Legal News

Regulation of pharmacy techs in Florida goes into effect January 1, 2010.

Online prescription drug trafficking, abuse, and availability are the targets of the newly passed Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act.

A San Francisco judge denied Philip Morris' request for a temporary restraining order against the ban on pharmacy sales of tobacco products. The ban will affect 52 of 54 Walgreens as well as other chain pharmacies such as Rite-Aid and Longs.

The Joint Commission's anticoagulant safety goal goes into effect Jan. 1, 2009. Physicians, pharmacists, and nurses at health-care systems around the country are collaborating to improve best practices and to put more stringent measures in place.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is notifying health care professionals and patients that Tyco Healthcare Group LP (Covidien) is recalling one lot of ReliOn sterile, single-use, disposable, hypodermic syringes with permanently affixed hypodermic needles due to possible mislabeling. The use of these syringes may lead to patients receiving an overdose of as much as 2.5 times the intended dose, which may lead to hypoglycemia, serious health consequences, and even death.

North Dakota pharmacists must own at least 51 percent of their pharmacies. This has kept many stores from opening in communities throughout the state. Hospitals and drugstore chains are fighting to change the law.

Free clinics in West Virginia dispense more than 500,000 prescriptions a year. Earlier this year they came under regulation by the state pharmacy board. Defenders argue that the board is trying to fix something that isn't broken. The board says that patient safety requires oversight.

Criminals buy cold remedies for the pseudoephedrine, which they use to make methamphetamine. Kansas pharmacists are fighting back with MethShield, an electronic program that tracks sales and catches illegal purchasers in the act. It even calls the cops.

Lawmakers are using financial carrots and sticks to induce doctors to begin electronic prescribing.

As reimbursements are curtailed, hospitals must change the way they order, dispense, and charge for drugs.

While the new MIPPA law implements several pro-pharmacy measures, other provisions ultimately could hurt a pharmacist's bottom line.

On October 1, 2008, San Francisco becomes the first city in the United States to ban the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products in pharmacies.

Cuts in state Medicaid payments for product reimbursements and dispensing fees are forcing pharmacists to cut services and turn away Medicaid patients.

The phthalate ban is a provision in the Consumer Product Safety Commission Reform Act.

Group contends CMS is promoting a less expensive generic substitute.

More than 600 bouquets were sent to the site.

A pending Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report, expected later this year, may settle the decade-old dispute as to whether authorized generics are legal. With billions of dollars at stake, the loser will undoubtedly challenge the government's decision.

Congress continues to work to create a regulatory pathway for approval of generics for biopharmaceuticals (or biologics), but passage of such legislation seems unlikely this year with the presidential election rapidly approaching.

MIPPA law delays implementation of Medicaid's average manufacturers price for generic drugs until Oct. 1, 2009.

Reimbursement for radiopharmaceuticals will be maintained at the 2007 rate through Jan. 1, 2010, thanks to the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008.

The battle by pharmacy benefit management companies to limit fiduciary disclosure laws continues, with its trade group, the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, scoring a victory in the District of Columbia.

NACDS backs legislation to adopt health information technology.

Medication management and safety errors were prominent topics at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists summer meeting in June.

Even as hospital pharmacists are struggling to meet previous mandates, the Joint Commission has released 2009 National Patient Safety Goals, including revisions to medication reconciliation.

A new year is coming, and with it a new administration in Washington, a new Congress, and a new, skeptical look at Medicare Part D.

Legitimate interests globally are facing a battle with pharmaceutical counterfeiters.

Securing prior authorization is a time-consuming and costly process. It burdens the dispensing practice, irritates patients, and could be simplified, according to a consensus of pharmacists.

FDA has imposed a change in drug labeling that once advised flushing unused drugs down the toilet. Now the agency is encouraging consumers and pharmacists to take advantage of drug take-back programs.

The merger of e-prescribing networks RxHub and SureScripts may go a long way toward accelerating e-prescribing adoption, which could lower pharmacists' transaction fees, according to one expert.

Physicians would have the choice of doling out electronic prescriptions for controlled substances with a proposed regulation from the DEA.