Category:

Federal authorities are investigating dozens of new cases of possible opioid and other drug theft by employees at Veterans Affairs hospitals, a sign the problem isn't going away as more prescriptions disappear...Data...show 36 criminal investigations opened by the VA inspector general's office from Oct. 1 through May 19. It brings the total number of open criminal cases to 108 involving theft or unauthorized drug use. Most of those probes typically lead to criminal charges...Doctors, nurses or pharmacy staff in the VA's network of more than 160 medical centers and 1,000 clinics are suspected of siphoning away controlled substances for their own use or street sale — sometimes to the harm of patients — or drugs simply vanished without explanation...an IT specialist at the VA, says he's heard numerous employee complaints of faulty VA technical systems that track drug inventories, leading to errors and months of delays in identifying when drugs go missing. Prescription drug shipments aren't always fully inventoried when they arrive at a VA facility, he said, making it difficult to determine if a drug was missing upon arrival or stolen later...

Eldorado Resorts Properties teamed up with Activate Healthcare to open a family medical center inside the Circus Circus on the corner of Sixth and West Streets (Reno)...All full-time employees of the Eldorado, Silver Legacy and Circus Circus can pop in to see a doctor for general health care needs. The nearly 4,500 square-foot clinic includes three exam rooms, a pharmacy and patient resource center. Patients will not have to wait weeks to see a doctor either; they are guaranteed an appointment within 24-hours. "We’re trying to get people out of the emergency rooms and into their primary physicians which will create a healthier environment, which will be a healthier employee, which will be a healthier family and community,” explains Cindy Carano, the Executive Director of Community Relations for Eldorado Resorts, Inc.

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

When CVS Caremark rebranded as CVS Health in 2014, it pledged to help customers venture down the road to better health. But it looks like the pharmacy retailer could use a bit of a checkup...While the brand reported a 3% net revenue increase in Q1 2017, it also experienced a 3.8% decrease in retail and long-term care segment revenue, which it partially attributes to a 4.7% decrease in same-store sales...its net income decreased 16.9%, according to its quarterly results…Generating customer loyalty is crucial to CVS's business...generating repeat business can be difficult...the main differentiators for CVS are the brands that it carries in its stores — some of which are exclusive — and its customer shopping experience — an experience that it's able to personalize using data from its ExtraCare program.

• Personalization based on purchases...CVS is able to mine these members' purchase and demographic data and pair it with internal research to deliver personalized offers and marketing communications to its customers.
• In-store innovation...the brand revealed a new store design which includes the debut of "discovery zones." These designated setups allow customers to learn about new trends and be exposed to different products…
• Mobile moves...Mobile is a good way for CVS to bridge the digital and in-store shopping experiences. Customers can download the CVS app to manage their prescriptions, order photos, and see wait times for CVS's walk-in clinics, MinuteClinic, and hold their place in line. They can also scroll through their available coupons, filter them, and forward them to their ExtraCare card to be used at checkout. Furthermore, customers can forward ExtraBucks to their cards, and pay directly through the app.
• Keeping customers at the core...it's important for CVS to engage customers via their preferred channels…CVS's receipts as an example of how the brand does this...CVS has received media attention for the length of its receipts...the brand made it possible to digitize receipts if desired...customers can even opt to have their transaction history printed on a paper receipt and have their coupons emailed to them directly.

Dutch healthcare technology company Philips said...it had reached deals with New York's Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Utah-based Intermountain Healthcare for them to use its genomics platform for cancer research and treatment...MSK, the world's largest private cancer center, will work with Philips on new methods to use genetic data in the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. Intermountain Healthcare, which runs 22 hospitals and 180 clinics, aims to make its medicine program, which offers individually targeted treatments, available to hospitals worldwide...Philips estimates the connected care and health informatics market will reach a total value of around 70 billion euros in 2019...

The 340B Drug Pricing Program’s explosive growth continues...discounted sales hit $16.2 billion in 2016. That’s a 34% increase over the 2015 figure. Consequently, the 340B program accounted for 5.0% of the total U.S. drug market in 2016...Covered entities are generating billions in untraceable profits from this fast-growing program. Hospitals, which make up the vast majority of 340B purchases, should be required to account clearly for the billions the program provides them...Some hospitals have published high-level descriptions of how they spend 340B funds, but none of the articles fully accounts for the billions of dollars in 340B profits. Much more transparency is required, because the dollars are very large and growing very quickly…Given the program's rapid growth and its channel distortions, Congress urgently needs to refocus the program on genuine safety-net providers and financially needy patients.

Mary Bridgeman, Clinical Associate Professor at Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, 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.

Only 34% of physicians find pharmaceutical content on HCP (healthcare professional)sites to be trustworthy, according to a new study by Decision Resources Group's Manhattan Research...We found that pharma is missing the mark when it comes to providing online content that physicians need in an easy-to-use way...DRG...surveyed 2,784 U.S. physicians in more than 26 specialties and found that only 27% of them viewed pharmaceutical websites as credible sources of professional information, compared to 77% of them who viewed third-party HCP-facing websites credible...62% of the physicians surveyed said that the information they get from drugmakers on third-party sites such as HCP sites and online journals “are always ads.”...What physicians need are resources for patient education, scientific information on drugs to help them make better treatment decisions, and continuing medical education, said Arnold. Seventy percent of physicians said it's crucial for drugmakers to provide educational resources rooted in science to gain their trust, yet half of them agree that no drugmakers are providing quality scientific online...

In 2015, the State of Wisconsin was third in the nation with 45 pharmacy armed robberies. In 2016, the state dropped to 31st in the nation with only 6 pharmacy robberies. That’s 39 fewer robberies than in the previous year or a 750% decrease..." Wisconsin AG Unveils New Effort to Prevent Pharmacy Robberies."...Wisconsin Attorney General, Brad Schimel, along with the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin and law enforcement have formed a "comprehensive pharmacy robbery prevention and response training program."...Attorney General Schimel...told me, "we have a strong relationship with the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin and have been working closely with them for the past 3 years. Certainly it was the high numbers (robberies) in 2014/2015 that concerned us. It’s probably been in the last 6 months that we have been working most intensively with them and this program."...the robbery program focuses on the following:

• Opening and closing practices at retail pharmacies
• Good in-store surveillance camera placement
• Time-delayed opening narcotic safes
• Phone etiquette
• Signage within a pharmacy (Time delayed safes, video equipment is use, etc.).