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CMS is extending the registration and bid submission deadlines for the first round of the Medicare Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies Competitive Bidding Program.

CMS believes that eliminating the exemption will encourage healthcare providers to move as quickly as possible to e-prescribing using the SCRIPT standard.

A large majority of pharmacists do not think postgraduate residency training should be a requirement for future pharmacists, according to the latest drugtopics.com Instant Poll survey.

HHS secretary Michael Leavitt announced a two-year effort designed to further protect Medicare beneficiaries from fraudulent suppliers of durable medical equipment, prosthetics, and orthotics supplies (DMEPOS).

The OIG report was based on responses from 516 independent facilities and 2,868 facilities from two large companies as well as 96 hospital-based dialysis facilities.

GAO is pushing for Medicare to pay dialysis centers a bundled rate for all end-stage renal disease (ESRD) drugs and services.

Responding to CMS' calls for healthcare providers to get and share their NPI numbers, NCPDP has created a special look-up tool that pharmacists can use to search for physician data.

The FDA has issued a public health advisory following a report of a cystic fibrosis patient who died after inhaling premixed liquid colistimethate through a nebulizer.

CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has released a report updating the 2006 recommendations for influenza vaccine.

CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has broadened the recommended age range for meningococcal vaccination to all adolescents 11 to 18 years old.

The Medicare IVIG Access Act of 2007, which seeks adequate reimbursement for intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) products and accompanying care for patients with primary immunodeficiency diseases (PIDDs) and other conditions.

To prevent drug traffickers from diverting iodine for the illicit production of methamphetamine, DEA has issued a final rule governing iodine crystals and chemical mixtures containing more than 2.2% iodine.

Bronx, N.Y., pharmacist Joel Zive was featured on ABC's "Eyewitness News" last week.

In the book, And when the police gave us their guns, we knew that this was?no ordinary hurricane, they wrote about their ideas to help stranded patients in New Orleans obtain their medications, including breaking into an area Walgreens pharmacy and volunteering for one of the local hospitals.

Pharmacists should not expect Congressional changes soon in the controversial Medicare Part D drug benefit program but even so, several administrative issues still need to be resolved.

Novartis has received final approval for its combination product, Exforge, used to treat hypertension.

Pregabalin (Lyrica) from Pfizer received word from the FDA that its application to use the drug for the treatment of fibromyalgia was approved.

Ambrisentan (Letairis) in 5-and 10-mg tablets has been approved by the FDA for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).

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.

Hospitals have had their share of drug errors and attendant bad publicity. What is the industry doing to prevent errors?

Here is some information that pharmacists might want to share with patients.

New selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs), new combinaton drugs, and more convenient dosing forms are under development for osteoporosis.

This cover story discusses the different initiatives taken by pharmacy chains to prevent drug errors by pharmacists and pharmacy technicians.

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.

Most Americans probably never gave tuberculosis (TB) a passing thought until a case of extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR TB) recently made national headlines. An American with XDR TB traveled from the United States to Europe and back in May, potentially exposing hundreds of fellow travelers to the disease. Since then, national public concern about TB has ballooned.

Only a small fraction of MTM programs are open to community pharmacists

Adults and children six years of age and older who suffer with seasonal and perennial allergic rhinitis will now have another option for relief of their symptoms. Levocetirizine (Xyzal) from UCB Inc. and Sanofi-Aventis has received regulatory approval from the FDA.