Clinical News

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.

All hospital and health systems must decide whether to use multiple-dose vials or single-dose vials of drugs, a decision that usually rests on two considerations: Cost reduction and patient safety. The pros and cons of the two systems lead to an inescapable conclusion.

Working with healthcare professionals and the public, the FDA is developing new guidelines for prevention of medication misuse and abuse and other medication errors linked to preventable harm.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) may recommend that healthcare workers, including pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, be transferred from positions where they handle hazardous drugs if the workers are trying to conceive, are pregnant, and/or breastfeeding.

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.

Pharmacy should be part of any team evaluating an outpatient center. Effective communication between physicians, hospital administrators, pharmacists, and nursing staff is crucial to whether the infusion center will succeed.

The FDA recently alerted pharmacists to medication error reports about mefloquine (Lariam) prescriptions calling for 250 mg daily rather than the recommended dose of 250 mg weekly for malaria prophylaxis.

The FDA can require risk evaluation and mitigation strategies for certain prescription drugs and biological products, to ensure that the benefits of such products outweigh the risks. The effect of REMS ripples down through the supply chain to affect how pharmacies dispense medication.

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The FDA has announced the availability of the first draft guidance for industry on Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies.

As the most accessible members of the healthcare team, pharmacists in Maryland are being offered an opportunity to train in preparation for a predicted H1N1 flu pandemic.

Roche Laboratories recently released a statement to healthcare professionals regarding Tamiflu (oseltamivir phosphate) recommendations. Specifically, the company said there have been cases where the units of measure in the instructions on the prescription label have not matched the units of dosing devices.

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.

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.

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 term "cardiometabolic disorders" (CMD) refers to a cluster of interrelated risk factors (hypertension, elevated fasting glucose, reduced high-density lipoprotein, elevated triglycerides, and abdominal obesity) that promote the development of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. With an estimated 47 million Americans facing increased risk of heart disease because of these conditions, management of patients' CMD is a priority for pharmacists.

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.

Want to see fear on the face of a pharmacist? Ask for a quick dosage conversion for a 75-year-old woman with breast cancer who has become too weak to swallow MS Contin tablets and needs an oral liquid morphine. Keep reading to learn more about making conversions easier.

A study released by CVS Caremark found that more than 50 percent of patients under the age of 45 who are prescribed a medication to treat high cholesterol are not optimally adherent to their therapy.

On Aug. 26 the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning to the public that stolen vials of the long-acting insulin Levemir still may be on the market.

The Pharmacists Society of the State of New York is fighting mad over the state's plan to contract with mail-order pharmacies to deliver high-cost medications to Medicaid customers.

The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) has launched its Student Ambassador Program, designed to connect pharmacy students with owners of community pharmacies.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Saphris tablets to treat adults with schizophrenia, and bipolar I disorder in adults.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration published two rules recently to help clarify how very ill patients can obtain access to investigational drugs and biologics when they are not eligible to participate in a clinical trial and have no other satisfactory treatment options.

Cardinal Health has agreed to acquire the assets of privately held Biotech, an operator of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) cyclotrons and nuclear pharmacies in the southwestern United States.

Commercial medication therapy management programs are gaining in strength and popularity for medical, financial, and practical reasons. In Minnesota, a pilot program for state employees was so successful that two years later it expanded into a program for all fully insured members. Another program is in use by Minnesota Medicaid and General Mills. And in North Carolina, the Asheville Project is still going strong.