Legal News

Getting work visas may prove to be more difficult for foreign-born pharmacists.

Congress inserted a little-noticed provision into the Iraq war supplemental spending bill, mandating the use of tamper-resistant Rx pads for Medicaid prescriptions not submitted electronically.

FDA and AHRQ heard from pharmacists and others that RiskMAPs have often caused complications in medication dispensing. Current drugs with RiskMAPs include Clozapine, Thalidomide, Lindane and Isotretinoin.

There is still inadequate communication among pharmacists from different practice settings about patients' medications. Pharmacists should take ownership of medication reconciliation.

Pseudoephedrine tracking systems improve on the log book to reduce burden on pharmacies and help law enforcement.

Pharmacists react to final rule for average manufacturers price rule for Medicaid generic drug reimbursement.

As part of this investigation, two Miami pharmacy owners testified that they billed Medicare for more than $20 million based on the referral of false prescriptions for compounded medications

CMS is encouraging providers to view their records to ensure that the information they furnished is current and accurate and does not include private information.

The Food and Drug Administration's "Medication Guide" program, set up nine years ago as a major avenue of informing patients about risks or special issues with certain drugs, has a host of problems, according to pharmacists and other witnesses at a recent hearing.

In proposed legislation that could save millions of taxpayer dollars in drug costs, the U.S. Senate is considering extending current 340B program discounts to include inpatients.

Delegates at the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy debate ePedigrees, medical errors, and Internet pharmacies

RFID progress still slow; ezScriptWriter for legible Rxs; reducing drug diversion through ImageWare Forensic Medicine Technology; Know Your Number health-risk addessment tool; e-prescriptions grow

The FDA is weighing whether to allow a system for electronic insert information for most prescription drugs, replacing paper Rx inserts.

Some state legislatures move to increase Medicaid dispensing fees in preparation for the implementation of the new Medicaid AMP rule

Chronically underfunded, these agencies struggle to meet their responsibilities while fighting state and federal groups for control.

At press time, the Senate has passed the Food & Drug Administration Revitalization Act (S. 1082), which gives the FDA more powers to require manufacturers to conduct postmarketing studies to improve patient safety.

Hospitals should hold manufacturers accountable for their drug claims in their contracts

The use of intravenous (IV) syringes for non-IV applications such as enteral feedings poses many risks, especially for the pediatric and neonatal population which has a majority of their oral and enteral doses provided through a gastric tube. The Baxa Corporation recently announced the launch of a new educational campaign to make healthcare providers aware of these problems and offer solutions.

CMS issues final rule for competitive acquisition program for DMEPOS suppliers

The use of intravenous (IV) syringes for non-IV applications such as enteral feedings poses many risks, especially for the pediatric and neonatal population which has a majority of their oral and enteral doses provided through a gastric tube. The Baxa Corporation recently announced the launch of a new educational campaign to make healthcare providers aware of these problems and offer solutions.

CMS officials urge pharmacists to get NPI numbers and health plans to develop contingency plans.

Less than two months before a May 23 deadline, CMS has finally offered public recognition that many healthcare providers may not be ready for the changeover to the National Provider Identifier (NPI) standards.

The clinical success of an ongoing pay-for-performance (P4P) pilot project by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services requires extensive participation by health-system pharmacists.

Now that we have electronic record technology, how should we set up a postmarketing surveillance system for drugs, biologicals, and medical devices?

Diabetes is a deadly, common and costly disease, so the debate about biogenerics is ardent when it concerns insulin. The drug is expensive and indispensable, and scientists agree that creating generic insulin is simpler than creating most other potential biologic equivalents.

A group of researchers at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy recently submitted a citizen's petition asking the Food & Drug Administration to increase the maximum allowable dose of phenylephrine (PE) from 10 mg to 25 mg and to withdraw approval of phenylephrine for children under 12 years of age. The petition also called for additional research to validate the safety and effectiveness of the higher recommended dose.

Pharmacy industry critics are "gravely concerned" that the Safe Drug Compounding Act of 2007, a draft Senate bill, would sharply curtail the practice of compounding by giving the Food & Drug Administration authority to regulate compounding. A coalition of nine pharmacy organizations drafted a letter to the bill's expected sponsors-Senators Edward Kennedy (D, Mass.), Pat Roberts (R, Kan.), and Richard Burr (R, N.C.)-insisting that the bill "would negatively impact patient access to necessary compounded prescription medications and create onerous, new requirements for prescribers and pharmacists."

The National Community Pharmacists Association is warning that implementation of a proposed rule for reimbursement for generic drugs through Medicaid may result in many pharmacies pulling out of the program or going out of business. Citing the results of a recent Government Accountability Office study and its own internal polling of members, Bruce Roberts, NCPA executive VP/CEO, warned that under the new rule patients would face a "serious danger of losing access to lifesaving prescriptions. What we're faced with is not a natural disaster but a public policy disaster."

Seeking to provide hard data on the efficacy and impact of medication therapy management (MTM) sessions, a Florida Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) is studying the MTM results of Humana and AvMed Medicare patients in that state. The Florida Medicare Quality Improvement Organization (FMQAI) is working with the two prescription drug plans (PDPs) and pharmacists to set up the programs and educate patients and will publish its results in late 2007. FMQAI is the third-largest QIO in the country and has the second-largest beneficiary population.

NIOSH, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, is updating its list of hazardous pharmaceutical products. The new list will become part of the organization's 2004 alert, Preventing Occupational Exposure to Antineoplastic and Other Hazardous Drugs in Health Care Settings.