Legal News

The 2,400-page healthcare reform bill included language establishing the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, a group grounded in the tenets of comparative effectiveness research. Its mission is significant, but whether it has the power to effect change remains to be seen.

Although the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) creates an abbreviated approval pathway for biological products that are demonstrated to be ?highly similar? (biosimilar) to or ?interchangeable? with an FDA-approved biological product, only time will tell how long it will take for these biosimilars to reach the marketplace.

Sens. Kay R. Hagan (D-N.C.) and Al Franken (D-Minn.) have introduced The Medication Therapy Management (MTM) Expanded Benefits Act, a bill that will allow seniors with one chronic illness to thoroughly review all their medications with a pharmacist in a one-on-one session.

The Drug Enforcement Administration has released its long-awaited interim final rule for electronic prescribing of controlled substances.

A ballot initiative moving toward approval in North Dakota could open the doors to chain pharmacy in the state.

The relationship between prescribing practitioners and nurses working in a long-term-care (LTC) facility is of significant concern to the LTC facility when controlled substances are needed.

As Americans increasingly turn to vitamins and herbal supplements as alternatives to prescription drug use, medical professionals and government leaders worry that few realize the implications.

Oregon's law requiring prescriptions for pseudoephedrine products practically eliminated its illicit methamphetamine problem. But some pharmacists, consumer groups, and the drug industry say that it will increase healthcare costs and inconvenience consumers. They think electronic sales-tracking systems would be a better approach.

The promise of personalized medicine is approaching realization. As more medications are developed, pharmacists will be on the front line of individualized prescribing based upon genome-based diagnostic tests.

The healthcare reform legislation signed into law March 23 is expected to give healthcare access to 32 million Americans who are currently uninsured. The legislation gives pharmacists a role in helping alleviate the influx of new patients.

The continuing debate over healthcare reform keeps the subject of medication adherence in the public eye. For pharmacy, says NACDS, the issue is a top priority.

Pharmacies can enhance their continuous quality improvement program results by working on three critical elements: implementation, training, and monitoring.

Both the FTC?s consumer protection and competition bureaus are spearheading an investigation into CVS Caremark?s alleged monopolistic practices. HHS is investigating possible false Medicare claims. DEA is investigating charges of improper sale of pseudoephedrine in 2007 and 2008. And the SEC has received complaints of insider trading.

An overview of several provisions of "The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" affecting pharmacies and pharmacy practice.

A pharmacist's most important job is to see that the right drug in the right strength with the right label reaches the right patients.

While the government deems that marijuana has a "high potential for abuse" and "has no currently accepted medical use," some states have undertaken initiatives to pass legislation permitting its use for pain control and for control of nausea and vomiting by cancer patients.

Pharmacies are experiencing financial, regulatory and reimbursement challenges that have increased pressure on their operations. A regular review of financial circumstances and business options can help pharmacies stay afloat in turbulent times.

As their growing role in healthcare causes pharmacists to focus more on medication management and patient consulting, some are specializing in healthcare issues and needs specific to women.

A webinar examining the pharmacy error that led to the death of a two-year-old girl and the conviction of an Ohio pharmacist criticized the legal system for criminalizing the event as well as the flawed hospital procedures that prevented discovery of the pharmacy tech's fatal error.

Many independent and small chain pharmacies nationwide are seeing flexible spending account transactions declined, pushing patients out of independent pharmacies and into chains.

After settling a lawsuit with the State of New York over the sale of expired products, CVS is involved in a similar suit initiated by the State of Connecticut.

When pharmacies are planning their quality assurance or continuous quality improvement plans, they need to determine whether their goals are strictly conformity with state and federal requirements, or something more.

The House Small Business Committee has passed the Small Business Health Information Technology Financing Act, which could provide up to $10 million in loans to help pharmacies implement HIT. The act is now slated for vote by the full House of Representatives.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, signed into law on February 17, included the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH), which expands covered-entity and business-associate requirements established by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).

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.

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.