Category:

Americans living or working in long-term care facilities, including nursing homes and assisted care living centers, will receive COVID-19 vaccinations for free if and when they become available, the Trump administration said...The administration announced a partnership with the nation's two largest drug store chains, CVS and Walgreens, "to provide and administer" the vaccines with "no out-of-pocket costs" for the recipients...READ MORE

Goals to support the transformation of the pharmacy profession around the world are launched today by FIP...The FIP Development Goals build on 13 Pharmaceutical Workforce Development Goals for pharmacy education developed by the federation in 2016. Additions have been made to these 13 goals and eight new goals have been developed, providing a total of 21 goals relevant to fields of practice and science as well as to workforce and education...READ MORE

The new goals cover:

• Medicines expertise
• People-centred care
• Communicable diseases
• Antimicrobial stewardship
• Access to medicines, devices & services
• Patient safety
• Digital health
• Sustainability in pharmacy

Safety net hospitals that participate in the 340B drug discount program generated $64.3 billion in total benefits to community programs and services tailored to help low-income patient populations, a new analysis finds...The analysis, published...from the American Hospital Association, comes as hospitals wage a war with drug companies that have begun restricting sales of discounted products to 340B contract pharmacies. AHA charges the 340B program enables safety net hospitals to help patients in vulnerable communities, but drug companies argue the program has gotten too large and hospitals are not helping patients with the savings...READ MORE

The state joins New York and Minnesota in providing COVID-19 vaccination access through pharmacy...New Hampshire has passed into law authorization for pharmacists to administer vaccinations for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)...once it becomes available...READ MORE

October is American Pharmacists Month. This celebration—recognizing pharmacists’ contributions to health care and all they do for their communities—includes Women Pharmacist Day (October 12); Pharmacy Week (October 18-24), acknowledging the invaluable contributions of pharmacists and technicians to patient care; and Pharmacy Technician Day (October 20)...Pharmacists are busier than ever with flu season and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, making it particularly important this year to take the time to celebrate and acknowledge our pharmacy staff’s contributions...Let’s take a look at a few ways that pharmacists are celebrating the value of the profession this month...READ MORE

Pharmacist remuneration models in ever-evolving healthcare settings must be examined if global health is to be supported...“A common concern among pharmacy associations worldwide is the long-term financial viability of professional services delivered by pharmacists. These concerns are first and foremost triggered by the impacts of continued price and margin cuts in dispensing of medicines and the non-allocation of funding in many settings for extended professional services and social care,”...“A successful remuneration model is one that promotes sustainable delivery of professional services. These should be integrated into broader health system strategies and, therefore, funding plans...READ MORE

While the world continues to navigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, our other epidemic hasn’t gone away: The rate of opioid overdoses, already a national nightmare, has accelerated since the onset of COVID-19...It’s time to end this continuing tragedy. One of the ways to do this is by making naloxone...a safe, effective and use-specific antidote to opioid overdose — as common among bystanders as CPR...Narcan can be purchased in its generic or branded forms by anyone, without a prescription, at any participating pharmacy...In order to stem our national overdose epidemic, Narcan must be omnipresent in our public places, in our workplaces and schools, and in our homes...Years ago, CPR became a public health imperative. CPR became common after the American Red Cross, the American Heart Association and other major national organizations assumed the task of training. In today’s world, Narcan needs to have similar importance...As we observe International Overdose Awareness Day, it’s time to establish a new public health priority. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, in the first Surgeon General advisory of its kind in the past 15 years, is urging every American to carry Narcan, and be trained to administer it...READ MORE

Enabling tens of millions of Americans to get themselves speedily vaccinated against COVID-19 will be a huge logistics challenge. A new policy brief from the Mercatus Center, a think tank at George Mason University, argues that we could greatly accelerate the process by removing the complex state regulations that prevent pharmacists from administering vaccines...The...report recommends that state regulators relax age restrictions on pharmacist-administered vaccinations; issue statewide standing orders authorizing pharmacists to administer vaccines without requiring a physician-written prescription for each patient; and revise regulations, as Oregon has, to permit pharmacists to administer all of the vaccines recommended by the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. The latter recommendation "prevents lag in vaccine administration due to boards or legislatures having to approve individually named vaccines for pharmacist administration."...READ MORE

CVS Health is planning to double the number of its drive-thru testing sites by mid-October, the healthcare giant announced...CVS intends to add more than 2,000 sites at its pharmacies in the next several weeks, bringing its total to more than 4,000 nationwide. The new locations will be opened in waves, beginning with 400 new sites opening on Friday...READ MORE

The positive impacts of pharmacists in supporting medication without harm are described in a new publication from FIP released today. FIP’s new reference document, entitled “Patient safety — Pharmacists’ role in ‘Medication without harm’”, provides information about what pharmacists can do to promote patient safety at an individual patient level, as well as at organisational and policy development levels...READ MORE