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A Mississippi owner of pharmacies and pharmacy distributors has been sentenced to 18 years in prison and ordered to repay the government nearly $287.7 million for his part in what prosecutors described as a $510 million health care fraud involving high-priced pain cream...Wade Ashley Walters...of Hattiesburg, also was ordered...to forfeit nearly $56.6 million that he gained personally from the scheme...Walters had been charged in a 37-count indictment. He pleaded guilty in July to one count each of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering...Between 2012 and 2016, Walters orchestrated a scheme to defraud Tricare, the insurance program for U.S. military, veterans, and their families, and private health insurers by distributing compounded medications that were not needed...READ MORE

Jocelyn Konrad, Rite Aid’s executive vice president and chief pharmacy officer, said the mission of RxEvolution and the new store format is to unlock the value of its pharmacists to support its customers and communities...“The Store of the Future highlights the RxEvolution strategy as the whole store is reimagined and remodeled,” she said. “Whether it be the front-end merchandise and, in particular, the way we have reintroduced the pharmacist to our customers in a very different way that has never been done before. Historically, the industry kept that pharmacist back in the production end of the pharmacy and what we have literally done is pulled that pharmacist out to be front and center for our customers, so there’s always a connection every time the customer is in our stores.”...READ MORE

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a proposed rule Thursday aimed at improving the electronic exchange of healthcare data among payers, providers and patients...The rule would require Medicaid, CHIP and QHP programs to build HL7 FHIR-based APIs to support data exchange and prior authorization. It also includes a proposed API standard for healthcare operations nationwide...The proposed rule seeks to enhance the patient access API by requiring the use of specific HL7 implementation guides by impacted payers...READ MORE

Starting Friday, November 27, 2020, pharmacies must buy and sell only products with a required “product identifier” on their packages. This requirement is part of the phased-in implementation of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act of 2013, also known as the “track-and-trace” law. By Friday, dispensers should be familiar with this requirement and know what to do if a product identifier is not on the package when they receive products that require it. The product identifier is on most drug packages in both human-readable format and on a machine-readable 2D data matrix barcode...“The challenge for dispensers is that not all drug product packages are required to have a product identifier, and there is no central database to check if a product should have one,”...READ MORE

Walgreens is establishing a tech-enabled healthcare startup with the goal of creating a new patient platform that blends physical and digital tools...The decision is part of a larger trend in the pharmacy space of retail chains aiming to expand their digital offerings...“We see an extremely complex healthcare system in the U.S. where the patients are confused,” said Walgreens Chief Financial Officer James Kehoe on the need for the startup. “Somebody with multiple conditions getting calls from three advisers.”...He added that “everybody has a point of view on how they manage their health. We believe we can, because of our assets, provide a unique interface between patients and partners to create an ecosystem of healthcare.”...READ MORE

The Trump administration sued Walmart Inc. Tuesday, accusing the retail giant of helping to fuel the nation’s opioid crisis by inadequately screening for questionable prescriptions despite repeated warnings from its own pharmacists...The Justice Department’s lawsuit claims that Walmart sought to boost profits, understaffed its pharmacies and pressured employees to fill prescriptions quickly. That made it difficult for pharmacists to reject invalid prescriptions, enabling widespread drug abuse nationwide, the suit alleges...Walmart, the country’s largest retailer by revenue, has been expecting this complaint and sued the federal government in October to fight the allegations pre-emptively...In its suit, Walmart accuses the Justice Department and Drug Enforcement Administration of attempting to scapegoat the company for what it says are the federal government’s own regulatory and enforcement shortcomings...READ MORE

Sam’s Club this week added Nevada and seven other states to its free prescription drug pilot program available to those without insurance at select Sam’s Club Pharmacy locations. The Plus member benefit, which was launched this year, increases the number of free prescriptions available in 30-day supplies to Plus members...New medications available at no cost in the program are: Lisinopril ; Metformin; Sertraline; Montelukast; and Amlodipine...The new medications are in addition to the following that had been free already: Donepezil; Pioglitazone; Escitalopram; Finasteride; Vitamin D2 50,000 IU...READ MORE

In order to deliver COVID-19 vaccine to more people more quickly, the Trump administration intends to expedite rollout of its immunization partnership with pharmacies. The logic behind the concept is that getting vaccinated at a local pharmacy will be more accessible and efficient for many Americans than going to a hospital...READ MORE

• Safety Issues Related to Labeling, Packaging, and Nomenclature
• Safety Issues Associated With Order Communication and Documentation
• Problems Involving Drug Information, Patient Information, Patient Education, and Staff Education
• Safety Issues Related to Medical Devices and Equipment
• Other Discussion Items
• SMP’s Targeted Medication Safety Best Practices for Hospitals...READ MORE

For our 2020 survey, we received 1037 responses from pharmacists. This year undoubtedly posed new challenges for pharmacy amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and our findings underscore the effects...Compensation...pharmacists are still largely making close to what they made in previous years...41% said they received additional income in 2020. The highest earners reported an extra $15,000 or more on average, but most respondents reported between $1001 to $5000 in extra income...Stress and Workload...Management pressure, high work volume, endless amounts of paperwork––all of these are part of a pharmacist’s job...Compounded with the ongoing pandemic and high patient demand, it is no surprise that pharmacists are generally feeling more overwhelmed this year...survey results showed that pharmacists reported higher stress levels and increased workloads in 2020 compared with previous years. Seventy-three percent indicated increased stress levels in 2020 compared with 61% in 2019...READ MORE