Associations News

The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) and the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) have launched a new diabetes self-management training program for community pharmacy.

Even though Bruce Roberts strongly criticized pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) during his tenure as executive vice president and CEO of the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA), he is enthusiastic about the prospect of heading up a type of PBM.

The American Pharmacists Association annual meeting opened in Washington just days before the big March vote on healthcare reform, and a number of people from the political realm were there to praise pharmacists and ask for their support.

Clinical pharmacy pioneer Mary Anne Koda-Kimble, PharmD, dean of the School of Pharmacy at University of California, San Francisco, was awarded the 2010 Remington Honor Medal, the highest honor given by the American Pharmacists Association, at its recent annual meeting in Washington.

There is an answer to 12-hour shifts, inadequate support, 20-minute lunch hours, and no bathroom breaks. Ask the United Steelworkers of America.

RxPatrol, an information clearinghouse operated by Purdue Pharma, has teamed up with the National Community Pharmacists Association to offer a 10-minute training video on crime-prevention measures for pharmacy staff.

Respondents to this year's business outlook survey are generally upbeat about the business their pharmacies are doing and their prospects for the coming year.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Office of the Inspector General of the federal Department of Health and Human Services are going after perpetrators of medical identity theft as part of a broader effort to reform healthcare.

Retail pharmacy managers are discovering that many third-party administrators do not agree that their inventory information approval systems meet compliance requirements set by the Internal Revenue Service for customers' use of flexible spending accounts.

In the prescription drug market, discriminatory pricing is common for independent community pharmacies and their patients. This fall, a Federal District Court in New York will consider a critical case: Drug Mart Pharmacy Corp. et a. v. American Home Products Corp. et al. The outcome of the case may determine whether discriminatory pricing techniques are illegal.

With the subject of healthcare reform on the front burner in Washington and across the country, Drug Topics invited members of its Frontline editorial advisory board to share their thoughts. A selection of their responses is presented here.

A second round of revised quality standards for heparin became effective recently, the U.S. Pharmacopeial (USP) Convention has announced.

Business Roundtable?s Partnership for Disaster Response today released the findings of its 2009 Flu Season Survey, which provides insights on how companies are preparing for H1N1 Influenza.

The FDA has announced the availability of the first draft guidance for industry on Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies.

CVS recently celebrated the grand opening of its 7,000th store in Little Canada, Minn. Continue reading for the full story.

Pharmacy groups have filed three lawsuits that argue that California, New York, and Washington have not met their legal requirements to assure Medicaid patients receive access and quality care at least equal to patients in the general public.

Walgreens recently launched an initiative for 90-day prescriptions that promotes delivery of maintenance and chronic care medication through its national network of more than 7,000 pharmacies and employer worksite centers.

The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) is urging the IRS to quickly act on flexible spending account (FSA) regulations that are disrupting pharmacies? FSA debit card transactions.

HealthTrans, a healthcare management solutions company, recently announced changes it made to ensure market readiness for changes to Average Wholesale Prices (AWP). HealthTrans successfully transitioned clients Sept. 16,according to a statement to Drug Topics, and is now effectively processing claims based on Wholesale Acquisition Cost (WAC).

Cardinal Health is hoping that its newly expanded services offered to hospital pharmacies helps customers to make improvements to their work flow.

Controversy is in the mix after two mail-order prescription surveys with conflicting results were released within two days of each other.

A coalition of healthcare industry groups has sent a letter to the bipartisan leadership in Congress seeking to delay pending Medicaid cuts.

A new, nationwide WAL-MART mail order prescription program raises several troubling issues that could negatively affect patients.

The Joint Commission is targeting patient safety failures with a new program that will directly affect pharmacy operations.

While pharmacy customers with prescription drug coverage are more satisfied with their pharmacy experience, customers with public-private plans are just as satisfied as those with wholly private insurance, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2009 National Pharmacy Study released today.

The SUNY Buffalo School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences held a ceremonial groundbreaking recently for a new building that will bring the school back into the city of Buffalo.

GlaxoSmithKline has announced that the FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee voted that clinical data support both the efficacy and safety of Cervarix, the company's candidate cervical cancer vaccine.

Walgreens recently announced the release of its Specialty Pharmacy State of the Industry report. Keep reading to find out more.

The Iowa Board of Pharmacy is now one step closer to making its recommendation to the state?s legislature regarding the use of medical marijuana in the state.

MDA and Walgreens are teaming up to offer flu shots at 7,000 locations.