Community Practice

Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Utah has introduced a generic drug plan to be used for antidepressants. Beginning next month, Regence said it will need prior authorization before filling prescriptions for some brand-name drugs.

According to National Vaccine Information Center, following analysis of reports submitted to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, a statistically significant increased risk of GBS and other serious adverse event reports was found when the HPV vaccine was coadministered with other vaccines.

Many hospitals have instituted paper-based systems to capture inpatient prescription information to avoid adverse drug events, but one community-based hospital has gone a step further to adopt an automated medication reconciliation program. Fauquier Health System in northern Virginia is currently testing a pilot system that electronically provides the hospital staff with a patient's medication history.

Terrorism and natural disasters are putting pharmacists into the forefront of emergency medical care, prompting pharmacy schools to expand their curriculum.

The new bundled payment would adjust for differences across dialysis facilities for the services paid for under the composite rate and the drugs that are currently billed separately.

A 65-year-old male patient refuses to continue rosiglitazone / metformin due to recent media coverage of safety issues.

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network recently updated its guidelines for Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma to include new therapeutic options, as well as changes to diagnostic criteria and staging.

Prevalence of the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSAs) in U.S. healthcare facilities is 8 to 11 times greater than previous estimates.

The Joint Commission's recently announced 2008 National Patient Safety Goals include a new requirement to reduce risks associated with anticoagulant therapy.

A panel of six pharmacists give their opinions in a roundtable on how technology can curb and also promote drug errors.

Companies offer technology that can be used by pharmacists to help improve patient compliance.

Facing a lartely uninspired response from doctors, regulators and evangelists are pushing e-prescribing with a combination of hardball tactics and inspired cajoling to get prescribers on board by 2010.

The four leading infusion pump manufacturers all report brisk sales of smart pumps, but many users are evading the software dosing safeguards that make pumps smart.

Consumers are visiting drugstores more often and spending more when they are there.

Ready or not, electonic pedigree is coming. But bumps in the road area already rocking the pharmaceutical world. The biggest bump: vague definitions and conflicting exptectations.

U.S. marshals investigating cheating on the North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination (NAPLEX) have seized materials and computers from the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy and the offices and home of professor Flynn Warren Jr., M.S.

The pharmacy world is astir over Publix Super Markets' offer of free 14-day supplies of seven common antibiotics at its 684 pharmacies.

Several new bills that may impact R.Ph.s have been introduced lately, though it is not clear whether any of them will actually be signed into law.

A Congressional showdown is looming over electronic pedigree, with House and Senate bills calling for different ways to protect the drug distribution chain.

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has released an update to its kidney cancer guidelines.

The American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) have issued an update to their Unstable Angina/ Non-ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction (UA/NSTEMI) guidelines, last published in 2002.

Three doctors and two pharmacists are among 18 people indicted on federal fraud and racketeering charges for allegedly operating an on-line pharmacy that sold more than $126 million worth of Rx drugs.

Looking to build on the knowledge and experience of R.Ph.s across the country, NCPA, APhA, the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations, and Mirixa Corp. have launched www.rxwiki.com.

Maraviroc (Selzentry, Pfizer), the first CCR5 inhibitor, was recently approved following priority review by the FDA.

CMS announced that it would release NPI number data beginning Sept. 4, at which point all data that are disclosable under the Freedom of Information Act will be made available to the public.

Seven out of 10 customers of leading retail chain pharmacies are interested in having a kiosk to pick up and pay for their prescriptions, including when the pharmacy is closed.

Products encompassing newly approved Rx drugs and generics, plus health and beauty care, home health care, and other items.

The growth of Internet pharmacies poses a threat to consumers and retail pharmacists.

While drug-resistant infections have been multiplying, there has been a mere trickle of new antibiotics coming down the pipeline. The tide may be changing; there are 30 or more antibiotics in development.

A recent resolution by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists to require postgraduate one-year residencies for all pharmacists involved in direct patient care, has long-term consequences-and brings long-term controversy.