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As pharmacy technicians take on increasingly important roles and responsibilities, the regulations governing the profession continue to strengthen…Organizations such as the Pharmacy Technicians Certification Board are able to provide a national standard for technicians, but in the end, each state determines its own minimum requirements for working as a pharmacy tech… Current and aspiring techs unsure of their state’s laws can consult the following reference guide that explains how to become licensed as a pharmacy technician in each state.

Large U.S. health systems are buying clinics, physician practices and digital resources in search of growth opportunities in lieu of traditional acquisition of other hospitals,… which is being driven by the need to gain economies of scale, shift from volume to value-based care, compete in local markets and expand digital health and healthcare IT capabilities…To deal effectively with greater complexity, higher volumes and other changes resulting from increased acquisitions, industry providers will need to manage their businesses with the mindset of a portfolio manager…

What’s in a reputation?.. A lot… The level of antagonism toward pharma in the U.S. is a surprise... considering how deep it goes.. Overall, the corporate reputation of the entire biopharma industry was low, verging on abysmal…"[T]he pricing of oncology drugs is driving a rift between pharma and patients."… At the other end of the healthcare reputation spectrum.. retail pharmacies at the very top…75% of those surveyed believed that retail pharmacists have an "excellent" or "good" corporate reputation. Patients responded positively to the community-based, patient-oriented focus of retail pharmacists,..

Doug Long, vice president of industry relations at IMS Health, talks about the most significant market trend in the pharmaceutical industry so far in 2015. (video)

Clark County man has become the first documented West Nile virus patient of 2015 in Southern Nevada…The man over the age of 50 has the more serious form of the illness, according to the Southern Nevada Health District… Environmental health specialists routinely survey known breeding sources for mosquitoes and trap them for identification and disease analysis…The health district has collected West Nile positive mosquitoes this year in 22 local ZIP codes: 89011, 89012, 89014, 89025, 89027, 89029, 89031, 89074, 89107, 89113, 89117, 89118, 89119, 89123, 89128, 89129, 89130, 89131, 89134, 89143, 89146 and 89147.

Health care just got a whole lot more convenient in Manhattan, where a pair of health app developers …began coupling their offerings in what may become the ultimate in fast service — doctors to your door by way of Pager quickly followed by an on-demand prescription delivery from Zipdrug...Pager was launched…a healthcare startup reinventing the traditional doctor-patient experience…connects patients to board-certified doctors who make home, office or hotel visits within two hours…. Zipdrug…employs a trained delivery staff who picks up prescriptions at the pharmacy of the patient's choice and delivers them to the patient's doorstep.

VoicePort International…announced that its suite of adherence solutions, PharmaPhonetics would be launching in Costco Canada pharmacies…. is a service that focuses on automated prescription pickup notifications to ensure patients pick up their medicine and take it in a timely manner… medication synchronization services, patient counseling, written translation and instruction services..

McKesson… announced it has been selected as a 2015 C. Everett Koop National Health Award recipient in recognition for the company’s employee health and wellness program…Our...program…promotes the physical, mental and social wellbeing of our employees and their families…focus is on improving health, we’re pleased that the wellness initiatives have created opportunities to lower health care costs…includes health risk assessments and screenings, educational tools, physical activities and prevention efforts. The program has had increased employee engagement each year since its inception…and has evolved from a payout for completed health assessments into a comprehensive health promotion program with an integrated incentive structure that rewards participants for healthy behaviors.

pharmacy workers within Target Corp's store in Brooklyn, New York, have won a vote to form a microunion, making it the first unionized store at the retailer since its inception in 1902…a group of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians won an initial ballot, 7-2, to form the union,.. "It is a big win for us," said…director of the United Food and Commercial Workers union that supported the vote…

The discount drug program intended for safety-net hospitals and special AIDS clinics has mushroomed even more than earlier reports have suggested, with oncology drugs fueling much of the growth,…Medicare Part B hospital outpatient spending shows that 340B institutions accounted for 58% of all spending on drug payments in 2013, with oncology drugs making up 40% of the Medicare fee-for-service costs. Cancer drugs have become "the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow," for 340B hospitals,… it’s too easy for hospitals to qualify for the program, and hospitals have powerful financial incentives to buy up oncology practices, so these financial strategies can proliferative at sites beyond the hospital walls.