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Nevada regulators are investigating marijuana testing laboratories to figure out how cannabis with exceedingly high levels of yeast and mold made it to store shelves, as well as for possibly doctoring THC levels to make cannabis products appear more potent to consumers...the state sent out a notice that several batches of marijuana flower and pre-rolls showed levels of yeast and mold that exceeded the state’s allowable limit after a secondary test. A follow-up test conducted by the state’s Department of Agriculture found that some of the products had yeast and mold levels of 390,000 colony-forming units per gram, which is nearly 40 times higher than the state’s legal threshold of 10,000 cfu/g...READ MORE

Saint Mary’s Medical Group will open its new North Valleys Urgent Care Clinic...“Saint Mary’s believes in the importance of providing excellent care throughout the community,” Dr. Bayo Curry-Winchell, Urgent Care Medical Director for Saint Mary’s Medical Group, said in a statement. “As the North Valleys continue to grow in population, providing care close to home is essential.”...READ MORE

The Reno and Sparks Chamber of Commerce announced...will begin offering an association health plan to its small business members in partnership with Prominence Health Plan, following in the footsteps of four other chambers of commerce in Southern Nevada that unveiled similar plans with other insurance companies last month...Small businesses that are members of the chamber will be able to purchase medical coverage through Prominence and dental, vision and life insurance through Kansas City Life...The Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce and the Clark County Health Plan Association, a partnership of three smaller Southern Nevada chambers, each announced plans last month to begin offering association health plans to their members in the wake of a rule released by the Department of Labor in June loosening the rules on such plans. The new rule exempts association health plans from providing the essential health benefits required under the Affordable Care Act, eliminates restrictions based on geography and allows companies in different industries in the same region to provide coverage together...

The report, released by the school’s Office of Statewide Initiatives last week, found that the state has added 1,789 physicians over the last decade, a 31.7 percent increase, but because of population growth, the number of physicians per 100,000 Nevadans only grew by about 10 percent. And, when accounting for roughly 50 percent growth in the number of licensed but inactive physicians — meaning those who are retired, semi-retired, temporarily not in practice or otherwise not active — there was actually only a 1.7 percent increase in active physicians over the last decade...“treading water effect”...“There’s so much demand for health care in general so it’s part of a broader workforce problem in that they’re struggling with nurses now, struggling in mental and behavioral health,”...“You throw on top of that population growth, it makes it very difficult.”

Chamber of commerce and trade association health plans are in legal limbo after a federal judge ruled earlier this year that the Trump administration rule allowing them violates the Affordable Care Act...Some associations in Nevada have stopped allowing new businesses into their health plans out of an abundance of caution as the case goes up on appeal, while others have chosen to press forward. The heterogeneous response is the result of the fact that the court’s decision only affects some association health plans and the state Division of Insurance, which oversees the plans, doesn’t know which ones those are...READ MORE

Collaborative Practice Agreements

Finally, Registered Pharmacists Can Collect Specimens!

National Pharmacy Compliance News

FDA Launches Pilot Program to Improve Security of Drug Supply Chain With an Innovative Approach

FDA Announces New Efforts to Increase Oversight and Strengthen Regulation of Dietary Supplements

Trump Administration Releases National Drug Control Strategy to Reduce Drug Trafficking and Abuse

• Prevention
• Treatment and recovery recommendations
• Reducing availability

New Study Predicts Opioid Epidemic Will Worsen Over the Next Decade

FDA Warns of Potential Blood Pressure Medication Shortages Due to Recalls

FDA Releases Two Draft Guidances Related to REMS Programs

• REMS Assessment: Planning and Reporting Guidance for Industry
• Survey Methodologies to Assess REMS Goals That Relate to Knowledge
  Guidance for Industry

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The Washoe County School District Board of Trustees voted...to renew contracts with Renown Hospital and its insurance arm while also beginning the process of scouting out alternative options over the next year to address the long-term solvency issues of its health insurance fund...trustees voted unanimously to direct the superintendent to begin a competitive request for proposals process over the next year to explore other health-care options for employees and retirees as the district grapples with the rising costs of health care and an insurance fund balance that isn’t keeping up. They then voted to approve three-year contracts with Renown and Hometown Health...Saint Mary’s Health Network, which had held the longstanding contract to provide coverage to district employees, cried foul about the renewal process for the Renown and Hometown Health contracts this year, saying that it could provide health care more cost effectively but hadn’t been given a fair shot to prove to the district that it could do so. Amber Norris, director of business development and marketing for Saint Mary’s, said at the meeting that the request for proposal is “a move in the right direction” and that the health network looks forward to submitting its proposal...

After July 31, 2019, Renown Health will no longer accept Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield. Anthem issued a termination notice in February of 2019...Both Renown and Anthem have said they were working toward a resolution but now time is up...READ MORE

The number of Nevada hospitals adhering to best practices on patient safety jumped in a new report…The state’s overall ranking rose to 16th, up from 40th in the spring...The rankings are based on the percentage of hospitals in the state earning A grades...which more than doubled in Nevada from just under 17 percent to 35 percent...Seven Nevada hospitals received top marks, including four in Southern Nevada: Henderson Hospital, Mountain View Hospital, North Vista Hospital and St. Rose Dominican Hospital, Rose de Lima campus. Northern Nevada Medical Center, Renown South Meadows Medical Center and St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Reno also received As.

The Washoe County School District is poised to renew a contract...with Renown Hospital and its insurance arm to provide health care to teachers and other district employees, but the hospital’s biggest competitor, Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center, is crying foul over the process, saying it can provide care more cost-effectively and wasn’t given a fair shot to prove it can do so...Saint Mary’s Health Network, which includes the hospital, other health-care facilities and networked providers, submitted a proposal to the school district earlier this summer for a comprehensive health plan that it says could have saved the district anywhere between $5.4 million and $15.9 million in 2019. But the school district rejected the proposal as “non-responsive” because the district had only requested information on hospital services, not a full health plan, adding in a letter that it only sent out the bid in the first place in response to “constant badgering and lobbying” by Saint Mary’s.