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University of Mississippi pharmacy students recently spent a week in Honduras to provide medical services for those who could not afford health care…pharmacy students Mary Claire Jarrell, Tate Davis, and Christine Hayden assisted with drug selection, dosage, and patient counseling at several medical clinics…It was very rewarding to see the students take ownership of the process [of running a pharmacy] and watch them passionately care for the patients and their families…

Roseman’s College of Pharmacy in Henderson is hosting two prominent members of the pharmacy community from Ghana. Daniel Danquah and Cynthia Anaming-Danquah are visiting with COP administrators, faculty, students and student organizations as they explore opportunities for developing an experiential rotation in Ghana for Roseman student pharmacists. They are also sharing information about pharmacy practice in an international setting.

After a new donation pledge from Publix Super Markets Charities, Habitat for Humanity affiliates in the southeastern U.S. will be able to build 40 new houses in 2016. The $4 million donation,…will go to more than 80 different Habitat for Humanity affiliates… In addition to the...pledge, Publix will donate groceries for the homes sponsored by the donation, and Publix associates will invest in Habitat for Humanity for their 2016 Publix Serves community impact campaign.

Pharmacies can more easily manage their patients on medication synchronization...PrescribeWellness …launched StarWellness+, an add-on service to PrescribeWellness’ popular Med Sync software, StarWellness…empowers pharmacies…to streamline their workflow for patients enrolled in medication synchronization….the pharmacist can push synced medications into the workflow queue of virtually any pharmacy management system… will help them expand their med sync offering and improve adherence with hundreds of their patients…

David Lassen, chief clinical officer at Prime Therapeutics, discusses the potential long term impact from biosimilars on the specialty drug landscape.

Renown Health announced $63.7 million has been committed to capital projects in the year ahead. This marks the largest single-year investment by the organization since…in 2008…projects will range from purchasing new technology for leading-edge cancer care to building brand new facilities in growing parts of our community and renovations to improve patient safety, care and comfort.

• $7.5 million commitment toward building and technology for a newly expanded radiation treatment facility in Renown’s Institute for Cancer…with new Varian radiation technologies
• $1.8 million for a 3-D mammography tomosynthesis machine
• $3 million to upgrade 122 prescription dispensing cabinets at our three acute care hospitals and Surgical Arts facility
• $8 million to build a new comprehensive patient care facility offering a number of services including imaging, therapy, primary care, urgent care and lab services…The location and details of the new facility will be announced at a later date

Sometimes, patients have a hard pill to swallow...Around 40% of Americans report having some difficulty swallowing pills,…As a result of their struggle, 14% have delayed taking their medication, 8% have skipped a dose, and 4% have stopped using their medication altogether…Here are 7 ways pharmacists can help patients overcome their pill-swallowing fears and increase medication adherence.

1. Teach head posture techniques
2. Suggest a specialized pill-swallowing cup
3. Use guided imagery
4. Suggest a flavored throat spray
5. Tell patients to take a deep breath
6. Help patients practice with candy
7. Provide ideas for disguising pills

Millennium Health LLC is struggling to wrangle enough support for a debt restructuring plan that would allow it to settle a federal billing probe by a deadline this week,… Millennium is negotiating the terms for a bankruptcy filing at the same time that it’s finalizing a $275 million settlement of a federal investigation into its billing practices,..The Department of Justice has said it must have a plan to pay the sum by the end of this week…

At its September meeting, the IACP Board of Directors unanimously voted to support a bipartisan Congressional letter,…demanding that the FDA withdraw its Guidance for Industry #230: Compounding Animal Drugs from Bulk Substances…. the letter points out that the agency does not have statutory authority to interfere with the state-regulated practice of veterinary medicine…the guidance attempts to create new regulatory authority without legislation to support that effort.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation announced a model to test strategies to improve medication use...Medication therapy management,…can improve health care and outcomes for patients and has the potential to lower overall health care costs….Part D Enhanced Medication Therapy Management model will assess whether providing selected Medicare Prescription Drug Plans with additional incentives and flexibilities to design and implement innovative programs will better achieve the overall goals for MTM programs, including:

• improving compliance with medication protocols, including high-cost drugs, ensuring that beneficiaries get the medications they need, and they are used properly;
• reducing medication-related problems, such as duplicative or harmful prescription drugs, or suboptimal treatments;
• increasing patients’ knowledge of their medications to better achieve their or their prescribers’ goals of therapy;
• improving communication among prescribers, pharmacists, caregivers and patients.

Enhanced MTM model test will begin January 1, 2017 with a five-year performance period. CMS will test the model in 5 Part D regions....