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Mike Glaicar, Business Development: Pharmacy Times...(PTNN) This weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.

...Walgreens said...it would end its relationship with Theranos, in another blow for the blood-testing company that was once lauded for its innovative approach but has increasingly come under scrutiny...Walgreens said it would shutter all 40 Theranos Wellness Centers at its stores in Arizona, having already stopped Theranos laboratory testing services at its location in Palo Alto, California..."In light of the voiding of a number of test results, and as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has rejected Theranos' plan of correction and considers sanctions, we have carefully considered our relationship with Theranos and believe it is in our customers' best interests to terminate our partnership," Brad Fluegel, Walgreens senior vice president...Theranos was once praised for its fast, less-invasive blood testing technology but the company has found itself in the spotlight after media reports raised questions about the accuracy of its proprietary tests...Federal prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney's office and the SEC have investigated Theranos over whether it misled investors...

Brian Haug, President of Pharmacy and Managed Markets, Pharmacy Times (PTNN) This weekly video program highlights the latest in pharmacy news, product news, and more.

Mike Glaicar, Business Development: Pharmacy Times...(PTNN) This weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.

Walmart announced that it is cancelling plans for a store at the Outlets at Sparks due to issues surrounding pharmacy services at the location...Walmart spokeswoman Delia Garcia cited the inability to have pharmacy operations at the site, also known as the Legends at Sparks Marina, as the reason for the decision..."After serious consideration, given the existing development restrictions prohibiting Walmart from operating a pharmacy at the Legends at Sparks Marina, we are no longer planning for a Walmart store at that location," Garcia said via e-mail on Friday afternoon...The value of a full-service pharmacy, including access to Walmart’s $4 generic prescription program, along with one-stop shopping for groceries and general merchandise is critical to our customers...

The knowledge, skills, and attitudes pharmacists must have in order to meet the needs of Medicare beneficiaries are exactly those that graduates acquire in our colleges and schools of pharmacy today. It might be said that practice will finally catch up with education...Why were pharmacists not included among the list of professionals when Medicare was enacted 50 years ago?...there was no vision for pharmacists' patient-care services in this era...In the decades following the introduction of Medicare, medication use has become increasingly complex. Pharmacists in every practice setting have demonstrated their ability to collaborate with prescribers to identify patients' drug-related needs...Pharmacy organizations lobbied successfully to include a modest provision for patient-care services in Medicare Part D, and medication therapy management services are currently provided on a limited basis...The profession has the potential to offer much greater value, especially to those in medically underserved communities...Are we prepared to deliver such services when Congress amends the Medicare law and adds pharmacists to the list of providers? I believe the majority of pharmacists stand ready to expand their patient-care services...As pharmacy is recognized for its vital contribution to healthcare and wellness, pharmacy education will adapt to meet the needs of the pharmacists of today and tomorrow...

Tucked inside a new Vermont law to combat opioid abuse are provisions that define clinical pharmacy services and indirectly confer healthcare provider status on pharmacists in the state...The legislation, formerly known as Vermont Senate Bill 243, defines a healthcare provider as "a person, partnership, or corporation, other than a facility or institution, that is licensed, certified, or otherwise authorized by law to provide professional health care service in this State to an individual during that individual's medical care, treatment, or confinement."...Separately, the law defines clinical pharmacy, in part, as the health science discipline through which a pharmacist "provides patient care to optimize medication therapy and to promote disease prevention and the patient's health and wellness."...The new law also states that insurers "may" pay or reimburse pharmacists for providing clinical services within their scope of practice...The next goal, he (VtSHP President Jeffrey Schnoor) said, is to secure reimbursement for services that pharmacists, as recognized healthcare providers, provide to Medicaid beneficiaries—and to be ready for future federal-level recognition as healthcare providers under Medicare.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper...signed legislation, S.B. 135, which expands collaborative practice for licensed pharmacists and opens the door for health benefit plans to provide coverage for pharmacists’ services...S.B. 135 allows pharmacists to enter into collaborative practice agreements with physicians and advanced practice nurses and grants licensed pharmacists the authority to provide healthcare services to patients under protocols delegated by a physician or advanced practice nurse. The law also authorizes pharmacists to provide care under a statewide drug therapy protocol developed by the boards of pharmacy, medicine, and nursing...the law does not require health plans to pay for pharmacists’ services...Health plans must reimburse pharmacists in their provider networks for services that would be reimbursed if provided by a physician or advanced practice nurse...

As the name and meaning of specialty medications have grown over time, so too has the importance of these pharmaceuticals, said Steven D. Pearson, MD, MSc, president of the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review.

Valeant is attempting to restructure a deal with Walgreens after warning it is losing money on a large chunk of medicines sold through the chain of U.S. drugstores...The Canadian drugmaker will consider terminating the agreement within months unless the situation improves...Valeant...slashed its annual profit forecasts for the third time in six months, a move it blamed in part on its deal with Walgreens, which dispenses many of its best-selling medicines...Walgreens is filling prescriptions for some of the company's top drugs without first ensuring that the patient's health insurer will pay for them, resulting in losses for Valeant...Stefano Pessina...who runs Walgreens...negotiated a very favourable deal for Walgreens in exchange for supporting the drugmaker, which was reeling from the accounting irregularities, as well as a political outcry over the high price of its medicines...about a quarter of Valeant drugs sold through Walgreens are being dispensed without securing this "prior authorisation"...(Valeant)...would consider terminating the agreement with Walgreens unless things improve quickly, and believes that a "material adverse change" clause in the contract would provide legal cover...