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It may not feel like it, but Nevadans who get their health insurance courtesy of the Affordable Care Act can consider themselves relatively lucky as 2017 comes into focus...Yes, they will pay an average of 11 percent more in premiums for their coverage than they did this year. And, yes, many will only be able to pick from plans offered by a single insurer...But it could have been far worse. Proof lies just across the border in Arizona, where some premiums are skyrocketing by triple digits and most insurers have fled the market...A new federal report on insurance premium prices released earlier this week and a county-level analysis published...by the Associated Press and consulting firm Avalere Health painted a comprehensive picture of the state of ACA health care insurance entering 2017...It wasn’t pretty...report by the Department of Health and Human Services showed that premiums for a midlevel benchmark plan will increase an average of 25 percent in 2017 across the 39 states served by the federally run online market, including Nevada...HHS officials noted that a majority of those who purchase plans through HealthCare.gov and its state-run counterparts – including Nevada’s Silver State Health Insurance Exchange — receive financial assistance and may not see their out-of-pocket expenses increase much, if at all. It may not feel like it, but Nevadans who get their health insurance courtesy of the Affordable Care Act can consider themselves relatively lucky as 2017 comes into focus.

Cosmetic Enterprises, Ltd., a growing manufacturer of cosmetic and pharmaceutical products, is planning to expand its operations into Dayton...CEL, headquartered in Pacoima, Calif., purchased a vacant 60,000-square-foot building along with an adjacent 18 acres for potential development..."During our due diligence we reviewed many different regions and states and found Nevada to be manufacturing friendly that is centrally located to our existing customer base…Cosmetic Enterprises is a great addition to Lyon County...Not only are they creating the kind of higher paying jobs that help boost the region, they will be great corporate citizens...CEL produces cosmetic and skin care products, such as shampoo, moisturizers, skin enhancing lotion and skin protecting products, using botanicals and other raw materials...

A North Las Vegas doctor was arrested...in connection with a lewdness incident involving a patient...detectives arrested Jorge Burgos, 50, at his office in the 1800 block of East Lake Mead Boulevard on multiple counts of open and gross lewdness...Allegations were made that on multiple occasions, the doctor inappropriately touched a patient...Police said the investigation is ongoing, and they are seeking other possible victims...Burgos, an internal medicine physician, has no record of disciplinary actions by the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners.

Gov. Brian Sandoval has called physicians, politicians and law enforcement officials to a summit meeting this week to address the national opioid epidemic’s impact on Nevada...The Prescription Drug Abuse Summit...at the MGM Grand will focus on issues that include oversight of pain management clinics, physicians’ drug prescription practices and alternatives to opioid medications..."Nevada has established policies that have become national models in prescription drug monitoring and ongoing coordination between the public and private sector. I am proud of what we have accomplished, but there is more work to be done," Sandoval said...Featured speakers at the summit will include U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin…

• Fatigue and Your Practice
• Roseman University Opens Medicare Call Lab in Partnership With the Nevada State Health Insurance Assistance Program
• Gentle Reminder for New Electronic Prescriptions
• National Vaccine Safety Surveillance Program Available for Reporting Adverse Events
• Improper and Unsafe Vaccine Storage
• Coalition Reports Impact of Educational Efforts on Safe Acetaminophen Use
• FDA Offers Webinars on Online Drug Information Resources for Students and Clinicians
• Fresenius Kabi Recalls Sensorcaine-MPF(Bupivacaine HCl) Injection, USP
• Oral Liquid Docusate Sodium by PharmaTech Recalled Due to Contamination
• NABP Seeks Pharmacists From Districts 1, 5,and 7 to Serve as Volunteer Item Writers
• Auditing Dispensers’ PMP Data

Not everyone reacts to the same medication in the same way...Benedryl makes some people drowsy and others wired. Antidepressants have no affect on 38 percent of patients...Some people are more susceptible to addiction from pain medications while others get pain relief without getting hooked...MD Labs is part of a new industry called pharmacogenetics that uses genetics to map specific genes involved in the metabolism of and response to specific drugs...Ruttledge and Denis Grizelj, co-founder and CEO, began MD Labs in 2011 as a toxicology testing facility for physicians nationwide. They expanded to pharmacogenetic testing in 2014, with the development of their proprietary genetic test Rxight, which maps genes that affect more than 200 medications...Because it’s genetically based, Rxight is a once-in-a-lifetime test...Preemptive testing makes the patient’s genetically-based profile of drug reactions available to doctors and pharmacists before illness strikes and before a drug is prescribed...MD Labs contracts with Saint Mary’s Health to offer the testing and consultation at both Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center and Saint Mary’s Medical Group Primary Care Northwest Reno...Pharmacists at those locations are Rxight Certified to administer the test and provide consultation...Nationwide the company has 100-110 employees total, which includes about 55 people in the Reno office plus a sales force in offices in Chicago and Pennsylvania...MD Labs owners see a future in which pharmacogenetics testing is routine.

The makers of prescription painkillers have adopted a 50-state strategy that includes hundreds of lobbyists and millions in campaign contributions to help kill or weaken measures aimed at stemming the tide of prescription opioids, the drugs at the heart of a crisis that has cost 165,000 Americans their lives and pushed countless more to crippling addiction...The drugmakers vow they’re combating the addiction epidemic, but The Associated Press and the Center for Public Integrity found that they often employ a statehouse playbook of delay and defend that includes funding advocacy groups that use the veneer of independence to fight limits on the drugs...The pharmaceutical companies and allied groups have a number of legislative interests in addition to opioids that account for a portion of their political activity, but their steady presence in state capitals means they’re poised to jump in quickly on any debate that affects them.

• A FOCUS ON PAIN TREATMENT
• A SURPRISING OPPONENT
• LOBBYISTS ‘WERE KILLING IT’
• THE NEXT FRONTIER

• Nugget Casino Resort, Sparks, NV  08:00 AM – 04: 00 PM
• Registration and Breakfast
• President’s Address and Awards
• CE Session 1: ASHP Update: Current Issues in Pharmacy Practice, Kimberlee Berry,
  CAE, Senior Manager, Affiliates Relations Division at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists
• CE Session 2: “When to Step In: Podiatry 101” by Tim Mooney, DPM, FACFAS,
  DABFAS
• Pharmacy Technicians’ Program 1: PTCB
• Lunch and Exhibition Showcase
• CE Session 3: When Less is More: Adventures in Deprescribing by Danielle Finn,
  PharmD and Sara Schroedl, PharmD, Pharmacists at the Sierra Nevada VA Health System
• Pharmacy Technicians’ Program 2: Pharmacy Law with Detective Michael Salerno
• CE Session 4: Updates in RA by Stephen Lee, PharmD, BCPS, Associate Professor of
  Pharmacy Practice at Roseman University of Health Sciences
• Closing Remarks

Children in the Las Vegas Valley who have sickle cell disease soon will be able to visit a one-stop hub for medical care and social services to help them cope with the painful, sometimes debilitating blood disorder...The new Sickle Cell Treatment Center will open at the Children’s Specialty Center of Nevada, 3121 S. Maryland Parkway, by the end of October, according to Dr. Nik Abdul Rashid, director of the sickle cell center...The center will provide patients with access to a multidisciplinary team, including doctors, a social worker and a clinical research associate, who can help with everything from psychological assessments to communicating with a child’s school about the impact of the disease, Rashid said...the new center will help ensure kids with sickle cell disease receive adequate care while also giving parents the information and resources they need to be the best caregivers they can be...

The state's first public medical school launched its new look...complete with updated logo and branding identity. The University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine on July 1 officially added "Reno" to its name after a decades-long history of being the University of Nevada School of Medicine…"An organization's branding is far more than a name or logo; branding is the perception of our school in the minds of our many constituents," said Thomas L. Schwenk, M.D., dean of the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine. "Our new name and logo represent the stunning and positive changes taking place as we build a full clinical, teaching and clinical research campus in Reno. The School of Medicine has not gone through a transformational change of this magnitude since its founding, and the branding campaign is our opportunity to share this exiting story widely."...The changes more closely align the School of Medicine with its parent university, the University of Nevada, Reno. The new branding also further clarifies the school's affiliation, location and distinct role in the state...