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Jennifer Andres, PharmD, BCPS, clinical assistant professor of pharmacy practice at Temple University School of Pharmacy discusses the sorts of services pharmacists can provide for hepatitis C patients.

• Must I Get an ID on My Patient? - ChaoFen (Stacy) Tan, PharmD Candidate
• Prescription Over-the-Counter Products
• FDA Calls for Review of Opioids Policy, Announces Action Plan
• More Selected Medication Safety Risks to Manage in 2016 - ISMP
• Manufacturer Drug Labeling, Packaging, Nomenclature - Per Liter Electrolyte Content on Various Sizes of Manufacturers' IV Bags
• Patient Education - Discharging Patients Who Do Not Understand Their Discharge Medications
• Compliance News
• USP Publishes Chapter on Handling Hazardous Drugs in Health Care Setting
• FDA Provides Training Video on Keeping Medications Safe in Emergency Situations
• FDA Requires Class-Wide Labeling Changes for IR Opioid Analgesics
• FDA Issues Alert Regarding All Unexpired Sterile Drug Products Produced by Medaus Pharmacy
• E-Prescribing - Who Can Send Electronic Prescriptions? - Melissa Hampton, PharmD Candidate

Hospital clinics and outpatient departments that bill Medicare for unused portions of certain medications recently gained six additional months to meet newly mandated documentation and billing requirements...the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced that Medicare administrative carriers must delay until January 1, 2017, implementation of a policy requiring the use of the "JW" modifier on Part B claims for appropriately discarded leftovers from single-use vials or packages...CMS introduced the JW modifier—a code that essentially enables itemized billing for the unused portion of certain medication vials—in 2007. But the agency allowed each MAC to decide whether to require the use of this billing mechanism or, instead, reimburse for wasted medication without separately itemizing it...Hospitals aren't required to bill for wasted medications, but those that don't are missing out on full reimbursement for eligible products...The...communication from CMS did not specify the reason for the implementation delay.

What are the practice opportunities for pharmacists in your country? Are there too many pharmacists? Or are numbers insufficient to meet medicines-related health needs? Due to insufficient government policies, education and insurance programmes, there is a gravely uneven distribution of supply and demand for pharmaceutical expertise around the world...This issue of the International Pharmacy Journal (vol 34:2) marks a milestone year for human resources for health, including the publication of the new WHO global strategy. It offers a selection of articles to help you become conversant with the main factors at play (politics, private and public policies, economics, data collection and use, education and training, available skills and defined roles, working environment and motivation, technology and migration) and to help you to act where needed.

Pharmacist-led clinic enabling practice change in Canada

Your chance to say how the future of pharmacy workforce will look

Free movement of pharmacists in Europe: Impacts, issues, developments

Pharmacy students filling gaps in health care

Pharmacy in Ethiopia: Building professional capacity

WHA medicines shortages resolution accords with FIP recommendations

Ministers hear how pharmacists support victims of violence

Special interest group on pharmacy practice research formed

New report gives overview of pharmacy services around the world

Goals for global pharmacy workforce development to be established

NHS England plans to get more pharmacists into GP practices

Online pharmacies in Germany targeted by hackers

Sale of non-medical marijuana in Uruguayan pharmacies begins

Technicians to do final check in New Zealand

Kevin James, RPh, MBA, vice president of payer strategy at US Bioservices, discusses the impact of Accountable Care Organizations on specialty pharmacy.

Erin Hohman, PharmD, BCPS, director of Clinical Pharmacy Services at Amber Pharmacy, discusses trends in the specialty pipeline pharmacists should keep an eye on.

Nearly 100 national and state medical societies from around the United States are backing a Senate bill (Protect Continuing Physician Education and Patient Care Act, (SB 2978) that would exempt drug and device makers from reporting payments made to doctors for receiving continuing medical education...sessions, medical journals, or textbooks. Among them are the American Medical Association and the American College of Cardiology...The move is the latest push in a long-running effort to roll back requirements for reporting such payments to a federal database, which tracks financial relationships between companies and physicians. Known as OpenPayments, the database was launched...in response to concerns that financial ties between drug firms and device makers and doctors may unduly influence medical practice and research. It was included in the Sunshine Act provision in the Affordable Care Act. A recent analysis found that payments can affect prescription rates...

Medicare Advantage and other supplemental Part D plans encourage medication adherence to achieve higher star ratings... This rating system measures insurance plan quality, as higher quality plans improve patient outcomes and minimize costs. Adherence represents 10.9% and 29.5% of Medicare Advantage and supplementary plans’ star ratings, respectively...Community pharmacies...have initiated automatic refill programs to improve adherence. These programs have the added benefit of boosting insurance plans’ star ratings...(CMS) confidently assumes that patients of brick-and-mortar pharmacies use their refills if they pick up the prescriptions...researchers reported that an automated prescription refill program improved medication adherence of Medicare Part D patients...Easing barriers to refilling prescriptions enhances adherence, and reinforced adherence enhances pharmacy sales directly and indirectly. Insurance companies prefer pharmacies that strengthen their star ratings; they’re less likely to engage with pharmacies with mediocre adherent patient populations from coverage, and they provide bonuses to pharmacies for high adherence...Future studies assessing the impact of automatic refill programs should develop a superior method of measuring actual medication intake.

Justin Gallagher, associate publisher of The American Journal of Managed Care. Welcome to This Week in Managed Care...

Justin Gallagher, associate publisher of The American Journal of Managed Care. Welcome to This Week in Managed Care, From the Managed Markets News Network.