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Jean Coutu Group is prepping …pharmacists for expanded health care services now available through pharmacies…Quebec implemented Bill 41, which amended the province’s Pharmacy Act to enable pharmacists to provide certain health care services previously performed only by doctors...

• Extend a doctor’s prescription.
• Prescribe medication when a diagnosis is not required to prevent certain health problems, including such areas as travel health, pregnancy, women’s health, smoking cessation and public health.
• Prescribe medication for certain conditions in which a patient has already received a prescription from a doctor.
• Substitute a medication in case of a supplier inventory shortage.
• Administer medication to a patient to demonstrate the drug’s administration method.
• Adjust the form, dosage, quantity or dose of a prescription according to a patient’s condition.
• Prescribe certain laboratory tests related to a patient’s medication.

specialty drug costs continue to rise, insurers are working to implement innovative strategies to offset those increased prices, while still helping their members gain access to important treatments,...

1. personalized care programs
2. copayment assistance programs
3. community support programs
4. integrated condition-level therapy management program
5. condition-specific fulfillment teams
6. drug-specific coaching and support

GlaxoSmithKline,..was fined a record $483 million for corruption in China last year and … new allegations of bribery… paid Romanian doctors hundreds, and in one cases thousands, of euros between 2009 and 2012 for prescribing its medicines,…U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission,... are investigating GSK for possible breaches of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

National Association of Boards of Pharmacy…planning to enhance several of its examination and assessment programs to better reflect the evolving practice of pharmacy. The new North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination (NAPLEX )… competency statements and revised passing standard…transition to a new administration model..increase in length from 185 items to 250 items…move…to a pass/fail platform...

Putting too much trust in technical controls could be a big mistake in a provider organization's security strategy… encryption and access management go a long way toward securing patient data, employee training remains "absolutely indispensable, absolutely top of the priority list"..

CVS Health, …and Watson, IBM's cognitive computing platform, are joining forces to take on chronic diseases. The plan? Eradicate conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and obesity… to advance care management beyond programs and services typically available today,…has to do with Watson’s ability to read and understand vast amounts of information, and to continuously learn.

To encourage and provide education for female pharmacists interested in becoming entrepreneurs, Cardinal Health…Pharmacy Ownership Boot Camp at its Retail Business Conference…stagnant number of female pharmacist entrepreneurs…"real or perceived lack of business or financial acumen" could be keeping women out of pharmacy ownership...

proof-of-concept study…researchers have shown that results of common and routine blood tests are not affected by up to 40 minutes of travel via hobby-sized drones… investigators say that's promising news…people ..in rural and economically impoverished areas ...give health care workers quick access to lab tests.. Drones already have been tested as carriers of medicines…

Video

HealthSpot's…telehealth stations went live inside 25 Rite Aid locations… first-of-its-kind model pairs licensed healthcare providers with state-of-the-art technology…consumers looking for convenient and quality healthcare… allows users to interact with…providers in a private, 40-square foot station using high-definition videoconferencing and interactive medical devices...