Health System

The "Just Ask!" campaign features a tool kit that can be used to urge patients to talk to hospital pharmacists when they have questions about their medications.

Though they are efficient, abbreviations in health care pose a threat to patient safety.

A new law signed by Gov. Jon Corzine earlier this month requires all hospitals in the Garden State to test patients in ICUs for methicillin-resistant S. aureus.

Duane Reade Holdings and Consumer Health Services (CHS), a manager of on-site physician-centric consumer healthcare, have announced a formal affiliation agreement with Continuum Health Partners, one of the major hospital and healthcare providers in the New York City area.

The FDA is warning consumers not to buy or eat three red yeast rice products sold on Web sites as dietary supplements for treating high cholesterol.

The Nevada State Board of Pharmacy has fined a Las Vegas hospital $10,000 and suspended three of its pharmacists for errors that have led to the death of a premature baby last fall.

The Teamsters Union has sent a letter to the investors of PharMerica, warning them that the long-term care provider's close ties with AmerisourceBergen might not be in the best interest of shareholders. According to the union, AmerisourceBergen has been linked to problems with drug counterfeiting, an alleged illegal rebate scheme, and loss of controlled substances in several of its warehouses.

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.

Proposed rules from the Health Resources and Services Administration to make children's hospitals eligible for 340B are moving slowly. And final rules from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will boost costs while cutting reimbursement.

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.

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.

The Food & Drug Administration offers many job opportunities for pharmacists, from working for the Office of Generic Drugs to reviewing new drug applications

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

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.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has come out with new, less stringent rules on the coverage of two popular anemia drugs. The new rules apply mostly to cancer patients who receive chemotherapy that causes anemia and people with the bone marrow disorder myelodysplasia.

On June 15th, the FDA issued both a drug approval and rejection for two treatments being evaluated to treat the condition in one day.

Sentri7 can be individualized by the user to collect certain data about certain patients, which is very helpful in antibiotic stewardship programs. Sentri7 automates data collection, analysis, action steps, and outcome documentation.

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