Community Practice

A coalition of healthcare industry groups has sent a letter to the bipartisan leadership in Congress seeking to delay pending Medicaid cuts.

A new, nationwide WAL-MART mail order prescription program raises several troubling issues that could negatively affect patients.

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.

The SUNY Buffalo School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences held a ceremonial groundbreaking recently for a new building that will bring the school back into the city of Buffalo.

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.

Hospital drug costs will increase by up to 3 percent this year, but spending on anti-infective agents is nearly triple the overall increase. Hospitals with high infection rates should prepare for higher drug budgets.

Walgreens recently announced the release of its Specialty Pharmacy State of the Industry report. Keep reading to find out more.

Manufacturers, promoters, and sellers of dietary supplements are prohibited by law from making claims to treat or cure illness or disease, or their symptoms. Pharmacists should encourage patients to check with medical professionals before commencing use of any dietary supplement.

Controversy has arisen over the implications of extreme-niche pharmacy in Vancouver, B.C., where a store catering only to women opened in July.

A survey of new Rx; new indications; new generics; and new OTC

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.

Before the concept of "networking" became necessary, professional colleagues were often friends as well as peers, gathering regularly to compare notes, have fun, and support each other through difficult times. The loss of that connection has impoverished today's practice of pharmacy.

With the settlement of the class-action lawsuit brought against First DataBank and McKesson by third-party payors accusing the companies of conspiring to inflate average wholesale prices (AWP) of hundreds of drugs, AWP values will roll back from 1.25 to 1.20 times the drugs' wholesale acquisition cost (WAC).

With the settlement of the class-action lawsuit brought against First DataBank and McKesson by third-party payors accusing the companies of conspiring to inflate average wholesale prices (AWP) of hundreds of drugs, AWP values will roll back from 1.25 to 1.20 times the drugs' wholesale acquisition cost (WAC).

The best technique for counseling patients is a combination of Show & Tell and the Indian Health Services questions. If pharmacists could quickly decide which prescriptions needed extended counseling, they could employ this approach when it is most necessary. Now there's an algorithm for that.

Caused by herpes simplex virus type 1, cold sores, also known as fever blisters, are highly contagious and are present throughout the U.S. population in epidemic proportions. Because the stress of the new school year weakens the body's defenses and triggers cold-sore episodes, September may be called the start of the cold sore "season."

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.

MDA and Walgreens are teaming up to offer flu shots at 7,000 locations.

The West Virginia Attorney General's Office has filed a lawsuit alleging that CVS Pharmacy, Kmart, Kroger, Walgreen Pharmacy, and Target violated a state law designed to promote use of generic equivalents for brand-name prescription drugs, according to media reports 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.

In what it describes as an effort to stabilize and possibly decrease costs, a significant portion of which are associated with enforcement of laws and regulations, the Virginia Board of Pharmacy is testing new processes to help increase the efficiency of certain noncompliance issues.

The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy will convene a two-day task force Oct. 28 and October 29 to research various prescription-drug monitoring programs and recommend standards or model rules.

Consumer shopping habits have changed in the new economy and some of those habits will have an impact on purchases of prescriptions and OTC healthcare products for the next few years.

GlaxoSmithKline has announced that two lots of Advair Diskus medication were stolen earlier this month from the company's distribution facility near Richmond, Virginia.

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 program created to provide Medicare recipients with prescription drug benefits exceeded expectations during its first two years. Keep reading to learn the details.

The National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) announced recently that Duncan Mac Naughton, executive vice president of merchandising and marketing for SUPERVALU, has ben elected to the NACDS board of directors.

B. Braun Medical Inc. announced recently that it was named Surgery Center Market Supplier of the Year by McKesson's medical-surgical business unit. B. Braun received the award at McKesson's 2009 national sales meeting in Nashville, Tenn.