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UCB became the latest pharmaceutical manufacturer to restrict selling products discounted under the 340B program to contract pharmacies despite ongoing efforts by the federal government to fine other companies that have made similar moves...The decision comes as the federal government and six other drugmakers are battling in court over the ability to cut off access to contract pharmacies, which are third parties that dispense 340B drugs on the covered entity’s behalf...340B advocates blasted the move by UCB, which is the ninth drugmaker to cut off access...READ MORE

The National Association of Chain Drug Stores is hailing a decision by the Eighth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals...In the case — Pharmaceutical Care Management Association v. Wehbi — the Eighth Circuit relied on the U.S. Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling in Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Management Association in determining that all provisions in the North Dakota statute, which seek to regulate the relationship between pharmacy benefits managers and pharmacies, were not preempted by the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act...Importantly, the Court also found that most provisions in the North Dakota law were not preempted by Medicare Part D and outright rejected the PBMs’ argument that they could not be regulated in the federal or state arenas...READ MORE

A pharmacy in Virginia incorrectly administered Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid-19 shots to 112 children last week, according to the state Department of Health...“The pharmacy attempted to provide a proper dose,” Loudoun County Health Department director Dr. David Goodfriend...said it appears the pharmacy did administer about a third of the adult dose, which should be the correct amount. However, “a lower dose is possible if not all of the 0.1 ml was administered into muscle,” he said...Goodfriend alerted parents in a letter sent out...that Ted Pharmacy may have administered a lower dose than recommended. State and federal officials told the pharmacy to stop distributing shots altogether on Friday before seizing all of its Covid doses, a Virginia health department spokesperson said in a statement...READ MORE

A new ranking of the 10 most cost-efficient hospitals in the U.S. reveals that if all hospitals matched their performance, $8 billion could be saved in Medicare dollars...The ranking, conducted by healthcare think tank Lown Institute , was based on Medicare data from 2016 through 2018 on more than 3,000 hospitals focusing on what they billed and how many patients died. For the analysis, it adjusted both mortality rates and cost based on patient risk...Here are the 10 most cost-efficient hospitals in the U.S., according to the Lown Institute:

Pinnacle Hospital (Crown Point, Indiana)

Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center (Reno, Nevada)

Mercy Medical Center Dubuque (Dubuque, Iowa)

Encino Hospital Medical Center (Encino, California)

Park Ridge Health (Hendersonville, North Carolina)

Oroville Hospital (Oroville, California)

Saint Michael’s Medical Center (Newark, New Jersey)

UnityPoint Health – Meriter (Madison, Wisconsin)

East Liverpool City Hospital (East Liverpool, Ohio)

Maple Grove Hospital (Maple Grove, Minnesota)

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With a crucial drug in the state’s supply of lethal injection materials set to expire at the end of February, Nevada officials are pressing forward in their attempt to execute death row inmate Zane Floyd, even as lawyers for Floyd are imploring the court to explore alternative methods, such as a firing squad...The experts, including multiple anesthesiologists who have experience with the drugs involved in the protocol, testified that the untried drug cocktail could result in suffering or an agonizing death...READ MORE

Today, I examine how smaller pharmacies will participate as preferred cost sharing pharmacies via the pharmacy services administrative organizations that represent them in negotiations with plans...the largest PSAOs are increasingly rejecting preferred networks. Below we provide details about the PSAOs owned by the three major wholesalers—AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson—along with information about AlignRx, the largest independent PSAO. There are some notable differences in strategy, as you will see from our handy scorecard below...Smaller pharmacies’ rejection of Part D preferred networks shows that they are figuring out how to survive a highly challenging retail environment. Perhaps Part D is just a flesh wound?...READ MORE

As the world enters the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the healthcare industry faces a variety of ongoing challenges and shifts in delivery of care, according to a new 2022 predictions report...They identified five key predictions for the coming year:

1. Health disparities will negatively impact rural Americans twice as much as urban Americans

2. Labor shortages will double the medication error rate among providers

3. Healthcare will no longer be considered a trusted industry as misinformation and cyberattacks continue

4. Sixty percent of virtual care visits will be related to mental health

5. The number of hospital-at-home providers will triple...READ MORE

CVS, Walgreens and Walmart pharmacies recklessly distributed massive amounts of pain pills in two Ohio counties, a federal jury said...in a verdict that could set the tone for U.S. city and county governments that want to hold pharmacies accountable for their roles in the opioid crisis...Lake and Trumbull counties blamed the three chain pharmacies for not stopping the flood of pills that caused hundreds of overdose deaths and cost each of the two counties about $1 billion, their attorney said...The counties were able to convince the jury that the pharmacies played an outsized role in creating a public nuisance in the way they dispensed pain medication into their communities...READ MORE

President Biden announced his intention to nominate Robert Califf for commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration....Dr. Califf is an internationally recognized expert in clinical trial research, health disparities, healthcare quality, and cardiovascular medicine. He brings nearly four decades of experience as a doctor, researcher, leader, and public servant, including previous service as FDA commissioner from 2016-2017, for which he was confirmed by the Senate 89-4 with broad bi-partisan support. Currently, Califf is a professor of medicine at the Duke University School of Medicine...READ MORE

The Oklahoma Supreme Court...overturned a $465 million opioid ruling against drugmaker Johnson & Johnson, finding that a lower court wrongly interpreted the state’s public nuisance law in the first case of its kind in the U.S. to go to trial...The ruling was the second blow this month to a government case that used a similar approach to try to hold drugmakers responsible for the national epidemic of opioid abuse. Public nuisance claims are at the heart of some 3,000 lawsuits brought by state and local governments against drugmakers, distribution companies and pharmacies, but it’s not clear that the legal theory is in trouble with so many more cases queued up to test it...READ MORE