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NPA President Dr. Kay Lynn Bowman gave a brief history of legislation surrounding the pharmacist-to-technician ratio:

The last proposal for the Regulation to increase the ratio was heard and a survey was conducted in October 2018...From January 2019 - September 2019: Public comment was heard by the Board of Pharmacy in March, April, June and July, and a final motion for a 4:1 ratio was denied.

COVID-19: May 5, 2020 a Partial Emergency Waiver for COVID-19 allowed for a 6:1 pharmacy technician:pharmacist ratio. Waiver ended 7/20/2022.

Current Tech/Pharmacist Ratio is 3:1.

In September 2022, the Nevada Board of Pharmacy was asked to adopt an emergency regulation to raise the ratio. The Board of Pharmacy determined that the situation was not an emergency but they mentioned that they may consider discussing this topic in a future board meeting...READ MORE

CVS reported first quarter financial results premarket Wednesday fresh off closing some of its biggest acquisitions since its $70 billion megamerger with insurer Aetna in 2018...The retail health giant tied up its $10.6 billion acquisition of value-based medical group Oak Street Health...and completed its $7.8 billion acquisition of home care provider Signify Health in March. The acquisitions are meant to advance CVS’ value-based strategy in primary care and home health...READ MORE

Sixteen states have banned a pharmacy benefit management practice that involves not counting the value of drug copay assistance from manufacturers toward patient deductibles...Drugmakers use copay assistance programs to shield patients from out-of-pocket expenses — and build market share for their products in the process. But pharmacy benefit managers have cried foul, saying the copay programs undercut formularies and wind up increasing the use of expensive drugs that are not any better than less expensive ones. They have pushed back with “copay adjustment programs,” especially “copay accumulators,” which are designed to blunt the effect of the copay assistance programs by not counting their value toward patient deductibles...READ MORE

Amazon has rolled out a new virtual medical clinic that aims to treat common conditions like allergies, hair loss and skin conditions...The message-based virtual health service connects consumers with licensed clinicians who can diagnose, treat and prescribe medication for a range of common health and lifestyle conditions...Amazon Clinic partners with third-party telehealth providers including SteadyMD and HealthTap, powered by Wheel, to provide virtual consultation services. Consumers will see upfront pricing for care and an estimated response time. The service creates synergies with Amazon Pharmacy to fill and deliver any medications Amazon Clinic users are prescribed...Amazon Clinic will be cash pay and does not yet accept insurance...READ MORE

Earlier this year, Nevada lawmakers unanimously passed SB375, which allocates $20 million over the next two fiscal years to increase the number of nursing faculty and graduates at seven state nursing programs — an effort to address the state’s troubling nursing shortage..., some school leaders cautioned that main drivers of the nursing shortage — such as pay for faculty and clinical nurses and burnout among nurses — remain unaddressed...It’s also difficult to hire nursing faculty because of the lower pay and higher education requirements in academia compared to clinical settings...READ MORE

The number of drugs excluded from the three largest pharmacy benefit manager formularies reached an all-time high in 2023, despite concerns that profits are being put ahead of patient access. This year, CVS Caremark, Optum Rx and Express Scripts — which together handle 80% of all prescriptions in the United States — each have roughly 600 medications on their standard formulary exclusion lists...Exclusions leave patients with fewer options for treatment unless they can afford the out-of-pocket costs of buying drugs that are not covered by the insurer. What is even more disturbing are the trends within the trend of formulary exclusions, critics say,,,READ MORE

When people needed critical COVID-19 testing and, later, vaccinations, many visited their local pharmacy to secure those services...As the healthcare industry continues to grapple with labor shortages and staffing issues, experts argue pharmacists are an underutilized resource that could play a much greater role in patient care. Pharmacists have high levels of trust with patients, who visit their local pharmacy more frequently than they go to other sites of care; pharmacists see patients three or four times more often than primary care doctors...A survey from CVS Health and Morning Consult, released in October, found that 61% of people would like to get a broader range of services at their local pharmacy. It also found that 74% of people trust their local pharmacist and agree they should be able to step in when primary care is not available...READ MORE

Retail pharmacy giant Walgreens inked another partnership to recruit participants for research as it continues to build out its clinical trials business...The company signed a deal with biotech startup Freenome to advance clinical trials of its blood-based tests for the early detection of cancer...It marks the sixth contract that Walgreens has publicly disclosed for its year-old clinical trials business unit. The pharmacy chain launched the unit back in June 2022 as the company's healthcare ambitions continue to grow...While Walgreens continues to grow the business, rival CVS Health announced in May it was winding down its clinical trials arm just two years after its launch. The company will fully exit clinical trials by the end of 2024...READ MORE

Walgreens will not dispense abortion pills in nearly two dozen states after legal threats from GOP lawmakers, the retail pharmacy chain confirmed...The Walgreens decision stems from a letter written by nearly two dozen Republican state attorneys general at the beginning of February that threatened legal action if the company began distributing mifepristone in their states...Walgreens...spokesperson saying “we are not distributing mifepristone at this time. We intend to be a certified pharmacy and will distribute mifepristone only in those jurisdictions where it is legal and operationally feasible.”...READ MORE

On the heels of several high-profile acquisitions, Walgreens aims to be a point of entry for consumers for healthcare services ranging from urgent care to specialty care and even in-home health...Walgreen's VillageMD unit recently announced it was buying another urgent and primary care chain, Summit Health-CityMD, in a deal worth close to $9 billion. The VillageMD-Summit Health deal will expand Walgreen's reach into primary, specialty and urgent care. Combined, VillageMD and Summit Health will operate more than 680 provider locations in 26 markets...READ MORE