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A public health campaign in Vermont is getting naloxone into the hands of those who may need it, and pharmacists at the state's major academic medical center are doing their part to help...a pilot program operated by the Vermont Department of Health distributed 8723 "naloxone rescue kits" or kit refills from a network that now includes 10 sites around the state...The sites, which are operated by drug treatment, harm reduction, and recovery centers, get the kits at no cost from the health department and distribute them to patients who are at high risk for an opioid overdose. Friends and family members may also pick up the kits...Meghan Groth, emergency department pharmacist at the University of Vermont Medical Center...developed a similar protocol for dispensing naloxone rescue kits to patients in the ED...Mark DiParlo, manager of UVMC's outpatient pharmacies, expects to have a pharmacy-based naloxone dispensing plan in place by summertime...

Transitions of care programs are designed to provide continuity of care to patients as they move from inpatient hospital settings to home or other care settings. Historically, care transitions have been an area in which medication errors and other problems occur. Sometimes patients’ medication lists are a big puzzle, and often there is information that is missing...With a transitions of care program, pharmacists can solve the puzzle by figuring out what is happening by talking to patients about their medications and reconciling their medication lists...Patients who go through multiple transitions of care are often the sickest patients with the most chronic diseases...If you can coordinate care for patients who are going through multiple transitions at multiple points, then you can improve care quality and save money on the Medicare side...it very fulfilling to offer transitions of care pharmacy services to patients...When you have a patient who tells you ‘thank you so much’ for spending the time with them to review medications so they understand, it is very rewarding and demonstrates how important our service is...

Lawyers have given health minister Alistair Burt a deadline of 4pm on 18 March 2016 to respond to claims that the consultation on proposed cuts to the pharmacy budget in England is illegal and should be abandoned...If the government does not accept that the consultation is illegal then lawyers will consider going to the High Court to seek a judicial review of the consultation process and the content of the consultation document...The prospect of legal action comes three months after the Department of Health first outlined its proposals for the community pharmacy sector in England in a letter to the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee. The letter...set out plans to cut the community pharmacy contractual framework by 6.1% in 2016. As well as the funding cuts, the proposals include a range of measures to make efficiency savings in the sector while extending clinical roles for the profession...Healthwatch England told the government that there is a "clear appetite" for community pharmacy to play a greater role in health prevention, the treatment of minor ailments and supporting people with long-term conditions. It says consumers value pharmacy’s accessibility and some believe co-locating pharmacies to GP surgeries makes sense...However, the organisation gives a cautious welcome to the idea of ‘hub-and-spoke’ dispensing and says that where medicines are assembled centrally, patients will still need local access to expert pharmacy advice.

When US lawmakers convened a hearing last month to discuss the pricing of prescription drugs, it was the testimony of Martin Shkreli...that garnered the headlines. But the hearing also looked at an issue that...could make drugs more expensive for far more people…The impetus was October’s announcement from Walgreens...that it was buying Rite Aid...Critics said that would create a drugstore duopoly with CVS, the market leader. They didn’t, however, look as hard at another effect of the deal, which likely will bring about the final collapse of the industry tasked with keeping prescription-drug costs under control...Buried inside Rite Aid is a bundle of pharmacy benefit managers...Walgreens says that acquiring Rite Aid’s PBMs would help it compete with arch-rival CVS, which controls a large and extremely profitable PBM called Caremark...combining pharmacies and PBMs under one roof creates a conflict of interest. It can restrict patients’ access to certain prescription drugs, and can prevent independent drugstores from competing fairly for new customers...As "competition decreases,"..."prices are going to increase. That’s what we’re finding now." If Walgreens successfully acquires Rite Aid and its PBMs, one of the industry’s last remaining constraints on drug prices will disappear.

In the more than thirty years I have practiced pharmacy, I have witnessed a tremendous evolution in the profession. The clinical foundation and training of a pharmacist graduating today is leaps and bounds above where I started my practice. However, one thing has not changed: a pharmacists’ role in patient care goes well beyond dispensing medications...Today, as before, many pharmacists provide patient-centered services...We are the front line of the health care team and often see patients more than any other provider. Pharmacists have become the most over-trained and under-utilized professionals in America...While doctors should remain the quarterbacks, pharmacists must be given "provider status" so the profession is able to be the integral part of the health care team we are trained to be...With provider status, pharmacists would be added to the list of Medicare providers which would not only allow for the best possible care for patients but would also ensure it is done in the most cost-effective manner...In my short time in Washington I have come to realize just how hard it can be to advance commonsense reform...a bipartisan majority of 272 members have cosponsored the Pharmacy and Medically Underserved Areas Enhancement Act introduced by Representative Brett Guthrie. This legislation simply gives pharmacists provider status...let’s move forward...to improve access to quality and affordable health care for all Americans.

Pharmacists may do a better job than doctors helping chronically ill patients manage their blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels if they're allowed to direct people's health care, a new evidence review suggests...The review also found that pharmacists could manage chronic diseases with about the same efficiency as doctors...current evidence doesn't show whether pharmacists can actually improve a patient's overall health if they take over someone's care from a doctor...The reason for the interest in pharmacist-driven care is that some areas of the United States don't have enough doctors. Due to these shortages, other types of health care workers, such as nurse practitioners or physician assistants, are being called on to help fill the gaps...New legislation introduced in Congress would establish pharmacists as health care providers, and pay them accordingly through Medicare in communities where there aren't enough doctors...Pharmacists are paid less than physicians, and having them handle day-to-day chronic disease care would free up doctors to see patients with more serious and complex health problems...

Patients who need to dispose of unwanted controlled substances and other medications are embracing the convenience of drug disposal kiosks managed by their local health-system pharmacies..."We've collected a little over two tons, in the last year, of unwanted medications," said Buck Stanford, community pharmacy operations director for Intermountain Healthcare...all 25 of Intermountain Healthcare's community pharmacies have a way for patients to dispose of their medicines...Kristina McGill...at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital...fall became the second in Massachusetts to set up a drug disposal kiosk and the first to install one outside of the pharmacy...Both health systems obtained their kiosks, known as MedSafe units, from Sharps Compliance Inc....The steel kiosks are double padlocked and contain an inner receptacle consisting of sturdy inner and outer cardboard boxes plus plastic liners and absorbent pads. The inner boxes double as a shipping container for sending the medications away for incineration...The Drug Enforcement Administration in...2014 implemented a regulation that allows pharmacies and other healthcare entities to register as collection sites for controlled substances and other unwanted medications...as of February 29, a total of 882 DEA registrants had been designated as collectors...ASHP policy 0614, Safe Disposal of Patients' Home Medications, encourages pharmacists to develop patient-oriented medication disposal options that minimize the risk of accidental poisoning, drug diversion, and adverse effects on the environment...

A bill to have the nation's largest Medicaid program cover comprehensive medication management services by pharmacists and primary care physicians emerged from a committee hearing on April 5...In the past few years, we have added millions of Californians into Medi-Cal, making the effective management of the quality and cost of care an absolute necessity...CMM is a smart, important innovation to help meet these goals...CMM, according to California Assembly Bill 2084, is "the process of care that ensures each beneficiary's medications...are individually assessed to determine that each medication is appropriate for the beneficiary, effective for the medical condition, and safe given the comorbidities and other medications being taken, and [that] all medications are able to be taken by the patient as intended."...Absent from the bill, however, was any requirement for Medi-Cal to pay pharmacists for providing healthcare services or for Medi-Cal managed care plans to credential pharmacists as providers...pharmacists' strongest support comes from the rural areas of California, where access to healthcare is more difficult than in the urban centers of the state...

ASHP created a Women in Pharmacy Leadership Steering Committee to help guide ASHP’s efforts in providing services and support for women pharmacists as they seek leadership positions...Professional opportunities to conduct direct patient care combined with flexible scheduling and six-figure salaries have drawn more...women into the profession...ASHP is preparing for the future of the pharmacy workforce by identifying and addressing barriers to female leadership...To jumpstart the process of building a new generation of female pharmacy leaders, ASHP held several live networking events at both its 2015 Conference for Pharmacy Leaders...and its 2015 Midyear Clinical Meeting & Exhibition...The moderators...shared their own professional experiences and provided insights into ways to grow into leadership. The events served to connect younger women in the early stages of their careers with positive role models...gender shifts and generational changes have a real potential to change the profession...We need to cultivate a new generation of leaders at every level—clinical, administrative, academic pharmacy, and more. And to do that, we need a candid and thorough assessment of the needs that women pharmacists have and the opportunities for advancement…

ASHP has released the ASHP Specialty Pharmacy Resource Guide, a new publication that outlines ways for hospitals and health systems to address the challenges and opportunities presented by specialty pharmacy, the fastest growing segment of the pharmaceutical industry... It is projected that by 2020, specialty pharmaceuticals will represent half of all drug expenditures, driving pharmacy directors to seek out strategies to address the impact of the products on pharmacy services. The resource guide discusses the financial, legal, administrative, and patient care aspects of four specialty pharmacy business models and helps users determine which model best matches their needs.