- Name Confusion Between Brintellix, Brilinta Causes Dispensing Errors (pharmacytimes.com)
FDA is warning health care professionals and patients about prescribing and dispensing errors related to confusion between the antidepressant Brintellix and the blood thinner Brilinta...the FDA...reduce the risk of brand name confusion by including the generic name—vortioxetine for Brintellix and ticagrelor for Brilinta....
- Proof-of-concept study shows successful transport of blood samples with small drones (medicalxpress.com)Can Unmanned Aerial Systems (Drones) Be Used for the Routine Transport of Chemistry, Hematology, and Coagulation Laboratory Specimens? (journals.plos.org)
proof-of-concept study…researchers have shown that results of common and routine blood tests are not affected by up to 40 minutes of travel via hobby-sized drones… investigators say that's promising news…people ..in rural and economically impoverished areas ...give health care workers quick access to lab tests.. Drones already have been tested as carriers of medicines…
- Health Law Experiment Failed To Show Savings (khn.org)
$57 million experiment to deliver better, more efficient care at federally funded health centers struggled to meet its goals and is unlikely to save money,… run by the Department of Health and Human Services’ innovation center… paints a picture of understaffed clinics struggling to file reports and participate in conference calls…while they did their normal jobs of caring for patients and trying to get paid by insurance plans.
- Pharmacy Ownership Boot Camp Empowers Female Pharmacists (pharmacytimes.com)
To encourage and provide education for female pharmacists interested in becoming entrepreneurs, Cardinal Health…Pharmacy Ownership Boot Camp at its Retail Business Conference…stagnant number of female pharmacist entrepreneurs…"real or perceived lack of business or financial acumen" could be keeping women out of pharmacy ownership...
- Jean Coutu readies for expanded pharmacist services (chaindrugreview.com)
Jean Coutu Group is prepping …pharmacists for expanded health care services now available through pharmacies…Quebec implemented Bill 41, which amended the province’s Pharmacy Act to enable pharmacists to provide certain health care services previously performed only by doctors...
- Extend a doctor’s prescription.
- Prescribe medication when a diagnosis is not required to prevent certain health problems, including such areas as travel health, pregnancy, women’s health, smoking cessation and public health.
- Prescribe medication for certain conditions in which a patient has already received a prescription from a doctor.
- Substitute a medication in case of a supplier inventory shortage.
- Administer medication to a patient to demonstrate the drug’s administration method.
- Adjust the form, dosage, quantity or dose of a prescription according to a patient’s condition.
- Prescribe certain laboratory tests related to a patient’s medication.
- AHIP(America’s Health Insurance Plans): How insurers offset rising specialty drug costs (fiercehealthpayer.com)
specialty drug costs continue to rise, insurers are working to implement innovative strategies to offset those increased prices, while still helping their members gain access to important treatments,...
- personalized care programs
- copayment assistance programs
- community support programs
- integrated condition-level therapy management program
- condition-specific fulfillment teams
- drug-specific coaching and support
- ‘Quality Metrics’: FDA’s plan for a key set of measurements to help ensure manufacturers are producing quality medications (blogs.fda.gov)Request for Quality Metrics Guidance for Industry DRAFT GUIDANCE (fda.gov)
release of draft guidance for the pharmaceutical industry called, "Request for Quality Metrics." …describes a set of measurements to …evaluate the quality of the facilities and the processes that manufacturers use to make FDA-regulated drugs and biologics…encourages…manufacturers to conduct robust quality measurements on their own products..We look forward to receiving comments..
- HIPAA technical controls no silver bullet for securing patient data (fiercehealthit.com)How to Implement Strong HIPAA Technical Safeguards (healthitsecurity.com)
Putting too much trust in technical controls could be a big mistake in a provider organization's security strategy… encryption and access management go a long way toward securing patient data, employee training remains "absolutely indispensable, absolutely top of the priority list"..
- CVS, Watson confront chronic disease (healthcareitnews.com)
CVS Health, …and Watson, IBM's cognitive computing platform, are joining forces to take on chronic diseases. The plan? Eradicate conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and obesity… to advance care management beyond programs and services typically available today,…has to do with Watson’s ability to read and understand vast amounts of information, and to continuously learn.
- Exclusive: GSK faces new corruption allegations, this time in Romania (newsdaily.com)Romania investigates suspected drug company bribes (newsdaily.com)
GlaxoSmithKline,..was fined a record $483 million for corruption in China last year and … new allegations of bribery… paid Romanian doctors hundreds, and in one cases thousands, of euros between 2009 and 2012 for prescribing its medicines,…U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission,... are investigating GSK for possible breaches of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.