Category:

• Must I Get an ID on My Patient? - ChaoFen (Stacy) Tan, PharmD Candidate
• Prescription Over-the-Counter Products
• FDA Calls for Review of Opioids Policy, Announces Action Plan
• More Selected Medication Safety Risks to Manage in 2016 - ISMP
• Manufacturer Drug Labeling, Packaging, Nomenclature - Per Liter Electrolyte Content on Various Sizes of Manufacturers' IV Bags
• Patient Education - Discharging Patients Who Do Not Understand Their Discharge Medications
• Compliance News
• USP Publishes Chapter on Handling Hazardous Drugs in Health Care Setting
• FDA Provides Training Video on Keeping Medications Safe in Emergency Situations
• FDA Requires Class-Wide Labeling Changes for IR Opioid Analgesics
• FDA Issues Alert Regarding All Unexpired Sterile Drug Products Produced by Medaus Pharmacy
• E-Prescribing - Who Can Send Electronic Prescriptions? - Melissa Hampton, PharmD Candidate

It’s been a vision of UNLV leaders for years: A widely supported medical school educating the region’s future doctors and bearing the university’s name..."We’re ahead of where we thought we would be," Atkinson said (Dr. Barbara Atkinson, dean of UNLV School of Medicine). "I never thought we’d be this far ahead at this point."...Exactly a year from its anticipated debut date of July 17, 2017, the medical school is moving forward...

ACCREDITATION - Atkinson said the (accreditation) committee is expected to consider the report as well as documents provided by UNLV and make a decision on the school’s preliminary accreditation request between Oct. 17 and 19...If the medical school is awarded preliminary accreditation, it can begin recruiting its first class of students and would become the first accredited M.D.-granting, or allopathic, program based in Southern Nevada.

A NEW BUILDING - UNLV has also commissioned a conceptual design and renderings for a permanent building across from Valley Hospital Medical Center in the Las Vegas Medical District, and those plans should be complete by September...University Medical Center CEO Mason VanHouweling said the placement of the UNLV school in the heart of the medical district will bring a new look and feel to the area...He added that UMC is excited to try to develop its own facilities to help shape the future of the area and looks forward to furthering its partnership with the UNLV school.

Attorney General Adam Laxalt is suing an insurance company alleging breach of contract and bad faith for failing to defend Nevada and pay its $400,000 settlement with the city of San Francisco over allegations of patient dumping...The lawsuit filed...against The Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania...seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, along with costs and attorney’s fees...San Francisco sued Nevada in 2013 following an investigation by the Sacramento Bee into patients at Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital in Las Vegas being provided bus tickets. The lawsuit claimed about 500 patients arrived in California and about two dozen were bused to San Francisco, many needing medical treatment and shelter. The city sought reimbursement for their care…Nevada settled the lawsuit in 2015...the action against the insurance company, alleges the carrier failed to investigate San Francisco’s claims against Nevada and invoked "inapplicable coverage exclusions" to escape its duty to defend and indemnify Nevada from San Francisco’s lawsuit...

Prescription drug addiction, the downward spiral of lives ruined, loved ones lost, and the cost to society were the focus of a daylong meeting convened...by Gov. Brian Sandoval, who called the problem a crisis...Without question this is one of the most important health challenges we currently face...calling prescription drug abuse "one of the deadliest epidemics" in the United States...Statistics are sobering. While overdose deaths related to opiates in Nevada have declined from 517 in 2010 to 382 last year, at least one Nevadan dies every day from an opiate overdose...From 2010 to 2014, hospital inpatient admissions related to opioids jumped to 3,783 from 2,993...Sandoval said he wants the panel to focus on duties and responsibilities of health care licensing boards; coordination among law enforcement; substance abuse treatment; and sale and availability of pharmaceuticals..."We seek answers, not excuses,"...

Five Southern Nevada hospitals were among six statewide that received only one star in a controversial five-star rating system unveiled...by the Centers for Medicare &Medicaid Services....Two Nevada hospitals got four stars: Mesa View Regional Hospital in Mesquite and Renown South Meadows Medical Center in Reno...The ratings, which use stars to denote the overall quality of hospitals, are meant to "help individuals, their family members and caregivers compare hospitals in an easily understandable way,"...The results, available on the Hospital Compare portion of the Medicare website, have been met by opposition by many hospitals locally and across the country who say the ratings use unreliable information and punish teaching facilities as well as hospitals that serve low-income patients...The five Southern Nevada hospitals receiving one-star ratings were: University Medical Center, St. Rose Dominican Hospitals-Siena Campus, Desert Springs Hospital Medical Center, Valley Hospital Medical Center, and Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center...UMC CEO Mason VanHouweling took issue with the rating system, saying the measure treats all facilities the same, despite differences in the patients they may see..."In other words, the rating system fails to account for unique, multifaceted or high-acuity patients that may come through a trauma, burn or transplant center," he said.

The School of Medicine has a new name: We now are the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine. The Health Sciences Committee of the Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents on June 10 approved a proposal from the school for the new name to be effective July 1, 2016...This name change can be viewed in a range of ways. It is, on one hand, a minor change, a one-word addition of "Reno" to our long-held name of "University of Nevada School of Medicine" that simply reflects our increasing engagement with the University of Nevada, Reno, the Reno/Sparks metropolitan area and Northern Nevada. On the other hand, it signals the stunning and positive changes that are taking place as we build a full clinical and research campus in Reno in collaboration with Renown Health, the Sierra Nevada VA Health System, community physicians and other partners...Our new name marks, more than anything, a rededication to our purpose of serving our community in partnership with the University, hospitals, health care agencies, physicians and many others...

A legislative audit of the state dental board revealed systemic issues with the board’s operations, including poor record keeping and questions about how the public’s complaints are investigated...The report, presented at the June 16 meeting of the Sunset Subcommittee of the Legislative Commission, highlighted the Nevada State Board of Dental Examiners’ lack of an independent committee to review outcomes of investigations into misconduct allegations...The review process complaint was just one of several issues investigated by the auditors, who also found the board lacked "an effective process for accurately determining the amount of investigative costs" to dental professionals under scrutiny.

The first fully autonomous drone delivery to a customer home has occurred, and the retailer behind it is not who you would expect...Leading convenience chain 7-Eleven partnered with independent drone delivery service Flirtey and the Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems to complete two deliveries from a store in Reno, Nevada on Sunday, July 10. 7-Eleven merchandise, including hot and cold food items, were loaded into a Flirtey drone delivery container and flown autonomously using precision GPS to a local customer’s house... "Drone delivery is the ultimate convenience for our customers and these efforts create enormous opportunities to redefine convenience," said Jesus H. Delgado-Jenkins, executive VP and chief merchandising officer of 7-Eleven. "This delivery marks the first time a retailer has worked with a drone delivery company to transport immediate consumables from store to home...

Henderson Hospital is hiring this month to fill hundreds of vacant positions as it prepares for its planned fall debut...The hospital has posted 240 open positions and is expected to add more...The 142-bed Valley Health System property is to debut on or near Oct. 31 in Union Village, a developing health, recreational and residential complex at Galleria Drive and U.S. Highway 95...Henderson Hospital, which has filled about 40 positions so far, is seeking nurses for departments including surgical services, women’s services and the emergency department at job fairs this month, according to a news release...

Renown Health is paying $9.5 million to settle allegations of Medicare fraud after its former compliance director-turned whistleblower accused management of encouraging "systemic" overcharging — and sometimes double-billing — of hundreds of patients...U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden announced the settlement agreement...between the Justice Department and...Renown Regional Medical Center, the largest hospital and health care network in northern Nevada with more than $1 billion in annual revenue...Cecilia Guardiola, a registered nurse and law school graduate, said in a federal whistleblower lawsuit filed in 2012 that she began to discover the "billing deficiencies" shortly after Renown hired her as its director of clinical documentation in June 2009...