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At least 15 hospitals across the country have installed, or are considering installing, copper components on "high-touch" surfaces easily contaminated with microbes — faucet handles on sinks, cabinet pulls, toilet levers, call buttons and IV poles…We’ve known for a long time that copper and other metals are effective in killing microbes,… Many experts have concluded that traditional methods for reducing hospital-acquired infections, such as hand washing, aren’t enough, because people don’t always do what they are supposed to do and many pathogens can survive for long periods on surfaces. That’s why hospitals are experimenting with other ways to destroy them…

Processing third-party claims and dealing with insurance companies can be frustrating even for the most experienced pharmacy technicians...there are a number of tools available to pharmacists and techs to make it easier to adjudicate and reconcile prescription claims…Technicians looking to improve workflow in their pharmacies might consider using one of the following services.

• eConcile (FDS) - automates the reconciliation process, eliminating the need for paper checks and verifying the accuracy of third-party payments. The tool will also identify unpaid or underpaid claims, reducing the potential for write-offs…
• EnsurePay (PBAhealth) - automated service that allows pharmacies and technicians to reconcile third-party claims electronically…works by comparing remittance files submitted by a pharmacy to incoming payments..claim will be electronically reconciled… allows its users to manage the process entirely
• Scriptmax (Innovatix) - Web-based prescription claim support program and data analytics service available to long-term care, home infusion, mail-order, retail, and specialty pharmacies…helps to improve the accuracy of the adjudication process, matching third-party payments with adjudicated amounts… performs a number of reviews,…

Doug Long, vice president of industry relations at IMS Health, talks about trends pharmacists should look out for in the future.

A study from the University of California,…Jacobs School of Engineering shows how nanoparticles can be an effective delivery system for drugs in the treatment of cardiovascular disease and systemic bacterial infections…engineers disguised nanoparticles as human platelets to see if they could increase the healing power of drug treatments by delivering those drugs to targeted areas in the body or organs…By using the natural biology of our bodies with the nanoparticle technology, the researchers have taken advantage of the unique natural properties of human platelet membranes for a new form of drug delivery.

University of Texas at El Paso officials are bringing a long-awaited dream to life now that state funding has been secured for a full-fledged School of Pharmacy….UTEP has been a part of a cooperative pharmacy program with the University of Texas at Austin since 1999, but administrators have longed for their own four-year program for just as long,… legislators…allocated $7 million this spring… first class of about 40 students will begin in fall 2017...

Eric A Wright, PharmD, MPH, investigator I for Geisinger Health Research and associate professor at Wilkes University, discusses metrics in care transitions that pharmacists should pay attention to.

Food and Drug Administration is making changes to the requirements for monitoring, prescribing, dispensing, and receiving the schizophrenia medicine clozapine, to address continuing safety concerns and current knowledge about…severe neutropenia…There are two parts to the changes in the requirements for treating patients with clozapine. First, we have clarified and enhanced the prescribing information for clozapine that explains how to monitor patients for neutropenia and manage clozapine treatment. Second, we approved a new, shared risk evaluation and mitigation strategy called the Clozapine REMS Program…

Paul Greenall, senior vice president of strategy and business development at McKesson Corporation, discusses how community pharmacies can build new networks of customers.

Thanks to the introduction of antiretroviral therapy, HIV-infected individuals are living longer than ever before,…this advancement means those with HIV are living long enough to experience aging’s comorbidities. They are also at higher risk for medication errors…as ART is associated with greater polypharmacy and drug-drug interactions…medication errors can increase viral resistance by decreasing ART levels, or increase risk of toxicity by elevating concentrations. Because of this, pharmacists are critical for preventing drug-drug interactions and other medical errors in HIV-infected hospital patients..

Reno Gazette-Journal filed a lawsuit Friday against the city of Sparks in an effort to compel them to release the names of medical marijuana business licensees...RGJ believes transparency in this matter is in the public’s interest…legal challenge is based on the belief that transparency in government…should prevail…lawsuit comes after an RGJ reporter filed a public records request with the city of Sparks for the business licenses related to medical marijuana facilities…The documents returned to the RGJ, however, included redacted names associated with the business licensees...Sparks'...assistant city attorney argued he was upholding state confidentiality laws protecting people involved with the marijuana industry.