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Our Northern Nevada pharmacies are being impacted by the countrywide Adderall shortage...According to Quest Counseling, a local mental health clinic, they haven’t had to inform anyone that they can’t fill their prescription, but the scarcity has affected how long it takes to have them filled. That means consumers must search for pharmacies that have it, which may be a time-consuming procedure...“We have our APRN coordinator who’s handling that for patients and it’s very time consuming,” said Amanda Brock with Quest Counseling. “Sometimes they’re calling 10 pharmacies per patient and, with 200 patients, do the math on that. It’s a lot of legwork.”...The shortfall may be more more difficult for people on Medicaid...READ MORE

Nevada’s governor...said the state is launching a prescription discount card, a method of softening the rising costs of medications that is also used in Washington and Oregon...The digital card, called ArrayRX, saves an average of 80% on generic prescriptions and up to 20% on brand name drugs and is free for Nevadans, Governor Steve Sisolak said. For those without health insurance, the card is set to lower costs significantly...Those with health insurance will be able to compare their costs with ArrayRX, and can opt for whichever option is cheaper...READ MORE

MenACWY 12th Grade Requirement
What Is the Meningococcal Vaccine and Why Is It Important?
What Does This Mean for Nevada?
What Does This Mean for Pharmacists?
12th Grade MenACWY Vaccination Requirement Resources

...the U.S. Food and Drug Administration took the unusual step of authorizing pharmacists to directly prescribe antiviral medication Paxlovid to patients testing positive for COVID-19...But don’t expect to get a prescription right away from your neighborhood pharmacist for the pills...Major pharmacy chains and a state regulatory agency said Friday that they’re continuing to work with the FDA on how to best implement the change, including whether any new costs will be passed on to patients. Although the details still need to be worked out, the change was applauded by the industry...“I’m elated,” said Christina Madison, an associate professor at the College of Pharmacy at Roseman University in Southern Nevada...The change eliminates a barrier to getting treatment, especially in rural areas and “medical deserts” where a pharmacy is “the only place a person can get medical information for miles,” she said...READ MORE

Amid an increase in fatal and non-fatal overdoses — including many caused by fentanyl misuse — Gov. Steve Sisolak and state health officials are creating a statewide task force focused on reducing and responding to the issue...The Joint Advisory Task Force will determine how to reduce the risk of overdose, prepare the state and local jurisdictions if overdoses increase, and provide technical assistance, guidance and resources to lower risk, as well as improve overdose response and recovery...Read More

Nevada state police arrested a Washington state man and seized 56 pounds of suspected fentanyl with an estimated street value of $3.6 million from a vehicle a trooper stopped near the Utah line...Jorge A. Rivas-Vizcarra, 50, of Royal City was being held on multiple drug charges...in the White Pine County Jail in Ely where his bail was set at $750,000...He was arrested Monday after a traffic stop on U.S Highway 93 about 20 miles north of Ely...READ MORE

...a new medical center in Las Vegas is hoping to eliminate similar language barriers and other obstacles that members of the Asian American Pacific Islander community face in accessing health care...The Healthy Asian & Pacific Islander Medical Center is the Asian Community Development Council’s latest effort to improve the general well-being and education of this community in Nevada, and advocate on their behalf...The center is something that Vida Lin, the nonprofit’s founder and president, felt has been missing since she moved to Las Vegas from California almost 30 years ago...READ MORE

After years of fits and starts...the red ribbon was cut, and the Kirk Kerkorian Medical Education Building at UNLV was finally complete...The $125 million, 135,000-square-foot building — located just blocks away from the university’s existing medical campus and a pair of hospitals — has been billed as a critical medical infrastructure investment for the region, long plagued by severe physician shortages...But in the end, it was neither UNLV nor the Nevada System of Higher Education that shepherded the project over the finish line. It was a private company, the Nevada Health and Bioscience Corporation...READ MORE

After more than two decades of violating state law, the Nevada Board of Pharmacy must remove cannabis from a list of controlled substances deemed to be highly abused, a Clark County District Court judge ruled...The order followed a lawsuit brought forward in April by the Cannabis, Equity and Inclusion Community on behalf of Antoine Poole, a Las Vegas resident who was convicted of felony possession of a controlled substance for marijuana in 2017. The conviction occurred the same year recreational marijuana use became legal in Nevada...READ MORE

A payment vendor was hit with a ransomware attack back in February that may have exposed patient data from more than 600 healthcare providers and organizations...Professional Finance Company...detected and stopped a sophisticated ransomware attack in which an unauthorized third party accessed and disabled some of PFC’s computer systems...During an ongoing investigation, it was determined that hackers accessed files containing certain individuals' personal information...the company is one of the nation’s leading debt recovery agencies, and its client list includes many healthcare providers, retailers, financial organizations and government agencies...The ransomware attack hit company computer systems that held data from clients such as Banner Health, Lifestance Health, Renown Health, DispatchHealth and hundreds of other provider customers...READ MORE