Category:

Attorney General Aaron Ford joined representatives from the state health department and several local governments...to announce that Nevada will soon receive its first installment of money from a pair of major opioid settlements and to highlight the urgency of using those dollars to address the opioid crisis...the state will receive $50 million from two settlements announced by the attorney general’s office earlier this year. The settlements include one with opioid manufacturer Johnson & Johnson that will bring Nevada $53.5 million and another with three of the nation’s largest drug distributors — AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson — that will bring the state $231.7 million. Those funds add to the $45 million the state won last year through a settlement with consulting firm McKinsey & Company...READ MORE

Nevadans will soon be able to save big on prescription drugs after the state joined a coalition that negotiates lower drug costs, according to the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services...Last month, Gov. Steve Sisolak announced that Nevada will join Oregon and Washington in the Northwest Prescription Drug Consortium, a partnership that allows residents to use drug discount cards to purchase prescription drugs at lower costs. The consortium rebranded to ArrayRx in 2021...It is expected that the drug discount card program could cut the cost of generic drugs by 80 percent and by up to 20 percent on name-brand drugs...READ MORE

Time is running out on a bid by prosecutors and Nevada prison officials to carry out the first execution in the state in almost 16 years, with hearings unfinished in federal court in Las Vegas and decisions pending before the state Supreme Court...One of several drugs that would be used for convicted mass killer Zane Michael Floyd’s lethal injection is due to expire Feb. 28, and because state law calls for two weeks’ notice to schedule an execution...READ MORE

Hospitals throughout Nevada are facing twin challenges as beds fill with COVID-19 patients and staff falls ill from the highly contagious omicron variant...“Nevada is experiencing an abrupt increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations, predominantly in the southern region following the holidays. People are flocking to hospital emergency departments seeking COVID-19 testing, compounding the staffing problem,” they said, describing the second week of January...“Hospitals are not over-run by a COVID-19 surge as much as being understaffed as employees in all fields report being sick and unable to work. This is also further compounded by a significant increase in people coming to the emergency department solely for testing. Hospitals are not testing sites,” the Nevada Hospital Association said...READ MORE

The Nevada Supreme Court ruled...that the state’s public records law does not require the disclosure of drug pricing information that could violate a federal trade secrets law, affirming a lower court ruling...Weighing laws and regulations that allow businesses to keep competitive records confidential, the court’s order limits the public release of information on high insulin prices, including the cost of producing diabetes drugs, administrative expenses and profits reaped by drug companies...The dispute over drug transparency records stems from a 2017 law...The statute required diabetes drug manufacturers and other companies involved in pricing, known as pharmacy benefit managers, to disclose information about pricing for insulin...READ MORE

As Nevada’s COVID-19 case rates plummet to their lowest levels since last summer, state health officials are turning more attention to therapeutic treatments for those who can’t get vaccinated or are most at risk of severe illness or death...It’s the latest step in the evolution of a nearly two-year effort to combat the virus after the omicron variant pushed caseloads to new highs in January, said Julia Peek, deputy administrator for Nevada’s Division of Public and Behavioral Health. It comes as governments across the country lift restrictions and move away from emergency measures...READ MORE

Electronic Prescribing Mandate for Controlled SubstancesNevada Revised Statutes (NRS) 639.23535 requires that all controlled substance (CS) prescriptions must be transmitted to a pharmacy by electronic prescribing (e-prescribing). While NRS 639.23535 took effect on January 1, 2021, the Nevada State Board of Pharmacy provided an exemption for practitioners by regulation.The law mandated that this exemption would expire on December 31, 2021...READ MORE

A new internal state audit raps the Department of Corrections for overcharging prisoners on supplies and medical co-pays, high overtime costs in the director’s office during the pandemic, and lax oversight on how it assigns state-owned vehicles to staff...Citing an outstanding $10 million debt owed by released prisoners for charges such as court fees and medical costs, the auditors recommended setting “a reasonable medical co-pay” for inmates. The department now charges $8, more than twice the national average of $3.47, auditors found. In its audit response, the department said it would propose dropping the copay to $2...READ MORE

State officials and lawyers representing death row inmate Zane Floyd agreed that an execution of the convicted quadruple killer will not happen before a key drug in the state’s lethal injection protocol expires at the end of the month — putting the matter on hold for the foreseeable future...Their statements in federal court on Monday come after the Clark County district attorney’s office did not obtain an execution warrant by Feb. 13, the latest possible day to obtain a warrant and order for a Feb. 28 execution date...READ MORE

With Nevada hospitals reporting a staffing “crisis” and health officials reporting COVID-19 patient tallies at pandemic highs, Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak highlighted a program...to enlist nursing students to help meet the demand for medical providers...“The state continues to work with all of our partners to leverage existing resources and break down barriers so Nevadans in need can access care,” the governor...said on a day that health officials reported what Dr. John Hess, a University of Nevada School of Medicine associate faculty member, called a “challenging time” with case counts “incredibly high right now.”...READ MORE