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Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law HB 2088, which requires that all pharmacists who dispense Schedule II controlled substances provide written notice on the safe disposal of controlled substances unless the dispensing pharmacy is authorized to take back those drugs for disposal, regularly accepts those drugs for safe disposal or provides the patient—at no cost—"chemicals to render the unused drugs unusable" or a mail-in pouch. This law goes into effect on January 1, 2020...DisposeRx, which has a network of more than 2,000 pharmacies in Texas, is working to help pharmacists and pharmacies comply with HB 2088 via safe, at-home disposal packets and patient education...READ MORE

Amazon is jumping into the medication adherence space with a new feature that lets users link up their pharmacy prescription information and, in turn, get reminders about when to take their pills and order refills...The latest feature was born out of a collaboration between the online retail giant and Omnicell, a tech-enabled medication management company. Initially the feature will be rolled out to Giant Eagle Pharmacy customers...this feature will be using “multiple layers of verification” to protect user information, including voice recognition and passcodes...Voice technology is coming onto the healthcare scene in recent years...“Voice has proven to be beneficial for a variety of use cases because it removes barriers, and simplifies daily tasks,”... “We believe this new Alexa feature will help simplify the way people manage their medication by removing the need to continuously think about what medications they’ve taken that day or what they need to take...READ MORE

Nicole Grassano, PTNN, Pharmacy Week in Review, this weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.

Nicole Grassano, PTNN, Pharmacy Week in Review, this weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.

Blink Health, a digital health company, is getting into the holiday spirit by offering new patients more than 4,000 medications for free...“Prescription drug prices are simply too high for too many people. We have all heard the tragic stories of people having to decide between taking their medications and eating, or cutting pills in half to save money — that’s simply not acceptable...” Geoff Chaiken, Blink Health CEO said. “...we’re focused on fixing that problem by putting the interests of patients first — not large corporations.”...New patients who sign up and order their first prescription through Blink Health will be provided with a credit of up to $10 off their first order, which covers many of the most popular prescription drugs available through Blink Health...READ MORE

Laura Joszt for The American Journal of Managed Care®. Here are the top 5 articles for the month of November.

Read any newspaper and you will be confronted with articles to related to the opioid crisis. Whether the news is highlighting death related to overdoses, over-prescriptions, a medication grey market or doctors sending patients to pill mills, the focus is one: too many opioids are being prescribed and it’s time for pharmacists to take on additional roles in the national fight against opioid addiction and death. Several states have implemented new rules related to a pharmacy’s reporting obligations while other states, such as New York, are taking distribution companies to court...Currently, lawsuits are focusing on drug distributors like RDC and McKesson, which distribute opioid drugs to pharmacies who in turn disseminate those drugs to patients. But from 2017 to the present, several pharmacy owners have been jailed and fined millions of dollars for filling fake prescriptions...READ MORE

The FDA has issued warning letters to 15 companies for illegally selling products containing cannabidiol in ways that violate the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act...“We remain concerned that some people wrongly think that the myriad of CBD products on the market, many of which are illegal, have been evaluated by the FDA and determined to be safe, or that trying CBD ‘can’t hurt,’” said FDA Principal Deputy Commissioner Amy Abernethy,...“Aside from one prescription drug approved to treat two pediatric epilepsy disorders, these products have not been approved by the FDA and we want to be clear that a number of questions remain regarding CBD’s safety—including reports of products containing contaminants, such as pesticides and heavy metals— and there are real risks that need to be considered.”...READ MORE

Laura Joszt, Managing Editor at The American Journal of Managed Care. Welcome to This Week in Managed Care from the Managed Markets News Network

Laura Joszt, Managing Editor at The American Journal of Managed Care. Welcome to This Week in Managed Care from the Managed Markets News Network