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In response to growing concern among hospital pharmacists, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) has launched an education program on antibiotic resistance.

Summer brings picnics, hikes, and trips to the water, along with sunburn, bug bites, and dry, itchy skin. For all that exposed skin, manufacturers offer several new skin-care aids.

Many pharmacies across the country have adopted new policies and procedures that focus more on patient care and outcomes. Included among these new options is administration of vaccines.

Most of us probably didn't pay a lot of attention to business majors when we were in college. Unfortunately, the business majors have far more influence over the practice of pharmacy today than pharmacists do, and it's going to be up to them to find a way out of the pickle our profession finds itself in.

The 2,400-page healthcare reform bill included language establishing the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, a group grounded in the tenets of comparative effectiveness research. Its mission is significant, but whether it has the power to effect change remains to be seen.

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

In every pharmacy, continuous quality improvement is an essential safeguard. For two approaches that guarantee best practices, read on.

Numerous studies show that patients benefit from medication therapy management (MTM) services provided by pharmacists. The drawback to many programs is that it is financially difficult to offer them. In Wisconsin, however, clinical and retail pharmacists participating in the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin's (PSW) MTM pilot project are reimbursed for the time they spend reviewing patients' formulary or explaining how patients should use drugs.

Although the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) creates an abbreviated approval pathway for biological products that are demonstrated to be ?highly similar? (biosimilar) to or ?interchangeable? with an FDA-approved biological product, only time will tell how long it will take for these biosimilars to reach the marketplace.

Written confirmation is now available from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services indicating that Fluzone High-Dose (Sanofi Pasteur) influenza virus vaccine for patients 65 years or older is a benefit covered by Medicare Part B and will be reimbursed for the upcoming 2010?11 influenza season.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed regulation on June 25 that would exempt community pharmacies from the upcoming bidding process for Medicare Part B diabetes-testing supplies, along with instructions that exempt most independent community pharmacies from accreditation requirements.

Long-term data from a retrospective cohort study showed that hyperlipidemic obese patients had more than a 90% reduction in their need of lipid-lowering therapy following laparoscopic gastric-bypass surgery, MedPage Today reported.

Women who suffer from endometriosis-related pain should be treated first with conservative, nonsurgical approaches and then with more invasive options if pain does not resolve, and with hysterectomy only as a last resort, according to a practice bulletin issued by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and published in the July issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology, reported HealthDay News.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has issued a notice in the Federal Register requesting input about the dispensing of controlled substances for residents in long-term-care (LTC) facilities.

A recall of 3 lots of physician sample blister packs of Coumadin 1-mg tablets and 5 lots of Coumadin 1-mg tablet hospital unit dose blister packs has been initiated by Bristol-Myers Squibb.

The use of nutraceuticals and nonprescription over-the-counter (OTC) drugs may be high; however, the use of these agents may largely be ignored by cardiovascular clinicians, according to research published in the July 6 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

FDA said on June 25 that it does not expect any shortage of children?s pain and allergy medications, despite Johnson & Johnson?s inability to resume production until at least next year, Reuters reported.

Supplementation with folic acid and vitamin B12 over an extended period does not have a beneficial effect on vascular outcomes in individuals who have had a myocardial infarction, but it also poses no excess cancer risk, according to a study in the June 23/30 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, HealthDay News reported.

An FDA advisory panel voted 20?12 to recommend that the agency allow rosiglitazone (Avandia, GlaxoSmithKline) to remain on the market. However, most panelists want to see tougher warnings on the diabetes drug?s label, according to various media reports.

Purdue Pharma has awarded the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) Foundation a $100,000 grant to advance its efforts to stimulate community-pharmacy-based research that helps improve patient care and education.

FDA is once again tackling the naming, labeling, and packaging practices connected with drugs and biologics, according to a top official.

The Healthcare Distribution Management Association has recognized Sandoz Inc. with a 2010 Distribution Industry Award for Notable Achievements in Healthcare (DIANA) in the Best New Generic Product Introduction Award category.

Phil Hagerman, RPh, president and CEO of Diplomat Specialty Pharmacy, was named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for the Michigan and Northwest Ohio region. He was honored June 10 at an awards ceremony in Dearborn, Mich.

A systematic review assessing the comparative effectiveness of oral anti-diabetic drugs for preventing patients at high risk from progressing to type 2 diabetes has found glitazones (pioglitazone, rosiglitazone), biguanides (metformin), and alpha-glucosidase inhibitors (AGIs; acarbose, voglibose) reduced the relative risk of diabetes by as much as 63%, whereas insulin secretagogues (sulfonylureas and glinides) had no effect.

Sens. Kay R. Hagan (D-N.C.) and Al Franken (D-Minn.) have introduced The Medication Therapy Management (MTM) Expanded Benefits Act, a bill that will allow seniors with one chronic illness to thoroughly review all their medications with a pharmacist in a one-on-one session.

FDA has announced that the agency is currently evaluating whether the use of the angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) olmesartan (Benicar, Daiichi Sankyo; also sold in combination with hydrocholorothiazide as Benicar HCT) was associated with increased cardiovascular mortality.

The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 greatly reduced FDA involvement in assessing the safety of dietary supplements, leaving pharmacists with the problem of obtaining accurate information with which to advise patients.

Pharmacists speak out about the personal touch, personalized medicine, and "personality kids"