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Two national health care industry behemoths have ended a yearslong standoff and reached an agreement that will bring a major Las Vegas hospital in network for hundreds of thousands of patients insured by some of Nevada’s largest health plans...Patients insured by Health Plan of Nevada, Sierra Health and Life and Sierra Health-Care Options — subsidiaries of insurance giant UnitedHealthcare — will be able to visit Sunrise Health System’s hospitals, urgent care centers, surgery centers and free-standing emergency rooms, part of the hospital giant HCA’s system, at in-network rates beginning Jan. 1...The lack of a contract between the two companies had left thousands of Nevadans insured under the plans vulnerable to out-of-network bills, particularly at Sunrise Hospital, which, as one of three trauma centers in Las Vegas, often receives patients in critical condition unable to make choices about which hospital they want to go to...READ MORE

Gov. Steve Sisolak last week took a small step toward dealing with Nevada’s rogue dental regulatory board. Let’s hope he doesn’t stop there...He should also consider a re-evaluation of all the state’s licensing boards, which too often function as protectionist entities more concerned with shielding existing interests than with promoting competition and public health and safety. The dental board is hardly the only problem...Last week, for instance, Gov. Sisolak revealed that the state Board of Pharmacy for more than a decade has often failed to conduct the required background checks of drug wholesalers. Last year, a report presented to the state executive audit committee cited numerous oversight issues with the more than three dozen occupational regulatory boards operating at the state level...READ MORE

The Office of Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak announced that they are investigating the State Board of Pharmacy for allegedly failing to do background checks on pharmacy wholesalers...The governor's office says since 2007, the State Board of Pharmacy has been collecting fees, but has not been doing background or fingerprint checks as required by a law passed in 2005...The Governor announced today that he is authorizing the recommendations proposed by the Audit Division:

1. Lifting the temporary moratorium on granting wholesale pharmacy licenses to eligible applicants.

2. Directing the BOP to return unspent fingerprint fees to the appropriate applicants and licensees and transfer any fees that cannot be returned or tied to an individual or entity to the State Treasurer’s Unclaimed Property Account.

3. Requesting that the BOP hold accountable those who failed in their statutory obligations to protect the health and safety of Nevadans...READ MORE

Reno is getting its first new full-service hospital in more than a century as Northern Nevada Health System officially broke ground Friday for its new medical center...The Northern Nevada Sierra Medical Center will be built in south Reno, boasting 350,000 square feet of hospital and medical office space as well as 200 private patient rooms...The medical center adds another key piece to Northern Nevada Health System’s portfolio. The company just invested $11.8 million to expand the Northern Nevada Medical Center in Sparks. It is also opening a new ER facility on North McCarran Boulevard in 2020...READ MORE

Gov. Steve Sisolak announced...a new plan for a permanent home for the UNLV School of Medicine that relies on $155 million in donor funds, rather than a $125 million bond measure approved in July...“This agreement is a monumental step forward in ensuring that UNLV will have a state-of-the-art medical school that will save taxpayer money, raise the quality of health care, and help us combat Nevada’s critical doctor shortage in the face of rapid population growth,”...In July, the Nevada System of Higher Education regents authorized acting university President Marta Meana to move forward with a plan to fund the building via $125 million in bonds... a funding resolution was never brought before the Board of Regents...UNLV will be able to use the bonding capacity for another purpose...Before the bond resolution, the school planned to construct a building through a combination of donations and a state grant...READ MORE

Three members of the state’s dental occupational licensing board, plus two top staff members, have resigned from the board amid a scathing audit and sharp criticism from Gov. Steve Sisolak...Sisolak announced...during a meeting of the Executive Branch Audit Committee that three members of the board had resigned immediately, and that he had opted not to reappoint three board members whose terms ended in October...The board’s executive director and general counsel have also opted to resign their positions and will leave the board on December 5...Sisolak referenced “salacious and false accusations” made in an anonymous letter sent by dental board staff to a Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter yesterday suggesting unethical connections between Sisolak, his chief of staff and the Nevada Dental Association, a critic of the dental board...READ MORE

The Valley Health System has a new freestanding emergency department — its second in the Las Vegas Valley...ER at Blue Diamond opened...Sept. 30...“Really, this area of the community didn’t have anything with this level of care,” said Kevin Scott, manager of ER at Blue Diamond...Freestanding emergency departments can improve access to care and are more likely to be in affluent areas...In May, the Clark County Commission adopted a new rule related to freestanding emergency rooms as a result of concerns about facilities unaffiliated with existing hospital systems...Effective June 1, freestanding emergency rooms seeking a business license must accept Medicare and Medicaid, and be in compliance with federal law that requires emergency departments to treat patients regardless of ability to pay...READ MORE

New Online Renewal Process
One-Hour Nevada Law CE Requirement

National Pharmacy Compliance News October 2019

• USP Postpones Official Dates of USP General Chapters Revisions and Additions
• FDA Issues Statement on Compounded Bulk Drug Substances Ruling
• HHS, FDA Publish New Action Plan for Importation of Certain Prescription Drugs
• Pain Reliever Misuse Decreased by 11% in 2018, NSDUH Survey Indicates
• Additional Efforts Needed to Improve Naloxone Access, CDC Say
• Altaire Pharmaceuticals Recalls Multiple OTC Ophthalmic Products

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Painful Mistakes...Does Nevada discipline dentists who injure patients? Our investigation found complaints have climbed, while sanctions have plummeted...Many say the dental board needs an overhaul...Nevada’s dental board members have faced allegations of conflicts of interest, illegally required dentists to contribute to nonprofits with ties to board members and failed to investigate complaints against the board’s own president, a Las Vegas Review-Journal investigation found...The allegations, detailed in audits, public records and complaints, so outraged Gov. Steve Sisolak that he directed the Nevada Board of Dental Examiners, whose members he appoints, to undergo training by the Nevada Commission on Ethics...READ MORE (pay wall)

Just a day before a lawsuit by The Nevada Independent to obtain public records through the state’s drug transparency law was set for a hearing and both sides had filed briefs, District Court...has kicked the hearing date to November 19...the state effectively denied two records requests seeking copies of reports submitted to the state by drug companies and pharmaceutical middlemen under the state’s bipartisan insulin pricing transparency law...the state argued that a federal law, the Defend Trade Secrets Act, preempts the state law and makes that information confidential. Its position came in the face of stiff opposition from the pharmaceutical industry, which pushed hard against the bill during the 2017 session and which has sued once already to keep the state from publishing key details...That suit was eventually dropped, but only after DHHS adopted internal policies allowing drug makers to mark those details as trade secrets. In ending legal action, industry lawyers — calling the bill “facially unconstitutional” — left the door open for another lawsuit...READ MORE