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Novartis agreed to pay about $390 million to wrap up federal kickback claims before the $3.3 billion case went to trial. The Justice Department and a number of U.S. states had sought up to $3.4 billion in damages in the case, which zeroed in on the Swiss drugmaker's relationships with specialty pharmacies…settlement, together with other one-time charges, knocked down Novartis' third-quarter net income, which declined to $1.8 billion…Novartis offered special deals to pharmacies to boost prescriptions of its transplant drug Myfortic (mycophenolic acid) in a head-to-head competition with Roche's CellCept (mycophenolate mofetil). The drugmaker set up another scheme to increase refills of its iron chelation drug Exjade (deferasirox)…

Americans want more medications to treat obesity and depression, among other conditions…
Obesity, which affects more than one-third of Americans, ranked highest among US physicians who were asked which conditions they wished had more pharmacological remedies…More than 6000 US physicians participated in the "PatientsMap" survey, which was conducted by the Social Survey Research Information Co, M3 Inc, and M3 Global Research and took place between December 2013 and February 2014…According to the US survey results, the following are the 15 conditions that most warrant new medications, with some information on how pharmacists can help these patients:

1. Obesity (27.4%)
2. Depression (24.7%)
3. Diabetes (22.1%)
4. Dementia (20.5%)
5. Migraine (19.5%)
6. Anxiety (18.8%)
7. Hypertension (17.8%)
8. Chronic pulmonary obstructive disorder (16%)
9. Lower back pain (15.7%)
10. Dyslipidemia (15.6%)
11. Osteoarthritis (15.1%)
12. Fibromyalgia (14.8%)
13. Headache (14.8%)
14. Gastroesophageal reflux disease/nonerosive reflux disease (14.3%)
15. Diabetic neuropathy (13.9%)

Nothing sends a shock of fear through a hospital C-suite quite like the word audit. And the second phase of HIPAA audits is slated to being in early 2016…Those CIOs, CISOs, CEOs, General Counsel and privacy officers unfortunate enough to receive notification of an impending HIPAA audit from the Health and Human Services Department's Office for Civil Rights will invariably feel that pressure…While security is a crucial aspect to any health organization, it's another thing entirely to plan accordingly for an OCR audit.

…tips for healthcare organizations potentially facing an audit:

1. OCR is moving forward with HIPAA compliance audit program
2. Compliance audits expected to be in hundreds; not thousands
3. OCR has been transparent on topics it will target
4. Prepare now in case your organization is selected
5. Educate staff and leadership on how your organization is preparing for an OCR audit

OCR will look into security, privacy and breach notification rules to analyze risk, safeguards and implementations, especially those associated with electronic health information and device encryption.

James Schiffer, RPh, associate at Allegaert Berger & Vogel LLC, discusses some red flags related to prescriptions that can lead to administrative action from the DEA. (video)

Questions about a cryotherapy worker who died last week at her south Las Vegas Valley job lingered…but it wasn't clear who was going to find the answers…Multiple agencies told the Review-Journal they were not responsible for any investigations and that cryotherapy businesses are not regulated like medical clinics or salons… Ake-Salvacion died while using a cryotherapy machine, according to her family and the Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Administration…OSHA is not investigating…The agency responded when the body was found but won't press on…. the business is not regulated by any medical board…and their procedures and equipment are not monitored by the Food and Drug Administration… Nevada regulations do not cover the use of cryotherapy for cosmetic procedures, according to the executive director of the cosmetology board…Neither the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services nor the Southern Nevada Health District regulate such businesses… Rejuvenice's website says it provides “medical therapy” with full-body devices at negative 240 degrees.

Recent comments by the editor of The Lancet, Richard Horton, have stirred the ire of Indian health officials who called them derogatory and not borne out by evidence…the country's government…failed to make the health sector a priority…a joint secretary in the Ministry of Health, said in a letter to Horton…the country has made great strides in reducing infant and maternal mortality through its immunization programs…as well as increased efforts to control drug-resistant tuberculosis and HIV…government has spent more than $4 billion at 10 centers for medical science and at 58 district hospitals that will be converted to medical schools…Indian officials...said the respected journal (The Lancet)…must not become a tool in the hands of people with their own agenda for generating political controversies…

Embattled Valeant Pharmaceuticals International…that its accounting related to its relationship with a specialty pharmacy was legal and appropriate, but added that its board was nonetheless forming a special committee to investigate the relationship…disclosed for the first time last week that it had acquired an option to buy the specialty pharmacy, Philidor Rx Services, which dispenses some of Valeant’s dermatology drugs… If doctors send prescriptions to Philidor, rather than having their patients go to a retail pharmacy, it makes it harder for the pharmacies or insurers to switch the patient to a cheaper generic alternative…Philidor negotiates for reimbursement with insurers, relieving doctors of the hurdles that might otherwise discourage them from prescribing a high-priced drug. Patient co-payments are also reduced or eliminated, removing another barrier to use of Valeant’s drugs.

Mahesh Kuthuru, M.D…of Henderson…pleaded guilty today to unlawfully writing prescriptions…was indicted in October 2014, pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of a controlled substance…faces not more than 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million… According to the plea agreement…operated a medical practice known as Desert Pain Management in Las Vegas…wrote prescriptions for Oxycodone, Percocet, MS Contin, Roxicodone and Methadone to undercover officers who posed as patients…

About half of all surgeries involve some kind of medication error or unintended drug side effects…There is a substantial potential for medication-related harm and a number of opportunities to improve safety…Drugs delivered during an operation don’t have the same safeguards that other medication orders do. In most parts of a hospital, prescriptions are typically double-checked by pharmacists and nurses before they reach the patient. Operating wards are riskier…some kind of error was made in about one in every 20 drug administrations. Several medications are typically used in each operation, from anesthesia to antibiotics, so that rate translated into some kind of error or adverse reaction in every other surgery...

Ronna B. Hauser, PharmD, vice president of pharmacy affairs for the National Community Pharmacists Association, provides an overview of some of the most important aspects of the Drug Quality and Security Act.