Community Practice

Are pharmacies subcontractors when they fill prescriptions for TRICARE, the federal health program for military personnel? Not according to the National Association of Chain Drugs Stores.

Frustrated by its lack of success at reining in drug-company abuses, FDA is bringing back a legal doctrine spawned by long-dead rodents to bring criminal charges against pharmaceutical executives, including executives who had no personal knowledge of company misdeeds.

If the Affordable Care Act makes pharmacists primary care providers, the profession gains a host of advantages, including Medicare provider status. For AACP, the goal is eligibility for student loan forgiveness under the NHSC.

Reimbursement and medication adherence issues will be front and center at the PQA/URAC Medication Adherence Summit in Washington, D.C., June 2 and 3.

Pharmacists need to leverage any tool that will minimize the demands placed on them and reduce distractions that can lead to medication errors, longer patient waiting time, and other complications. One available tool is the call center.

Antibiotic use is rising at Veterans Affairs medical facilities across the country, according to study findings released recently at the annual meeting of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America in Dallas.

A recent state appellate court decision in California could help pharmacists claim meal and rest breaks they are due under state labor law. The case, which involved United Parcel Service workers, affirmed workers' right to up to 2 hours of extra pay daily.

Pharmacists at the University of California San Francisco are in the process of bringing one of the world's largest and most advanced robotic pharmacies online.

A roundup of reports on risk of recurrent venous thromboembolism; direct factor Xa inhibitors; and managing clopidogrel hypersensitivity

Under Senate Bill 60, the Ohio State Board of Pharmacy would be required to approve one or more continuing education courses addressing cultural competency in healthcare treatment.

With no cure for seasonal allergic rhinitis available, sufferers seeking symptomatic relief will welcome the following OTC options.

Wide-scale pill-splitting as a cost-containing measure is practiced by such large healthcare systems as the West Coast VA, Kaiser, and United Healthcare. The practice may serve the bottom line. But does it serve the patients?

As part of an overall federal strategy on the prescription drug epidemic, FDA announced in late April that it will require a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy for all long-acting and extended-release opioids.

A 2-year study found that a pharmacy-directed anticoagulation service boosted the quality and efficiency of care for heparin-induced thrombocytopenia in patients using direct thrombin inhibitors.

As long as pharmacists work in such understaffed conditions, the repeated promise of more time spent with the patient will never be a reality.

Rite Aid's promise to fill prescriptions in 15 minutes or less is attracting consumer reaction. Professional reaction is less supportive.

Readers speak out about the 15-minute Rx, antibiotic stewardship, and MTM.

With the expansion of pharmacist roles come the burdens of managing the existing obligations embedded in professional pharmacy practice. Technicians, when appropriately trained and certified, can help fulfill many delegated functions in the pharmacy.

FDA recently called for the addition of new Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy requirements for medications. This article examines some resulting challenges and potential solutions.

Soon after taking the reins at NCPA, Douglas Hoey, RPh, MBA, spoke with Drug Topics' Contributing Editor Christine Blank about his short-term and long-term objectives for NCPA.

Companies get their professional staff to do what they want by instilling fear. The result is thousands of pharmacists who are afraid, all of them, of one thing or another.

CMS has eased rules on short-cycle dispensing of Part D medications in long-term-care facilities and is now requiring not 7-day but 14-day fills. The workload, however, may still double or triple.

A survey of new Rx, new generic, and new OTC products

Depression is a disease like any other. The pharmacist's task is to keep depression patients educated about their disease and their medications, and to stress the importance of adherence to medication. But before that, depression screening may be Job 1.

The American Heart Association recently released its updated cardiovascular disease prevention guidelines for women. The guidelines emphasize practical medical advice that works in the ?real world? rather than on findings primarily observed in clinical research.

BANGALORE (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson unit Janssen said it was in discussions with regulatory authorities in Europe and Canada to address trace amounts of a fungicide found in certain lots of its HIV drug Prezista (darunavir).

The American Pain Foundation recently released a new medication safety module on acetaminophen and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs as part of its PainSAFE initiative.

FDA approved the use of meningococcal (A, C, Y, W-135) polysaccharide diphtheria toxoid conjugate vaccine (Menactra, Sanofi Pasteur) in children aged as young as 9 months for the prevention of invasive meningococcal disease caused by Neisseria meningitidis serogroups A, C, Y, and W-135.

A daily dose of opioids for nonmalignant pain is strongly associated with opioid-related mortality, and doses of 200 mg or more of morphine or equivalent are associated with a particularly high risk, according to a recent study published in the April issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

Hemoglobin A1c levels below 6% are associated with a small but significant increased risk of mortality in elderly patients, according to a retrospective cohort study published online in Diabetes Care.