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Visual and video content is surging online, already making up more than half of all consumer web traffic… pharma marketers in general have lagged behind in adopting traditional consumer strategies, one digital agency is lobbying its drugmakers to consider visual content…When it comes to video use...we want them to put their budgets behind behavior…Stop putting money behind what people don't do and create strategies around what people are actually doing…pharma needs to follow its potential consumers' behavior. Today that means watching videos or looking at visual content online and in social media…that means getting attention more quickly, better engagement and (people) watching longer…

Embattled Valeant Pharmaceuticals International…that its accounting related to its relationship with a specialty pharmacy was legal and appropriate, but added that its board was nonetheless forming a special committee to investigate the relationship…disclosed for the first time last week that it had acquired an option to buy the specialty pharmacy, Philidor Rx Services, which dispenses some of Valeant’s dermatology drugs… If doctors send prescriptions to Philidor, rather than having their patients go to a retail pharmacy, it makes it harder for the pharmacies or insurers to switch the patient to a cheaper generic alternative…Philidor negotiates for reimbursement with insurers, relieving doctors of the hurdles that might otherwise discourage them from prescribing a high-priced drug. Patient co-payments are also reduced or eliminated, removing another barrier to use of Valeant’s drugs.

Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, announces that it has filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of purchasers of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc…The lawsuit seeks to recover damages for Valeant investors under the federal securities laws… Defendants issued materially false and misleading statements to investors and/or failed to disclose that:

• deficient internal controls
• relationship with a network of specialty pharmacies used to boost Valeant’s sales of its high-priced drugs
• the use of specialty pharmacies left Valeant vulnerable to increased regulatory risks
• under government scrutiny for its financial assistance programs for patients, pricing decisions and the distribution of its products
• faced the risk of scrutiny over its price increases
• without using specialty pharmacies, Valeant’s financial performance would be negatively impacted
• without using specialty pharmacies, Valeant’s Class Period performance would have been negatively impacted
• true relationship with Philidor and the extent of that relationship
• controlled Philidor
• Valeant’s subsidiary KGA had a secured lien interest on Philidor’s ownership
• engaged in a scheme to manipulate Valeant’s stock price
• public statements were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.

Dr. Katherine Smith, Director of Continuing Education and Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice at Roseman University was recently elected as one of 24 Fellows of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy...Dr. Smith was nominated for consideration as an ACCP Fellow by her colleagues, then underwent a rigorous and comprehensive evaluation by the 35-member Credentials: Fellowship Committee. The evaluation process included a review of both practice and research accomplishments...

About half of all surgeries involve some kind of medication error or unintended drug side effects…There is a substantial potential for medication-related harm and a number of opportunities to improve safety…Drugs delivered during an operation don’t have the same safeguards that other medication orders do. In most parts of a hospital, prescriptions are typically double-checked by pharmacists and nurses before they reach the patient. Operating wards are riskier…some kind of error was made in about one in every 20 drug administrations. Several medications are typically used in each operation, from anesthesia to antibiotics, so that rate translated into some kind of error or adverse reaction in every other surgery...

Ronna B. Hauser, PharmD, vice president of pharmacy affairs for the National Community Pharmacists Association, provides an overview of some of the most important aspects of the Drug Quality and Security Act.

You and your practice team could be spending several hundred hours on prescription renewals each year. What if you could get most of that time back while also ensuring your patients don’t run out of medications between appointments? Here’s a physician-proven solution that you can implement in your practice right away…Random prescription renewals have become so ingrained in office-based practices that you may not have even realized that it was an inefficient allocation of resources. But synchronizing prescription renewals—renewing all of a patient’s stable medications for 12-15 months—can save your practice time and money, so you can dedicate more time to directly caring for patients.

Follow these three steps to synchronize prescription renewals.

1. At a dedicated annual comprehensive care visit, renew all medications for chronic illness for the maximum duration allowed by state law.
2. Include instructions for the pharmacy on all prescription modifications and renewals as applicable.
3. Take the opportunity to review all of the patient’s prescriptions for chronic conditions when you receive a prescription renewal request.

Nothing sends a shock of fear through a hospital C-suite quite like the word audit. And the second phase of HIPAA audits is slated to being in early 2016…Those CIOs, CISOs, CEOs, General Counsel and privacy officers unfortunate enough to receive notification of an impending HIPAA audit from the Health and Human Services Department's Office for Civil Rights will invariably feel that pressure…While security is a crucial aspect to any health organization, it's another thing entirely to plan accordingly for an OCR audit.

…tips for healthcare organizations potentially facing an audit:

1. OCR is moving forward with HIPAA compliance audit program
2. Compliance audits expected to be in hundreds; not thousands
3. OCR has been transparent on topics it will target
4. Prepare now in case your organization is selected
5. Educate staff and leadership on how your organization is preparing for an OCR audit

OCR will look into security, privacy and breach notification rules to analyze risk, safeguards and implementations, especially those associated with electronic health information and device encryption.

Victorian pharmacists will play a pivotal role under proposals announced by the Victorian Government to make medicinal cannabis available to some patients under exceptional circumstances…pharmacists will dispense medicinal cannabis after authorisation is provided by medical specialists…“Having pharmacists acknowledged as best-placed to dispense medicinal cannabis is welcomed as it ensures that medicines experts are available to advise and counsel patients using these products,”…there were specific eligibility requirements for the scheme based on conditions and corresponding symptoms. These were:

• Severe muscle spasms or severe pain resulting from multiple sclerosis
• Severe pain, nausea, vomiting or wasting arising from cancer, HIV/AIDS
• Severe seizures resulting from epileptic conditions where other treatment options have failed or have intolerable side effects
• Severe chronic pain with the approval of two specialists

Donnie Calhoun, RPh, PD, National Community Pharmacists Association Foundation vice president, discusses the integrated resource and support center and how it can help pharmacists with their contingency planning.