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Nicole Grassano, PTNN, Pharmacy Week in Review, this weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.

Nicole Grassano, PTNN, Pharmacy Week in Review, this weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.

Providers are making an increasing number of mistakes selecting the wrong medication for patients on their computer screens or tablets, according to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices ...The problem is that physicians and other providers select the wrong medication after entering the first few letters of the drug name into their technology screens, said the institute, which released its list of the top 10 most persistent medication errors and hazards it uncovered in 2019...READ MORE

Quality, speed, and price has been referred to as the "Unattainable Triangle". Fast, good, cheap—pick 2. Every business faces this question every time the doors are open for business. You can’t possibly have all 3. When you try to improve 1 side of the triangle, the other 2 sides will be impacted...think about our individual struggle with the triangle. How many of us are in low quality, high stressed jobs because of our “price” (salary)? In a fulfilling pharmacist career, the focus is always on quality...READ MORE

Pharmacists remain at the top of the Gallup’s annual survey of professionals that rank the highest in “honesty and ethics”...For the 18th year in a row, nurses ranked as the most trusted professionals, as 85% of Americans say their honesty and ethical standards are "very high" or “high”. Engineers placed second at 66%, followed by medical doctors (65%), and pharmacists (64%)...“Medical professions in general rate highly in Americans' assessments of honesty and ethics, with at least 6 in 10 US adults saying medical doctors, pharmacists, and dentists have high levels of these virtues,”...READ MORE

NACDS is welcoming “the strongest signal yet” by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that a standardized pharmacy quality program should be created...In a new proposed rule, CMS proposed taking action to increase transparency in Medicare Part D plan sponsors’ pharmacy performance measures, NACDS said in a press release Plan sponsors would have to disclose these measures and CMS would publish them, according to the proposal...The CMS rule also recommends principles to guide pharmacy performance measures, urges the industry to work together toward appropriate measures, and indicates the possibility that CMS may incent plans to use appropriate quality measures, NACDS said...READ MORE

Matthew Gavidia, welcome to This Week in Managed Care from the Managed Markets News Network

Christina Mattina, welcome to This Week in Managed Care from the Managed Markets News Network

The 2019 novel coronavirus, named 2019-nCoV, continues to dominate headlines as more cases emerge in the United States. As of February 5, the CDC has confirmed 11 positive tests of the virus in US patients...READ MORE

Here is a roundup of the latest coronavirus-related news:

1. Pharmacists are running short on surgical masks due to coronavirus fears, according to a new survey.
2. FDA issues emergency use authorization (EUA) for the first 2019-nCoV diagnostic.
3. Gilead Sciences is donating its experimental antiviral drug remdesivir for clinical trials involving patients with coronavirus in China.
4. Department of Health and Human Services will collaborate with Regeneron to develop treatment.

One hundred forty four prescriptions filled in 7 days. That seems like a slow week at Novant Health Brunswick Medical Center. But those were the outpatient prescriptions, which the hospital doesn’t dispense normally...The hospital in Bolivia, North Carolina, was hit hard by Hurricane Florence for 7 days in September 2018. Twenty-three inches of rain in Bolivia--and as much as 27 inches of rain in nearby Sunny Point--led to flooding and impassable roads...Pre-Hurricane Florence, Perry Allen, PharmD, pharmacy manager, a 26-year veteran at the hospital, had 2 priorities: Have the right team on scene before, during, and after the storm and secure the necessary medications to ride out the storm...On behalf of the hospital’s pharmacy team, Allen received the 2019 American Society of Health-System Pharmacists CEO’s Award for Courageous Service...READ MORE