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The Division of Insurance has announced that Nevada’s insurance carriers that participate in the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange have decided to only offer coverage to Clark, Washoe, and Nye counties beginning in 2018...Currently these medical carriers offer plans on Nevada Health Link: Health Plan of Nevada, Prominence Health Plan, Anthem...But some changes are coming as of January 1, 2018.

• Health Plan of Nevada will only be offering coverage in Washoe, Clark, and Nye Counties.
• Prominence Health Plan announced this week that they will be pulling out of the Nevada Exchange market.
• Two new companies, Aetna and Centene will be joining the exchange market but according to the Division of Insurance at most they will only be offering plans in Washoe, Clark, and Nye counties

The Division of Insurance says this will leave about 8,000 Nevada residents without coverage across 14 counties. The largest group is about 5,000 people across Carson City, Douglas, Lyon, and Storey Counties...If you live outside of Washoe, Clark, or Nye counties and have concerns about your coverage, Silver State Health Exchanges suggests you call them at 855-768-5465...They say that they are working diligently with Governor Sandoval to come up with a plan for those that could be uninsured.

• Our Newest Board Member - Melissa Shake
• Prescription Transfers
• National Pharmacy
• WHO Launches Global Patient Safety Challenge on Medication Safety
• Continuous Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Organizations
• NCPDP Releases Guide to Ensure Patients Get Their Medications During a Disaster
• FDA Warns of Illnesses and Deaths in Pets Exposed to Fluorouracil
• FDA Revises Final Guidance Documents on Bulk Drug Substances Used in Compounding
• APhA Resource Guide Applies JCPP Pharmacists’ Patient Care Process to Immunization Services
• CPE Training on Older Adult Fall Prevention Available Online
• New FDA Drug Info Rounds Training Video Addresses the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act
• FDA Presents Series of CE Webinars for Students and Clinicians
• E-Prescribed Faxed Prescriptions

There is a new place in town to help women stay on top of their breast health. The Summit Surgery Center at Saint Mary's Galena now houses a one-stop shop for wellness and preventative care...Along with 3-D mammography, "We also have ultrasound technique, MRI, CT scanners. So, this is the area women would come for the preventative diagnostic measures,” explains Medical Director Dr. Shelli Tiller…We want to have preventative medicine for people, but if you get to the point where something goes wrong and you have to go to the surgical side of things - that's where my portion comes in." From biopsies to outpatient surgery....

There are a lot of health insurance bills at state legislature this session, as there is great concern about what will happen if Congress does "Repeal and Replace" ObamaCare...After 7 years of the Affordable Care Act, we’re all kind of used to the bill that has provided subsidized insurance to about 80,000 Nevadans and expanded Medicaid coverage to about 300,000...Chair of the Assembly Health and Human Services Committee, Mike Sprinkle of Sparks, has a bill that would remove the income limits on the state’s Medicaid program and open it up to Nevadans who want to buy. People would be able to buy insurance on the Silver State exchange for a certain amount, while current Medicaid recipients could continue to receive government assistance through the program...I was opposed to expanding Medicaid in Nevada, as I was concerned about the cost to taxpayers. But maybe its expansion is actually helping lower costs for all of us. I’m not totally sold, but I’m more open to ideas like Assemblyman Sprinkle’s after a few years of seeing it actually enacted...By doing what is "morally" right — helping low-income and working class families access healthcare — may turn out to be fiscally right. But if you disagree, bring it on!

When a student told Megan Swank, Au.D., CCC-A, about the medicine bag baring her last name on display outside Savitt Medical Library, she doubted there was any connection to her. Little did she know that this medicine bag actually belonged her great-grandfather..."I've been here for three years as an instructor and this was the first time I'd heard about it," Swank said. "Initially I thought there was no way it was connected to me, but then I went over and when I saw the full name on the bag, James L. Swank, I realized it was my great-grandfather's; it was a very emotional moment."...Swank had forgotten that her great-grandfather, James Levy Swank, M.D., had practiced medicine as a general physician in Las Vegas before his death in 1961..."I thought it was pretty amazing, because I don't know much about him. He died before I was born," said Swank.

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences and the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine have demonstrated that a drug originally targeted unsuccessfully to treat cancer may have new life as a potential treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy...The candidate drug, SU9516, represents a different kind of approach for treating DMD, a degenerative muscle disease that usually begins in childhood and has no known cure...NCATS Chemical Genomics Center Acting Branch Chief Juan Marugan, Ph.D., and UNR Med Professor of Pharmacology Dean Burkin, Ph.D., led a team that screened more than 350,000 compounds to find SU9516, which had been previously developed as a treatment for leukemia. The research demonstrated that this compound improved muscle function in both laboratory and animal DMD models. The results, published recently in Molecular Therapy, may provide a promising approach against the disorder and other muscle-wasting conditions...Our findings open the door to develop new drug treatments for DMD...

Eldorado Resorts Properties teamed up with Activate Healthcare to open a family medical center inside the Circus Circus on the corner of Sixth and West Streets (Reno)...All full-time employees of the Eldorado, Silver Legacy and Circus Circus can pop in to see a doctor for general health care needs. The nearly 4,500 square-foot clinic includes three exam rooms, a pharmacy and patient resource center. Patients will not have to wait weeks to see a doctor either; they are guaranteed an appointment within 24-hours. "We’re trying to get people out of the emergency rooms and into their primary physicians which will create a healthier environment, which will be a healthier employee, which will be a healthier family and community,” explains Cindy Carano, the Executive Director of Community Relations for Eldorado Resorts, Inc.

A $1.2 million allocation from the attorney general’s office to the University of Nevada, Reno Medical School should soon begin producing more pediatric doctors for the state...The funding from a settlement between the attorney general’s office and the drug manufacturer Pfizer is creating an OB/GYN department at the medical school...The new department will provide education for medical students in obstetrics and gynecology, as well as training for primary care residents and research...Having a department dedicated to research and the education of students and physicians in their understanding of women’s health ensures we are delivering the best care for patients...

Saint Mary’s Center for Health & Fitness, an office building on the hospital campus in downtown Reno, sold for $66.2 million. The center and Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center operations and existing tenants will not change...The building is a class A, 190,750 square-foot medical office building built in 2005. It sold to a Real Estate Investment Trust, which is a type of property-owning entity that allows people to buy shares of the trust instead of owning the building outright...Medical Properties Trust, is the REIT that now owns the office building...

• Newsletter Goes Electronic
• More on Opiate Addiction
• DEA Changes Registration Renewal Process
• ISMP Medication Safety Self Assessment for Community/Ambulatory Pharmacy
• CDC Publishes Resource to Foster Use of JCPP Pharmacists’ Patient Care Process
• FDA Issues Final Guidance on Repackaging Drugs by Pharmacies and Registered
• Outsourcing Facilities
• CriticalPoint Launches QP503A CertificationProgram for Sterile Compounding in 2017
• PTCB Suspends Implementation of Planned 2020 Accredited Education Requirement for Pharmacy Technicians
• ASOP Global Spreads Awareness About Illegal Online Drug Sellers and Counterfeit Medications
• New Interactive Map Tracks Pharmacist Vaccination Laws
• PMP Data Submission Accuracy
• Attention Pharmacy Managers!