Category:

The digital start-up Capsule, which opens for business...in New York City, is looking to compete in the already crowded Big Apple pharmacy market by focusing on home delivery of prescription drugs...At the same time, Capsule is eschewing selling customers candy, soda, shampoo, greeting cards and other nonpharmaceutical items...Capsule aims to solve what its executives call the "existing pain points" of conventional, bricks-and-mortar pharmacies: long wait times to get prescriptions filled; having to return to the store because a drug is out of stock; uncertainty about how much a drug will cost a patient; and getting questions answered about drugs...Instead of walking into a store, most of the start-up's customers will get their medications hand-delivered by couriers dispatched throughout the city — with the temporary exception of Staten Island — via bicycle, buses and subways, and by foot, after their doctors file the prescription electronically...To build its business, Capsule will rely on consumer and doctor awareness. Patients can request the service, or doctors can recommend it...We think eliminating folks going into the store is one way of creating a better experience or energy...Capsule is launching its new way of running a pharmacy in New York City...This would certainly make sense in a number of other markets across the country, if not most everywhere...

Importance The optional free-text Notes field in ambulatory electronic prescriptions allows prescribers to communicate additional prescription-related information to dispensing pharmacists. However, populating this field with irrelevant or inappropriate information can create confusion, workflow disruptions, and potential patient harm.

Objectives To analyze the content of free-text prescriber notes in new ambulatory e-prescriptions and to develop recommendations to improve e-prescribing practices.

Main Outcomes and Measures Reviewers classified free-text prescriber notes as appropriate, inappropriate, or unnecessary.

Results 66.1% contained inappropriate content...

Conclusions and Relevance The free-text Notes field in e-prescriptions is frequently used inappropriately, suggesting the need for better prerelease usability testing, consistent end user training and feedback, and rigorous postmarketing evaluation and surveillance of EHR or e-prescribing software applications. Accelerated implementation of new e-prescribing standards and rapid adoption of existing ones could also reduce prescribers’ reliance on free-text use in ambulatory e-prescriptions.

Government Accountability Office discovered vulnerabilities in three states and said that other state-run health insurance exchanges may be at risk too...Obamacare health insurance websites in California, Kentucky and Vermont have serious cybersecurity flaws that could result in hackers obtaining personal data from hundreds of thousands of people...One state didn't encrypt passwords, GAO officials said. Another state didn't properly use a filter to block hostile attempts to the site. And the other state didn't use proper encryption - leaving a door for hackers to gain entry...Officials from both California and Kentucky told the AP there was no evidence hackers had stolen anything, while Vermont officials declined to comment on the findings...

iMedicare, a company that provides Medicare Part D plan comparison software to pharmacies, announced recently that it had launched RefillReport.com, a platform that aims to help patients connect with local pharmacies to save money on their Medicare plan...The site is looking to help patients compare plans at different community pharmacies and potentially save money on a Medicare plan. It also features information about how Medicare Part D works, answers frequently asked questions and keeps information updated about different challenges that could affect patients throughout the year...

Demonstrating the efficacy, safety and differential benefit of a new drug relies on collecting and analyzing enormous amounts of data generated in a clinical trial. Yet this process of extracting knowledge from data is often the source of many inefficiencies...We recently spoke with Dimitris Agrafiotis, PhD, Vice President and Chief Data Officer at Covance, to hear his thoughts on how informatics has affected drug development and will continue to transform the pharmaceutical industry.

• Why is informatics important in a global context?
• How does informatics support the conduct of efficient clinical trials?
• What role can informatics play in data management, analysis and integration in a clinical trial?
• How is informatics currently being employed to improve clinical trial performance?
• What role does informatics play in increasing patient safety?

Maine Gov. Paul LePage has signed into law a bill that mandates electronic prescribing for controlled substances. Maine is the second state to do so. In New York the mandate took effect on March 27...An Act To Prevent Opiate Abuse by Strengthening the Controlled Substances Prescription Monitoring Program requires prescriber participation in the Prescription Monitoring Program and sets limits for the strength and duration of opioid prescriptions, beginning January 2017...also calls for prescribers to undergo addiction training every two years...The new law also makes Maine the third state in the nation to set a cap on the daily strength of opioid prescriptions

We interview Jerry Fahrni Pharmacy Infomatics consultant about his blog post from January 27, 2016 titled: "Integration no longer optional for pharmacy technology" (podcast 28:03 min)

The 21st Century Cures Act will have a huge impact on the pharmaceutical industry nationally and globally...All of the major pharmaceutical companies target the United States...they will have to comply with the...Act (when passed)…Precision medicine, meanwhile, is a programme announced...last January...it is an emerging approach for disease treatment and prevention, which includes a patient’s variability in their genes, environment, and a person’s lifestyle...What has the precision medicine initiative got to do with the 21st Century Cures Act?.. Precision medicine would allow the inclusion of much more technology driven healthcare innovation and would permit the introduction of additional personal data and information into health science...The requirement to get drugs to market faster is evident. However, a lack of interoperability poses a huge challenge when it comes to getting patient data consolidated in time for clinical trials...A large part of the new legislation is aimed at trying to connect the research and development arms of life science companies to health IT or digital health specialists...all pharmaceutical companies will benefit from the Act as they will be able to get their drugs out faster. On the technology side, the major beneficiaries of the Act will be the big data analytics players, since this lies at the heart of speeding up approvals...The good news is most (if not all) of the major players are fully aware of the challenges and opportunities of the Act.

Adapt Pharma, maker of Narcan (naloxone) Nasal Spray announced...the launch of its smartphone app Narcan Now. The app provides patients information about how to recognize the signs and symptoms of an opioid overdose, an instructional video and a three-step administration guide for Narcan Nasal Spray, as well as emergency services access...The app is available through the iTunes App Store for iOS devices and the Google Play store for Android devices.

A new app may help streamline medication needs for travelers...International travel is increasingly more common, but many travelers are often ill prepared for dealing with health issues while abroad...French pharmacist...developed a new app to help...travelers with essential medication information...The "Convert Drugs Premium" app allows users to find information in 11 different languages for therapeutically equivalent medications in 220 countries...Convert Drugs Premium promises that health care professionals who use it will "be able to quickly help visitors from other countries find the medications they need, or help advise domestic patients about the products they will and will not be able to find in the country they plan to travel in."