effect…

Vladimir Putin says support from Russian business community is needed to help achieve the domestic drug manufacturing goals set out in his Pharma 2020 policy…. Government investment…would help increase local drug manufacture and reduce reliance on imports…private investment from the country's drugmakers is now needed…Putin stressed a commitment to local manufacture would not mean a ban on foreign imports.

Americans today rightly demand more transparency...It is the foundation upon which to assess accountability, performance and trust… the Senior Care Pharmacy Coalition — a coalition dedicated to representing the exclusive legislative and regulatory interests of independent Long Term Care pharmacies and the vulnerable patients they serve — hopes to work with Congress on reforms that both increase transparency in drug pricing practices and ensure protection against Medicare Part D pricing policies that hinder LTC pharmacies’ ability to delivery quality pharmaceutical care and services...