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Providers are making an increasing number of mistakes selecting the wrong medication for patients on their computer screens or tablets, according to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices ...The problem is that physicians and other providers select the wrong medication after entering the first few letters of the drug name into their technology screens, said the institute, which released its list of the top 10 most persistent medication errors and hazards it uncovered in 2019...READ MORE

Only 1 in 10 California pharmacies have programs to take back unused prescription opioids and just one in five give consumers accurate disposal information, according to a study that suggests drugstores could do more to help combat substance abuse...The study results suggest that many pharmacies may be falling short as educators and as places for safe disposal...READ MORE

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

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

Amazon has filed to trademark “Amazon Pharmacy” in Canada, the U.K. and Australia, signaling a potential move into selling prescription drugs outside of the U.S...The ‘Amazon Pharmacy’ branding is relatively new...Filing a trademark doesn’t necessarily mean that international expansion is imminent. But it does suggest Amazon will eventually go global, which is in line with its typical business strategy, and this first crop of trademark filings might signal which countries the company is likely to explore next...READ MORE

CVS Health Corp and its Omnicare unit were sued...by the U.S. government, which accused them of fraudulently billing Medicare and other programs for drugs for older and disabled people without valid prescriptions...The Department of Justice joined whistleblower litigation accusing Omnicare of violating the federal False Claims Act for illegally dispensing drugs to tens of thousands of patients in assisted living facilities, group homes for people with special needs, and other long-term care facilities...According to a civil complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, Omnicare would often assign new numbers to prescriptions after the original prescriptions expired or ran out of refills...The government said this enabled Omnicare to bill Medicare Medicaid, and Tricare...for hundreds of thousands of drugs, under what the company internally called “rollover” prescriptions, from 2010 to 2018...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

Publix Pharmacy is celebrating a milestone. It recently filled its 100 millionth free prescription as part of its free medication program...“We are proud to provide a service that helps our customers afford their medications,” Publix vice president of pharmacy Dain Rusk, said. “As the cost of health care continues to rise, this program has become even more important to our customers and our communities. Too often, high prescription costs prevent people from taking medication as prescribed. When medications are free or available at a greatly reduced cost, that barrier is lifted, and our customers can get the care they need.”...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

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