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No industry in America spends more on lobbying than health care...In 2016, the health care industry spent half a billion dollars on lobbying, with pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and health professionals making the largest contributions...Closely related to industry lobbying is the political maneuvering that congressional leaders use in an effort to pass legislation — specifically, targeted provisions known as earmarks, “sweeteners” or pork barrel spending...In 2010, Democrats hoping to secure votes from reluctant rural state senators added the “Frontier States” provision to the A.C.A., which increased Medicare payments to five states with low population densities...We all know earmarks and lobbying influence policymakers and policy. In health care, this has critical implications: who gets care, how much they get, how we pay for it. But there’s little hard data on exactly who benefits and how large the effects can be. A new study illuminates the ways these political dynamics can change congressional and hospital behavior — and how they can increase health care costs for the rest of us...America’s increasingly burdensome health care spending has many roots: new technologies, high drug prices, fragmented care, administrative expenses and the like. But lobbying and political maneuvering can increase costs, too — without clear benefits for patients, communities or society at large...Often these costs are borne by all of us, while the benefits — if any — go to a favored few. Excess medical spending, then, is driven not only by inefficiencies in our health system, but also by those in our political system. Our solutions, it seems, must confront that uncomfortable reality.

Walgreens said Wednesday that it will shutter 600 stores early next year following its $4.4 billion Rite Aid deal...The closures will be mostly Rite Aid stores, but may include some Walgreens locations...The company plans to shut down stores within a mile of another Walgreens or Rite Aid location. The closings will start next spring and will continue over an 18-month period...The move is expected to cost Walgreens $450 million, but should save the Deerfield, Illinois-based company $300 million yearly by 2020...In September, the Walgreens Boots Alliance received regulatory approval to buy 1,900 Rite Aid stores from the Pennsylvania-based drugstore chain. The deal will make Walgreens the country's largest retail pharmacy by store locations. Walgreens now has more than 13,200 stores worldwide...The company said it expects to complete integration of the acquired stores within three years at an estimated cost of approximately $750 million.

Kelly Davio, welcome to This Week in Managed Care from the Managed Markets News Network

Nicole Crisano, PTNN. This weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.

Throughout the past year, and without much fanfare, Amazon.com Inc. has gained approval to become a wholesale distributor from a number of state pharmaceutical boards...It’s unclear, though, whether the regulatory filings support speculation that the e-commerce giant is planning a move into the prescription drug delivery business, territory currently dominated by a handful of companies...Industry analysts in recent weeks have raised the possibility that Amazon was eyeing this lucrative new business, posing a potential threat to such companies as north St. Louis County-based Express Scripts Holding Co...According to a review of records by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Amazon has received approval for wholesale pharmacy licenses in at least 12 states, including Nevada, Arizona, North Dakota, Louisiana, Alabama, New Jersey, Michigan, Connecticut, Idaho, New Hampshire, Oregon and Tennessee....

Thousands of Nevadans have limited access to specialty health care, including the nearly 300,000 living in rural areas and many others living in urban centers who have no health insurance or Medicaid coverage. To help remedy this issue, the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine Office of Statewide Initiatives has expanded Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) with new clinics in cardiology, pediatric endocrinology, medication assisted therapy for substance use disorder, as well as a unique school-based behavioral health program...Project ECHO uses teleconferencing technology to connect specialists at UNR Med with primary care clinicians in rural and urban under-served communities...These virtual clinics give primary care physicians, advanced practice registered nurses, physician assistants and other professionals the tools and resources to deliver high quality care in their communities...The impact is enormous...The work...has been transformative in providing critical rural outreach and health care to patients who otherwise would be without. Their work is changing the face of rural health care in the state of Nevada and is a model for delivering access to health care in efficient and affordable ways...

PTNN, This weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.

Message From the Executive Secretary, Larry Pinson - It is with mixed emotions that I announce my decision to retire, effective sometime within the next year, after over 22 years of being associated in one way or another with the Nevada State Board of Pharmacy.

New Executive Secretary Announced (The Ultimate Bearcat!) - J. David (“Dave”) Wuest, a graduate of the University of Cincinnati in Ohio and hence an avid Bearcat fan, has been selected to succeed Executive Secretary Larry Pinson upon Larry’s pending retirement in 2018.

Regulatory Update

SB 59 requires the uploading of Schedule V opioid medications into the state’s prescription monitoring database.
SB 337 authorizes a registered pharmacist to manipulate a person for the collection of specimens.
SB 131 requires each retail community pharmacy in the state to provide a prescription reader upon the request of a person to whom a drug is dispensed or advice on obtaining a prescription reader.
SB 260 authorizes a pharmacist who has entered into a valid collaborative practice agreement (CPA) to engage in the collaborative practice of pharmacy and collaborative drug therapy management in the retail setting.
SB 171 requires retail pharmacies in Nevada to post instructions for the safe disposal of unused drugs.   Assembly Bill 474 - many requirements on practitioners using CS to treat patients...

Bowl of Hygeia Recipient 2017 - Congratulations to Mark C. Decerbo

Friendly Reminder - Technicians-in-training must have a separate registration for each individual pharmacy in which they receive their training.

Is Your Pharmacy Helping or Hindering the Health of Nevadans? - Adults may grow up, but they never outgrow the need for vaccines.

.Pharmacy Domain Signals Safety on the Web - With only 4% of websites selling pre­scription drugs online following United States pharmacy laws and practice stan­dards, consumers seeking medications online are faced with the daunting task of finding a safe site. To assist consumers and those legitimate pharmacies with an online presence, NABP has streamlined its website verification programs.

Quality Processes, Risk Management, and Culture: HR-Related Policies That Conflict With a Just Culture

AMA Task Force to Reduce Opioid Abuse Promotes Safe Storage, Disposal of Opioids

CDC Guide Shows Importance of Physicians, Pharmacists Working Together

FIP Report Shows Value of Pharmacists’ Role in Consumers’ Self-Care

FDA Restricts Use of Codeine and Tramadol Medicines in Children; Recommends Against Use in Breastfeeding Women

AVMA Warns Pharmacists and Pet Owners About Xylitol Pharmaceutical Products

CDC Publishes Guide to Help Pharmacists Initiate CPAs With Prescribers

DEA Releases New Edition of Drugs of Abuse Resource Guide - 2017 edition of Drugs of Abuse, A DEA Resource Guide

A federal prosecutor told jurors...that a Massachusetts pharmacist gambled with patients’ lives by making drugs in unsafe ways that led to a deadly 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak, but a defense lawyer said he was no murderer...Glenn Chin, a former supervisory pharmacist at New England Compounding Center, made drugs in filthy conditions, producing mold-tainted steroids in the process...Those steroids were shipped out to healthcare facilities nationally and then injected into patients, leading to an outbreak that sickened 778 people, including 76 people who died…“Make no mistake, Glenn Chin is not sitting in this court room because he was negligent or careless,”... “He is here because of his deliberate choices.”...Chin directed “massive corner cutting” in...NECC’s so-called clean rooms where the drugs were made, prioritizing production over cleaning and failing to properly test or sterilize drugs.

Join Together Northern Nevada is holding a semiannual “Prescription Drug Round Up” day on October 21 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The goal of the round up is to collect unused, unwanted and expired prescription - or non-prescription - medications.

Locations:

• Raleys - 18144 Wedge Parkway, Reno
• CVS – 55 Damonte Ranch Parkway, Reno
• SaveMart – 105—N. McCarran Blvd., Reno
• Smith’s – 175 Lemmon Drive, Reno
• Scolari’s – 4788 Caughlin Parkway, Reno
• UNR Student Health Center, 1664 N. Virginia Street, Reno
• CVS - 680 N. McCarran Blvd, Sparks
• CVS – 5151 Sparks Blvd., Sparks

You may also drop off your pet medications and liquid form of medications.