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A project that began in 2016 through a partnership with Renown Health and the Desert Research Institute, Healthy Nevada has gained national attention for its approach to population health. The study involves harvesting DNA from a significant population, providing individuals with information on their health risks as well data to study population health issues and concerns. According to Dr. Anthony Slonim, president and CEO of Renown Health...“We hope to improve the health of the community,” explained Slonim. “We hope to provide individuals with improved understanding of their health and their healthcare risks so they can change their behavior. And, we hope that we can make our community, our state and, potentially, our nation healthier as a result of this data.”...READ MORE

One hundred forty four prescriptions filled in 7 days. That seems like a slow week at Novant Health Brunswick Medical Center. But those were the outpatient prescriptions, which the hospital doesn’t dispense normally...The hospital in Bolivia, North Carolina, was hit hard by Hurricane Florence for 7 days in September 2018. Twenty-three inches of rain in Bolivia--and as much as 27 inches of rain in nearby Sunny Point--led to flooding and impassable roads...Pre-Hurricane Florence, Perry Allen, PharmD, pharmacy manager, a 26-year veteran at the hospital, had 2 priorities: Have the right team on scene before, during, and after the storm and secure the necessary medications to ride out the storm...On behalf of the hospital’s pharmacy team, Allen received the 2019 American Society of Health-System Pharmacists CEO’s Award for Courageous Service...READ MORE

The majority of pharmacies in the United States now offer vaccinations, but there is still significant opportunity to turn a well-run vaccination program into a profitable endeavor that benefits both patient and pharmacy...According to the CDC, just 37.1% of adults received the flu vaccine during the 2017-2018 flu season. This presents a significant opportunity for pharmacies to improve these numbers by expanding their immunization efforts, marketing their programs to the community, and relying on what makes a pharmacy a unique healthcare setting...READ MORE

A shortage of a versatile medicine used to treat immune disorders and other diseases has forced U.S. hospitals and infusion clinics to suspend treatment for many patients... many hospitals and infusion clinics have received less immune globulin, or IG, than they need. Some have started to ration it, prioritizing it for patients who need it to stay alive and canceling infusions for patients deemed to have non-life-threatening conditions. The shortage has gotten to an acute status...READ MORE

NACDS is welcoming “the strongest signal yet” by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that a standardized pharmacy quality program should be created...In a new proposed rule, CMS proposed taking action to increase transparency in Medicare Part D plan sponsors’ pharmacy performance measures, NACDS said in a press release Plan sponsors would have to disclose these measures and CMS would publish them, according to the proposal...The CMS rule also recommends principles to guide pharmacy performance measures, urges the industry to work together toward appropriate measures, and indicates the possibility that CMS may incent plans to use appropriate quality measures, NACDS said...READ MORE

The National Community Pharmacists Association is highlighting pharmacists' expanding role in health care to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services...NCPA is urging CMS to enhance coverage of pharmacist-provided care services and reevaluate strict supervision requirements, as well as coverage policies for incident-to services...In response to President Trump’s Executive Order #13890 on Protecting and Improving Medicare for Our Nation’s Seniors...In addition to emphasizing that pharmacists improve patient care and outcomes when collaborating with health care professionals, NCPA argues in its comments that restrictive regulations currently hinder pharmacists’ ability to continue providing this care at the federal level, especially when state laws are already expanding to allow health care practitioners to contribute fully to patient care...READ MORE

It’s no secret that healthcare is in a state of rapid shifts—it has been for a long time, and it shows no sign of slowing in its evolution—and pharmacy is no exception. From independents to big box to large chains to hospitals, every pharmacist is going to feel (and is already feeling) significant changes...Perhaps the greatest shift in recent years, however, has come from chains. Changes in chains affect not only the pharmacists working in those chains, but show how pharmacy as a whole is evolving...READ MORE

The top 1% of opioid prescribers in the U.S. are responsible for 49% of all opioid doses and 27% of all prescriptions, according to a study that suggests efforts to combat overuse of prescription painkillers should concentrate on these heavy prescribers...“We did not know that opioid prescribing was so extraordinarily concentrated in the U.S., well beyond what we see for other medications,”...our study also showed that most U.S. physicians are now prescribing consistent with guidelines (Guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention),” Humphreys said by email. “Taken together, these findings suggest that safer prescribing initiatives can be much more focused on the most prolific prescribers.”...READ MORE

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law last month new legislation that allows pharmacists in the state to initiate and dispense HIV medication without a prescription. The law, SB159, was amended to say that “a pharmacist may initiate and furnish HIV preexposure prophylaxis” and “a pharmacist may initiate and furnish HIV postexposure prophylaxis.” Previously, only pharmacists in specific collaborative practice agreements were able to dispense the drugs independently.In order to dispense either preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) or postexposure prophylaxis (PEP), pharmacists will need to complete a boardapproved training program, according to the law...READ MORE

The state of Florida is partnering with the Military Health System to share prescription drug data to help providers in the state combat the risk of prescription drug misuse and abuse among the military population...the MHS prescription drug monitoring program began sharing the prescription drug data and analytics with 39 databases throughout the U.S., with the goal of enabling data-sharing among all 54 PDMPs across the country...Healthcare providers in Florida now have access to controlled substance prescription data from military health providers and facilities...READ MORE