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Sepsis Alliance and… Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will mark Sepsis Awareness Month in September by collaborating on a variety of efforts and new resources. Throughout the month of September, CDC will release a new series of fact sheets, host a twitter chat to engage the public in a conversation about sepsis, and host a blog series on its Safe Healthcare Blog to share first-hand experiences of doctors, first responders, patients, and family members coping with the devastating effects of sepsis.

Do pharmacists feel that discipline by the state board of pharmacy is effective in deterring future errors? Should the pharmacist’s name be published in the state board of pharmacy newsletter for all the pharmacists in the state to see? Readers were vocal on this subject and plenty more.

• Official actions
• The public
• Script volume
• Working conditions
• E-stuff
• Next-gen pharms
• The right stuff

American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy - Abstract

Purpose The frequency of and risk factors for medication errors by pharmacists during order verification in a tertiary care medical center were reviewed.

Conclusion An increase in the number of orders verified per shift was associated with an increased rate of pharmacist errors during order verification in a tertiary care medical center.

Kristene Diggins, MBA, manager of professional practice at MinuteClinic, discusses what pharmacists should know about clinical inertia, and its effects on diabetes. (video)

• Samsung LabGeo PT10 - private patient kiosks...with a new point-of-care lab technology
• Higi Kiosks - cloud-based interactive..for health-and-wellness tracking, data sharing..patient education
• RxASP 1000 - prescription packaging system… accommodate up to 1,000 RFID canisters
• CoBot - new robotic technology…PharmASSIST CoBot…ease workflow and perform "mindless repetitive tasks"
• Surescripts optimizes tech, expands applications - new capabilities is an electronic prior-authorization feature that allows prescribing physicians to check any patient’s insurance eligibility for any prescription automatically, at the touch of a screen, before sending that prescription to Surescripts’ routing network

ACA (Affordable Care Act), primary care doc shortage, aging population, chronic disease make this telehealth's moment..CVS is working with three telehealth companies -- American Well, Doctor On Demand and Teladoc -- on how, together with pharmacies, they might expand and improve on...patient care.

Wal-Mart Stores surprised everyone by highlighting reduced profits from its pharmacy business. In corporate-speak, these were called "headwinds from pharmacy reimbursements" on its quarterly and annual earnings. Investors took note, especially since Walmart usually discloses nothing about its pharmacy business. Walmart didn’t provide many details about what caused the margin reduction, but I believe two factors played a key role:

1. lower margins from newly insured consumers (compared with cash-pay consumers)
2. Walmart’s aggressive participation in preferred networks

Everyone is a potential victim of the dangerous condition known as sepsis, which kills more than 258,000 Americans each year…. Early recognition and immediate treatment can reduce the morbidity and mortality of sepsis. In other words, healthcare professionals need to be fast and loud to beat sepsis.

The following are 4 specific things formulary managers can do in the battle against sepsis:

1. Increase consumer and patient awareness
2. Act fast: Treat sepsis as a medical emergency
3. Know and screen for risk factors
4. Participate in continuing education about sepsis

As many as eight-in-10 health care executives say that their organizations have been compromised by at least one malware, botnet or other cyber-attack during the past two years, and only half feel that they are adequately prepared in preventing attacks…

Female libido drug Addyi from Sprout stirred up its fair share of controversy last week with its FDA green light, which came despite serious potential side effects such as severe drowsiness, nausea and dizziness. But if it can succeed despite those side effect worries, it certainly wouldn't be the first drug to do so......Advair, Fosamax, Epogen, Gilenya, Tecfidera