Category:

market for biosimilars could hit $20 billion by the end of the year… biologics currently comprise between 17–20% of the pharmaceutical arena, with a value of nearly $200 billion… biologic drugs may replace 70% of chemical drugs…the 30% to 50% reduction in biosimilar prices when compared with branded biologics may.. generate considerable…savings

Health care professionals should stop using dosing cups that measure in drams…fatal event reported to the Institute of Safe Medication Practices…a nurse misread the scale on a commonly used dosing cup as mL when measuring a dose of morphine sulfate oral solution 20 mg/mL…Instead of administering 1 mL (20mg),..the nurse administered 1 dram, or nearly 75 mg...

Increasing prescription fraud, forgery attempts, and armed robberies have decidedly alarmed the pharmacy community and should cause us all to pause and review our preparedness…your primary defense is your alarm and security system. Criminals fear hard targets and the more advanced and visible your system is the better.

I had a great fear of opening the state Board of Pharmacy’s quarterly newsletter and seeing my name connected with a reprimand for a pharmacy mistake…we need mechanisms in place to protect the public safety by weeding out extremely careless pharmacists…many pharmacists are understandably reluctant to report their colleagues…

Anne Burns RPh Vice President of Professional Affairs at the American Pharmacists Association talks about the changes that pharmacists can expect to see in the coming years.

...pharmacists need to be a part of a larger group to afford investments in electronic health record systems and other technology,… Pharmacists also have been squeezed by cuts in reimbursement from state Medicaid programs for the poor and at the same time are feeling the pressure from larger pharmacy benefit managers…

Health IT support in care coordination inconsistent….leaves much to be desired, according to a new survey of clinicians….survey showed that although 78 percent of the 350 respondents viewed timely notification of hospital discharges as very important, only about 49 percent used health IT systems to accomplish this task.

Publix pharmacy technician has been fired and arrested after confessing to stealing Vicodin to pay for her gas money and other car expenses….she had been stealing the tablets…for about a year…She allegedly sold the pills to children…

…the number of pharmacy armed robberies across the country increased during the first five months of 2015,…382 pharmacy armed robberies (76.4 per month) reported between January 2015 and June 2015 is ahead of 2014’s pace of 69.16 robberies per month.

American Pharmacists Association Foundation has introduced a self-management tool designed to improve healthcare outcomes for diabetes patients and to reduce overall costs..."enables pharmacists and other healthcare providers to gain a comprehensive understanding of their patients’ ability to manage their diabetes"