- Cardinal Health bullish on medication synchronization (chaindrugreview.com)
Cardinal Health Inc. said its new medication synchronization program...offers manifold benefits for community pharmacies in terms of patient care and efficiency...MedSync Advantage enables pharmacists to coordinate a patient’s prescriptions to be picked up on the same day each month…the program not only simplifies the process for patients and caregivers who must fill multiple prescriptions, but it also improves patient medication adherence by helping to ensure they fill all scripts each month...the number of prescriptions that a patient fills each month sharpens inventory management for the pharmacy and opens up more time for the pharmacy staff to focus on interacting with patients…We believe medication synchronization is a core competency for medication therapy management expansion in the pharmacy, and we want to prepare our pharmacies to move toward a value-based pharmacy model for payment in the future...It’s a win for the patient, and it’s a win for us because it evens out our workflow and helps us operate more efficiently...The most visible thing you get from medication synchronization is your time back…
- Former dean of Touro’s medical school discusses local health care landscape (reviewjournal.com)
Vegas Voices is a weekly question-and-answer series featuring notable Las Vegans...Dr. Mitchell Forman came to Southern Nevada in 2004 to take a position as founding dean of Touro University Nevada College of Osteopathic Medicine...overseeing the new osteopathic medical school was only part of Forman's work in Southern Nevada over the past dozen years. He has been an active and vocal advocate for medical education, patient education and community outreach here and served Southern Nevada's medical community as an officer or board member of organizations that included the Clark County Medical Society...Last week, Forman, 69, left his full-time position as dean of Touro University Nevada College of Osteopathic Medicine...
- What's the biggest change you've noticed in Southern Nevada's medical landscape since your arrival?
- How has the local health care infrastructure changed?
- What was the most challenging aspect of starting a medical school here?
- How about patients? What do laymen here still have to understand about health care?
- What are your plans?
- 7 Drug Shortage Findings Health-System Pharmacists Should Know (pharmacytimes.com)
Health-system pharmacists can play a critical role in managing drug shortages to prevent medical errors and adverse events...[Pharmacists] can often prevent shortages from impacting their institution by proactively managing inventory...When a shortage situation impacts hospital inventory, pharmacists should inform providers early...Pharmacists can also develop protocols for emergency department staff on what to do if a drug is not available. These protocols should include information about the best alternative medication, dosing recommendations, proper administration of the drug, and contraindications...Pharmacists can also take the following steps:
- To prevent errors, place specific labeling on a medication if a different concentration than what is normally stocked is being used.
- Help develop protocols for the ethical distribution of medications on shortage.
- Minimize waste of medications while compounding.
- Assist emergency medical services providers and directors with out-of-hospital protocols during shortages.
- Monitor and report adverse outcomes and medication errors.
...researchers examined data from the University of Utah Drug Information Service...Here are 7 things pharmacists should know about these findings:
- Of the 1789 drug shortages, about one-third (610) were within the scope of emergency medicine practice.
- From January 2008 to March 2014, emergency medicine drug shortages rose by 435%, from 23 to 123.
- The reason behind shortages remains unknown for around half of the 1789 cases.
- Infectious disease medications were hit hardest.
- Around 40% of drug shortages affect emergency care, according to a report from the Health and Human Services’ Emergency Care Coordination Center.
- The median shortage time for emergency medicine drugs was 9 months.
- The most common reasons for a drug shortage were related to manufacturing delays or problems.
- Junior doctors in England begin second strike (pharmatimes.com)
With no signs of a resolution anytime soon, junior doctors in England have once again taken to picket lines across the country in protest against working and pay conditions being proposed by the government...Around 2,800 operations have reportedly been cancelled as doctors stage a 24-hour walk-out providing only emergency care, after several years of discussions with the government about a new contract have failed to find common ground...The British Medical Association is most concerned with the government’s refusal to recognise Saturday working as unsocial hours, which would see junior doctors take a drop in salary despite an 11 percent rise in basic pay, the removal of safeguards to ensure that doctors aren’t over-worked, as well as the threat to impose the proposed contract if a resolution isn’t reached...imposing the contract would not be a popular move. Almost 90 percent of junior doctors said they would consider resigning from the NHS if the government does so...
- Compounding pharmacies investigated for possible fraud tied to pain creams (healthcarefinancenews.com)
The Department of Justice is investigating potential fraudulent claims and billing linked to specialty creams...that claimed to treat pain symptoms...investigators have claimed many of these specialty creams have little or no medicinal value...the issue is with the alleged false claims, not the compounds themselves...It's part of a larger issue of healthcare fraud...All these people submitting claims … for drugs that have absolutely no effectiveness. Are they doing it with knowledge, and seeking reimbursement for it? It's the modern day snake oil salesman...the International Academy of Compounding Pharmacies said the creams in question "benefit people and are non-addictive."...No charges have been filed...
- Standardizing Patient Outcomes Measurement (nejm.org)
The arc of history is increasingly clear: health care is shifting focus from the volume of services delivered to the value created for patients, with "value" defined as the outcomes achieved relative to the costs...But progress has been slow and halting, partly because measurement of outcomes that matter to patients, aside from survival, remains limited. And for many conditions, death is a rare outcome whose measurement fails to differentiate excellent from merely competent providers. Experience in other fields suggests that systematic outcomes measurement is the sine qua non of value improvement. It is also essential to all true value-based reimbursement models being discussed or implemented in health care. The lack of outcomes measurement has slowed down reimbursement reform and led to hesitancy among health care providers to embrace accountability for results...The International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement has convened groups of experts on specific conditions, together with patient representatives, to outline minimum standard outcome sets and risk factors using a structured process...ICHOM has approved or is in the final stages of approval of more than 20 sets covering about 45% of disease burden in the United States...These standards are putting providers, payers, patients, and information technology vendors on a common path for tracking what needs to be tracked, making implementation of outcomes measurement easier and more efficient.
- Q&A with US Representative Buddy Carter, the Only Pharmacist in Congress (pharmacytimes.com)
As the only pharmacist serving in Congress, US Representative Earl L. "Buddy" Carter is a critical leader of efforts to pass federal legislation pertinent to pharmacists...Pharmacy Times recently spoke with the first-term US Congressman, House Community Pharmacy Caucus co-chair, and Carter’s Pharmacy, Inc, owner about his pharmacy past and political progress.
- Why did you become a pharmacist?
- What part of the pharmacy profession stands out to you?
- How did you get into politics?
- Have you maintained your pharmacist license while serving in Congress?
- What is it like to be a pharmacist in Congress?
- How has being a pharmacist helped you understand and tackle legislative issues?
- What pharmacy-related objectives are on your to-do list in Congress?
- What are your thoughts about pharmacist provider status legislation and how are you advancing HR 592?
- What are your thoughts about PBM transparency legislation and how are you advancing HR 244?
- What are your thoughts about "any willing pharmacy" legislation and how are you advancing HR 793?
- What more do you plan to do to advance these 3 bills?
- What efforts is the House Community Pharmacy Caucus making to help community pharmacists?
- UNLV medical school clears key hurdle (reviewjournal.com)
The UNLV School of Medicine is one step closer to recruiting its first class of students...The school received word...from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education that it was transitioning UNLV from applicant to candidate status, which will allow the school to receive a site visit...It's just great for the documents to be accepted and for us to be able to move on to the next step...After a school receives candidate status, a site visit occurs, which leads to a decision on preliminary accreditation. Schools that receive preliminary accreditation can begin accepting applications for enrollment...UNLV hopes to start recruiting in October; the first class of students is slated to begin classes July 2017...Full accreditation for the medical school is expected to take until 2021...The first class of 60 students will receive full scholarships thanks to the school's Founding Scholarship campaign...
- The Best and Worst Consequences of Rising Specialty Drug Costs (specialtypharmacytimes.com)
The meteoric rise in the cost of specialty drugs has been well-documented and appropriately lambasted, at least in some circumstances...Two consequences of the growing cost for specialty medications percolated to the top of my list when considering its ability to impact the specialty pharmaceutical industry...First is the arrival of the pharmaceutical manufacturers’ day at-risk...the deal between Harvard Pilgrim and Amgen for the PCSK9 inhibitor...Harvard Pilgrim will recoup additional rebates from Amgen if various patient groups taking Repatha do not achieve specific cholesterol targets...Given the need for improved alignment within the industry as a whole, this development is a good thing. If manufacturers and payers would allow them to do so, specialty pharmacies could serve as the primary conduit...that enable both parties to generate value from at-risk agreements...we will explore how this can be achieved.
- Leverage programs proven to improve adherence - Pharmacists and patient care coordinators employed by medication management providers and specialty pharmacies are perfectly suited for this task.
- Agree on data and outcomes - In order for manufacturers to accept some risk, there should be upfront agreement on financial and health outcomes. Top health outcomes should be close to the clinical trial results manufacturers tout themselves.
- Assign a near-neutral third-party for health outcomes metrics arbitration - Neither payers nor manufacturers can be the arbiters of the data by which at-risk agreements are adjudicated...In the world of specialty medications, the entity best suited to this task is the specialty pharmacy with validation from a clinical pharmacist.
Barriers to Access are not Good and Must be Broken Down...The second consequence applies to health care on a national level, but the pharmaceutical industry, inclusive of pharmacy benefit managers and payers, has the ability to do something about it...The barriers to treatment access, even preventative treatment, created by increasingly complex prior authorization processes and state budgets stretched to the breaking point, are causing patients to defer treatment...Investing in Access Solutions...new personnel specifically tasked with prior authorization assistance...will carry an arsenal of knowledge and experience that makes them the most suitable resource given the increasingly complex requirements for successful completion of prior authorization forms...
- Pharmacy Week in Review: February 12, 2016 (pharmacytimes.com)
Mike Glaicar, Business Development: Pharmacy Times...(PTNN) This weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.