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Kyle Bass struck out. A U.S. review board (Patent and Trademark Office) nixed the hedge funder's challenge to two Acorda Therapeutics patents,.. showing Bass that his short-selling crusade against "low quality" pharma patents won't be an easy home run…Bass' very public challenges could work against him--particularly given the fact that he's made no secret of his plans to make money off the IPR process (inter partes review), by shorting the shares of companies with so-called "weak" patents.

'Now that you have all this data, what do you do with it?'..everyone's got an EMR…providers are also making use of ancillary technologies to help harness patient data toward more efficient care and better outcomes...But...are still surprisingly underused…the next step of optimization is going to require analysis and utilization of all these large data sets, and really clear insights on best practices."…We asked Schuchardt (dir. of market intelligence,HIMSS) to weigh in on the HIMSS Analytics list, offering his thoughts on the potential of each.

1. Bed Management
2. Business Intelligence
3. Data Warehouse
4. Dictation with Speech Recognition
5. Enterprise Master Person Index
6. Enterprise Resource Planning
7. Executive Information Systems
8. Financial Modeling
9. Infection Surveillance System
10. Laboratory (Molecular Diagnostics)
11. Laboratory (Outreach Services)
12. Medical Necessity Checking
13. Nurse Communication System
14. Nurse Staffing/Scheduling
15. Patient Portal
16. Physician Portal
17. Single Sign-on
18. Staff Scheduling

Kimberly Henderson, MD, JD, medical director for the Health Systems Alliance at CVS Health and regional medical director for MinuteClinic, discusses what pharmacists need to know about managing COPD. (video)

Health Secretary says officials influenced by pharma payments could face jail time...England may have been behind the U.S. in shining the light on financial ties between pharma and physicians, but that's changing..National Health Service doctors be required to declare all gifts they receive from drugmakers. They'll also face losing their jobs--or even jail--if pharma payments influence their work..

J.D. Power’s 2015 U.S. Pharmacy Study was released Monday, and it highlights that patients remain satisfied with their pharmacies despite myriad changes to the healthcare landscape in recent years…"Pharmacies serve as a benchmark for other entities in the healthcare ecosystem, as they continue to have the highest levels of customer satisfaction in the healthcare industry, demonstrating that focusing on customer satisfaction is good for both patients and businesses."

…widely reported slowdown in sales in China noted across most multinational pharma companies deserves a harder look,…sales for the biggest firms…increased by about 5.5% for the year ended the second quarter well below a 9% average in the previous four quarters… slowdown…was blamed on tighter terms and competition in tenders and a shift in the way sales channels work at big hospitals and via doctors.. trends were compounded.. when China…revalued the yuan..

North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination offers a view of the strongest pharmacy programs based on students’ scores. The following schools listed in alphabetical order had a 100% pass rate on first-time attempts at last year’s exam:

• Butler University (111 first-time attempts) Indianapolis, Indiana
• Jefferson University (82 first-time attempts) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Lebanese American University (2 first-time attempts) Lebanon (charter from the state of New York)
• Southwestern Oklahoma State University (38 first-time attempts) Weatherford, Oklahoma
• Union University (46 first-time attempts) Jackson, Tennessee
• University of California, San Diego (54 first-time attempts)
• University of Houston (102 first-time attempts) Texas
• University of Pittsburgh (101 first-time attempts) (Pennsylvania)
• University of Texas at Austin (115 first-time attempts)
• University of Wyoming (42 first-time attempts) Laramie, Wyoming

Analysts and investors may have been ready for Gilead Sciences to make an M&A (merger and acquisition) move before now. But with stocks on a slide, they might be glad Gilead hasn't yet… company is sitting on almost $15 billion in liquidity… biotech's stock losses mean deals are lots cheaper now than they were…the company is eyeing all sorts of deals…

Want to be paid in full for your patient care efforts? Prove they’re making a difference. That’s the message health systems and physician groups are getting from government health plans…a shift in federal payments to evidence-based care… spawning new risk-sharing patient-care initiatives…shifting..focus…from traditional fee-for-service…to one of accountability, cost management, collaborative care and a focus on the long-term health and wellness of the patient.

Walgreens will pay a $500,000 settlement concerning a civil complaint that the retail pharmacy giant was not compliant with California regulations related to pharmacist consultations… noncompliant with rules requiring pharmacists to perform consultations with patients receiving new prescriptions or new dosages…