- How Community Pharmacies Can Build New Networks of Customers (pharmacytimes.com)
Paul Greenall, senior vice president of strategy and business development at McKesson Corporation, discusses how community pharmacies can build new networks of customers.
- October is American Pharmacists Month – Goal of American Pharmacist Month (APhM) (pharmacist.com)
APhM is celebrated annually during October and serves to promote pharmacists as medication experts, an integral member of the health care team, and directly involved in patient care. APhM aims to educate the public, policy makers and other health care professionals about the role pharmacists play in the reduction of overall health care costs and the safe and effective management of medications. Pharmacists have a significant role in assessing patients’ medication management in patients and referring them to physicians.s a time to educate your patients, motivate your staff, and engage and inspire your community to "Know Your Pharmacists, Know Your Medicine."
- Outsourcing Facilities of America Works with Search Engines and Pay-Per-Click Advertising Sources to Eliminate Ads by Non-Compliant Compounding Pharmacies (prweb.com)
Pay-Per-Click advertising sites, primarily search engines, are largely unaware of the new regulations governing 503B Outsourcing Facilities. Pay-per-click advertising has been one of the main ways non-compliant compounding pharmacies have been able to sell their products and services to hospitals, physicians and patients. Outsourcing Facilities of America is working to educate PPC advertising companies on the regulatory requirements… create new policies and procedures to stop non-compliant compounding pharmacies from selling their products in violation of these regulations.
- Italy bans 7 APIs from compounding pharmacies after off-label abuse (outsourcing-pharma.com)
Italian Ministry of Health has banned compounding pharmacies from preparing drugs containing any of seven APIs after chemists were discovered making dangerous off-label weight loss treatments....ban, backed by the Italian Drug Agency, comes after some compounding pharmacies created unregistered slimming drugs from combinations of APIs not intended for weight control.
- TRIAC/tiratricol
- fluoxetine and bupropion
- clorazepate
- furosemide
- metformin
- topiramate
- 3 Third-Party Claims Tools Pharmacy Technicians Can Use (pharmacytimes.com)
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,…
- Diplomat Pharmacy sells compounding business to focus on specialty (drugstorenews.com)
Restore Health…it has entered into an agreement to acquire the compounding pharmacy assets of Diplomat Pharmacy… services include the preparation of personalized medications for patients and compounding pharmacists who work with prescribers to customize a medication to meet a patient's specific health needs.
- Diabetes Counseling Points for Pharmacists (pharmacytimes.com)
Kristene Diggins, MBA, manager of professional practice at MinuteClinic, gives counseling points that pharmacists should provide to diabetic patients. (video)
- Quarantine All Sterile Drugs from Compounder Medistat (pharmacytimes.com)FDA Announces Medistat RX’s Nationwide Voluntary Recall of Sterile Drug Products (fda.gov)
All non-expired drugs produced for sterile use by Alabama-based compounder Medistat RX have been recalled due to potential contamination, the FDA is warning pharmacists… recalled products were distributed nationwide between Nov. 1, 2014, and Sept. 3, 2015… FDA investigators and Alabama inspectors observed significant deficiencies that raised concerns about the compounder’s ability to assure the sterility of the drugs it produced.
- IACP Submits Comments on FDA’s Underestimated Time & Cost Burden of Reporting 503B Adverse Events (iacprx.org)IACPodcast 19 - FDA Guidance on 503B Facilities (iacp.site-ym.com)
International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists submitted comments on the Food & Drug Administration's underestimated time and cost burden of reporting adverse events by 503B outsourcing facilities.
- eRx of controlled substances now legal in 50 states (healthcareitnews.com)
'Throwing out the prescription pad' is key to preventing fraud and abuse..With e-prescribing of controlled substances now legal nationwide, providers and pharmacies are empowered with a new technological tool in the fight against prescription painkillers… there's some progress yet to be made on this front. NLR(National Law Review) points to statistics that show that while… one-third of pharmacies were equipped to handle eRx of controlled substances as of the end of 2013, just 1 percent of prescribers were able to do so.