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Over the past few years, a unique pharmacy operation has been making waves in the Pacific Northwest. Chris Schaffner is a pharmacist by trade, but he also serves as the owner of Apothecary Coffee, a co-located coffee shop attached to his other business, Schaffner Pharmacy. Opening the pharmacy in 2018 and the coffee shop in 2022, Schaffner and his staff have achieved great success in the community pharmacy industry...READ MORE

The clock is ticking on the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency and, with it, telehealth flexibilities that enabled doctors to virtually prescribe controlled medications to their patients...Facing major backlash to its proposed rules released in February, the Drug Enforcement Administration is looking to buy some time to reconsider whether it should enforce stricter limits around the prescribing of controlled substances via telehealth...The Biden administration said at the time that the new rule seeks to provide safeguards to prevent online over-prescribing of controlled medications. Teleprescribing has been touted as a robust tool for bringing medications for opioid use disorder to rural areas in the ongoing treatment of the opioid epidemic...READ MORE

The program provides roughly 700 monthly patients with vital medications they otherwise could not afford at no cost...The shelves stay stocked at the St. Vincent de Paul Charitable Pharmacy. As Southwest Ohio's only free pharmacy, there's no shortage of medication — and no shortage of people who need it...Opened in 2006 after local organization Leadership Cincincinnati advocated for a law change to allow for charitable pharmacies in the state of Ohio, the pharmacy now has a main facility at the Don & Phyllis Neyer Outreach Center and a second at the Western Hills Thrift Store...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

...Eli Lilly announced...a new website that will allow patients to get a weight loss drug prescription through a telehealth provider — a move, the company says, that will improve access to the extremely popular and effective drugs, including its recently approved drug, Zepbound...The new website, called LillyDirect, joins a growing list of platforms like WeightWatchers and Ro offering weight loss drugs through telehealth, but is the first of its kind from a pharmaceutical company...“We’re used to buying consumer goods directly from manufacturers all the time on online websites,” said Lilly CEO David Ricks. “It really hasn’t been an option that’s been provided before” for prescription drugs...Ricks said the new platform will make it easier for patients to access the drugs, cutting out the need to go to the doctor to get a prescription and then to a pharmacy to fill it. Patients who are prescribed Zepbound will be eligible for Lilly’s at-home prescription delivery service...READ MORE

Telehealth providers and advocates are balking at proposed telemedicine rules released by the Drug Enforcement Administration...If made permanent, the rules would be a marked change from the suspension of the Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act, which propelled a telepsychiatry boom during the COVID-19 pandemic...Under the proposed rule released by the DEA...some medications would require an in-person doctor’s visit. Controlled substances including stimulants like Adderall and opioids such as oxycodone and buprenorphine used to treat opioid use disorder would require at least one in-person visit...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

That didn't take long. About a month and a half after Merck & Co. scored a legal win in the insurance case tied to the 2017 "NotPetya" cyberattack, the case is in appeals—again...The case, Merck & Co., Inc. v. Ace American Insurance Company, is heading to the New Jersey Supreme Court...This development follows a lower court's ruling in May rejecting the insurers' argument that the “hostile/warlike action” exclusion clause should apply in this case. In making that ruling, the New Jersey appellate court said the exclusion shouldn’t be applied to a cyberattack on a non-military company—even if it originated from a government or sovereign power...After the 2017 cyberattack, tens of thousands of computers in Merck's global network were infected, leading to a significant disruption in the pharma company's business...READ MORE

Amazon has rolled out a new virtual medical clinic that aims to treat common conditions like allergies, hair loss and skin conditions...The message-based virtual health service connects consumers with licensed clinicians who can diagnose, treat and prescribe medication for a range of common health and lifestyle conditions...Amazon Clinic partners with third-party telehealth providers including SteadyMD and HealthTap, powered by Wheel, to provide virtual consultation services. Consumers will see upfront pricing for care and an estimated response time. The service creates synergies with Amazon Pharmacy to fill and deliver any medications Amazon Clinic users are prescribed...Amazon Clinic will be cash pay and does not yet accept insurance...READ MORE

Should pharma reps keep wheeling their cases into doctors' offices? Maybe not. Video meetings are three times more effective than in-person interactions when it comes to driving new prescriptions...That’s according to a new report...which combed through data from 130 million quarterly field interactions across 80% of global biopharmas...It was an unexpected result: Video meetings, which have grown during the pandemic, work better than in-person meetings at getting new prescriptions filled. And digital leaders in the industry “are gaining an advantage using video calls up to three times a week,” the...report said...Why is video better? Partly because video meetings last longer...video calls tend to average 21 minutes, with reps using content in 85% of those meetings compared with 39% in person...READ MORE