Proposed changes by CMS relating to payment rates for inpatientstays would base the weights assigned to diagnosis-related groups(DRGs) on hospital costs rather than on charges and adjust the DRGsfor patient severity. CMS issued a notice of proposed rulemakingthat would begin the transition to the first significant revisionof the Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) since itsimplementation in 1983.
Medco locked more than 500 pharmacy technicians out of its LasVegas mail-order pharmacy after they failed to ratify a newcontract, according to a spokeswoman. The giant PBM brought in 550registered techs to temporarily replace the locked-out workers, whohave been without a contract for eight months.
Medicare Part D needs moderate to major improvements to besuccessful, according to 88% of the 5,859 pharmacists who respondedto an on-line survey in late March by the National Council of StatePharmacy Association Executives. The poll also found that 60% ofthe respondents said Part D is having a negative impact on theirbusiness or could force them to close and more than 50% stillreported at least five Part D-related problems every day, half ofwhich required more than 20 minutes of R.Ph. time to resolve.
The Washington State Pharmacy Association has purchased shares tobecome the 17th shareholder organization in the Pace Alliancepharmacy buying group. The addition brings the number ofindependent pharmacies served by the Pace Alliance to more than2,000 nationwide.
New data released by the Substance Abuse & Mental HealthServices Administration (SAMHSA) show admissions to substance abusetreatment involving methamphetamine and narcotic pain medicationscontinued to rise in 2004. Methamphetamine admissions to treatmentrose 11% between 2003 and 2004 and 25% between 2002 and 2004.
Drugstore-based promotions of pharmaceutical products are gainingwide industry acceptance, according to data recently presented atthe DTC National Conference. Panelist Gary Norman, executive VP andgeneral manager for Rx EDGE, a pharmacy-based, direct-to-consumermarketing firm, reported in-store promotions are an emerging trendin which pharmaceutical marketers are boosting their emphasis onpatient information and education, and shifting from TV to moretargeted, measurable media.
A gay-rights group has sued Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher forfailing to veto $11 million for a pharmacy school to be built at aprivate Baptist university that recently expelled a gay student.
The University of California, San Diego, will dedicate the new $45million building housing the Skaggs School of Pharmacy on May 2.The four-story, 110,000-sq. ft. building will accommodate 330Pharm.D. students, 60 Ph.D. candidates, and 30 residents, as wellas research facilities.
CMS has selected Bioscrip as the first national vendor for the newCompetitive Acquisition Program (CAP) for certain Medicare Part Bdrugs and biologicals beginning July 1. Participating physicianswill acquire the drugs from Bioscrip and administer them tobeneficiaries instead of purchasing them from distributors andbeing reimbursed by Medicare.
The Nevada pharmacy board has ruled that pharmacists can refuse tofill scripts based on professional judgment but not on theirreligious or personal beliefs. The regulation permits pharmaciststo refuse to dispense if a script is unlawful, potentially harmfulto the patient, or not for legitimate medical purposes.
A coalition of large Florida employers launched a campaign to makedoctors write legible scripts. The Florida Health Care Coalitionprinted one million stickers that state, "I won't accept aprescription if I can't read the writing."
MedVantx is introducing OTC Advantage, a program aimed atbroadening patient access to cost-effective OTCs. The programenables physicians participating in the nationwide MedVantx Networkto easily dispense and track free, full-course samples of OTCmedications for use as first-line therapy.
Three contact lens care solutions made by Ciba Vision are in shortsupply at retailers nationwide, following a temporary shutdown of aCiba manufacturing plant in Ontario. The shortage of Clear Care,Aosept, and AQuify, which clean and disinfect contact lenses, comesat the same time that Bausch & Lomb asked retailers to pull itsReNu with MoistureLoc contact lens solution, which is underinvestigation as a possible cause of a rare eye infection.
Merck is offering a free Guide to Affordable Medicine, a resourceto help people learn about the various programs available forreceiving medications at a discount or for free. The guide providesan overview of Medicare, Medicaid, prescription discount programs,and patient assistance programs.
An FDA alert has been issued to warn practitioners that allproducts containing promethazine HCl are now contraindicated inchildren younger than two years of age. The labeling change comesafter the agency received reports of respiratory depression anddeath following use of the drug by children in this age group.
The prolonged-release formulation of ciprofloxacin-ProQuinXR-is now available in three-tablet blister packs in additionto the already-existing 50-count bottles. According to themanufacturers Depomed Inc. and Esprit Pharma, the blister pack willprovide a convenient alternative for patients who have beenprescribed a three-day course of the fluoroquinolone to a treaturinary tract infection. Each tablet of the antibiotic contains 500mg of ciprofloxacin and should be taken once daily.
Following two federal appeals court rulings last year that rejectedFTC actions that had prevented brand-name companies from payingtheir rivals to drop patent challenges, an FTC analysis has foundat least seven agreements made in fiscal 2006 and three in 2005between brand-name drug companies and generic companies. Speakingto the In-House Counsel's Forum on Pharmaceutical Antitrust, FTCcommissioner Jon Leibowitz said that if the appeals court decisionsremain in force, rival drugmakers will have "carte blanche to avoidcompetition and share resulting profits.
A new study by AHRQ shows that physicians and pharmacists fail tocorrectly identify the tablets of three common medications morethan a third of the time. The research suggests that the lack of astandardized system for marking prescription tablets withidentifying codes and symbols can lead to confusion and perhapsmedication errors.
The launch of many brand-name drugs and an increased volume ofprescriptions written for Medicaid enrollees between 1997 and 2002were responsible for a doubling of Medicaid expenditures duringthis time period, according to a new report from the Agency forHealthcare Research & Quality (AHRQ). At the same time, the useof generics fell from 47% to 44%.
Following a six-month trial on corruption charges, former IllinoisGovernor George Ryan was found guilty on all counts related toracketeering, mail fraud, obstructing the IRS, tax fraud, and lyingto the FBI. Ryan, a Republican, was a pharmacist in Kankakee beforehe entered politics.
Accredo Health Group, a subsidiary of Medco, won a five-yearcontract as the sole specialty pharmacy for Flolan (epoprostenolsodium, Myogen) for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Terms ofthe deal were not announced.
Pharmacists rank No. 9 on a list of the top 10 best jobs in thecountry, in a survey just released by Money magazine andSalary.com. The surveyors reviewed factors such as jobsatisfaction, wages, stress levels, growth prospects, workinghours, and number of vacation days before coming out with theirfindings.
Cigna Pharmacy Management is launching new preventive prescriptiondrug plan options that are designed to promote medicationcompliance by providing a higher level of benefit coverage toemployees who need certain medications to prevent illness oraddress specific chronic healthcare conditions. One option allowsemployers to waive the plan deductible for more than 700 usuallycovered preventive prescription drugs.
Erin Cutler, a Marion County woman who is already suing Walgreensafter allegedly finding demeaning comments attached to herprescriptions in the section reserved for patient information, hasadded a "failure-to-warn" count to the lawsuit. Cutler claims thata Walgreens pharmacy did not warn her that her bipolar medicationdecreases the effectiveness of her birth control.
Starting April 16, CVS customers began receiving Extra Bucksrewards from purchases they made in the first quarter of 2006.Extra Bucks are free money that cardholders can spend on almostanything in the front store.
CMS has advised Medicare Part D plans that as of Oct. 1, they canno longer put the logos and/or names of co-branding partners onbeneficiary cards. The agency instituted the logo ban because somebeneficiaries mistakenly thought they could fill prescriptions onlyat the pharmacies shown on their Part D cards.
Boca Medical Products and the FDA have notified consumers andhealthcare professionals of a recall of Ultilet Insulin Syringe 30g1/2cc (Lot #-5GEXI; NDC #-08326-3002-50) because ofpossible bacterial presence of Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcusintermedius. This presents a risk of local infection due to softtissue injection with a contaminated syringe as well as a risk ofintroduction of contaminating organisms into a previously sterilevial.
Out of the 11,190 candidates who sat for the North AmericanPharmacist Licensure Examination (NAPLEX) last year, 85% received apassing grade, compared with 92% in 2004, according to the NABPadvisory committee on examinations. The 7% drop was attributed to anew NAPLEX standard adopted last year that requires a slightlyhigher level of ability for candidates to achieve a passing scoreof 75% or higher.
Seniors and the Medicare Part D program could potentially save morethan $23 billion over the next five years, as at least 14brand-name drugs commonly used by seniors are scheduled to becomeavailable in generic form, according to a new analysis released byPCMA. The analysis examined the top 100 drugs used by seniors toarrive at a conservative estimate of potential Medicare costsavings.
Early results from a national pharmacist intervention pilot studyshowed that 75% of asthma patients do not have their disease undercontrol, according to NCPA, which is conducting the study withMedical Care and Outcomes and GlaxoSmithKline. By mid-April, theprogram had enrolled 369 independent pharmacists, who use afive-question assessment tool to determine how well a patient'sasthma is being controlled.