Health System

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Office of the Inspector General of the federal Department of Health and Human Services are going after perpetrators of medical identity theft as part of a broader effort to reform healthcare.

The retail pharmacist who runs a pharmacy inside a big-box store can improve departmental operations by understanding the point of view of the retail store manager. Although pharmacist and manager have different focuses and priorities, they can work together to improve delivery of services when they understand each other's needs.

Retail pharmacy managers are discovering that many third-party administrators do not agree that their inventory information approval systems meet compliance requirements set by the Internal Revenue Service for customers' use of flexible spending accounts.

More than 23 million Americans, close to 8 percent of the population, have diabetes. For drugstores, the medical nature of their retail business makes them the outlet of choice for shoppers purchasing diabetes products. Retail pharmacists may choose to maximize patient awareness by placing their diabetes-care display and educational literature near the pharmacy counter.

Nearly a third of all Americans have trouble getting a good night's sleep. Although customers seeking OTC help this year will have to rely on the old stand-by, antihistamines, a few new products are available.

Confronted with these three common scenarios in your daily practice of pharmacy, what would you do?

All hospital and health systems must decide whether to use multiple-dose vials or single-dose vials of drugs, a decision that usually rests on two considerations: Cost reduction and patient safety. The pros and cons of the two systems lead to an inescapable conclusion.

Working with healthcare professionals and the public, the FDA is developing new guidelines for prevention of medication misuse and abuse and other medication errors linked to preventable harm.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) may recommend that healthcare workers, including pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, be transferred from positions where they handle hazardous drugs if the workers are trying to conceive, are pregnant, and/or breastfeeding.

In the prescription drug market, discriminatory pricing is common for independent community pharmacies and their patients. This fall, a Federal District Court in New York will consider a critical case: Drug Mart Pharmacy Corp. et a. v. American Home Products Corp. et al. The outcome of the case may determine whether discriminatory pricing techniques are illegal.

Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Express Scripts Inc., and The St. Louis College of Pharmacy are giving 35 high school students their first look at pharmacy careers in the BESt Summer Pharmacy Institute program.

Schnucks Markets plans to get customers into its pharmacy departments with the addition of EyeSite vision-screening kiosks. Thirty kiosks were recently added to its grocery stores in the St. Louis area.

More than 60 million Americans experience heartburn at least once a month, and at least 25 million suffer on a daily basis. A Nielson study reported early in 2009 announced that 94 percent of patients are satisfied with their OTC remedies. The study estimated that OTC medications annually save patients an average total of $174 each in office visits and medication costs. Because of fewer patient visits top physicians, the study attributes $757 million in annual savings to the U.S. healthcare system.

A survey of new Rx and new OTC

Instead of giving out cards that reduce the copay of a prescription, why not just decrease the price per bottle of medication?

With the subject of healthcare reform on the front burner in Washington and across the country, Drug Topics invited members of its Frontline editorial advisory board to share their thoughts. A selection of their responses is presented here.

Unkempt appearance is often the pharmacist's first clue that a drug-chaser has entered the store.

A second round of revised quality standards for heparin became effective recently, the U.S. Pharmacopeial (USP) Convention has announced.

The products pharmacists discuss most often with patients are oral pain-relief products, lip balms, and cold-sore preparations, according to an exclusive Drug Topics survey of pharmacists.

The CEO and COO of American Associated Pharmacies, the product of the merger between Associated Pharmacies and United Drugs, talk about the new pharmacy cooperative and the future of community pharmacies.

Hospitals and health systems have taken the lead in expanding the role of pharmacy technicians. "The better educated techs are, the more they can support pharmacists," says Mary Mohr, RPh, MS, of Clarian Health.

Each year, pharmacists who offer special services are recognized by their peers and wholesalers through nominations for Drug Topics' annual Top Independent Pharmacists awards in categories pertaining to service, competition, crisis response, and merchandising/promotion. This year's awards honor pharmacists in Washington State, North Carolina, Illinois, and New York.

Pharmacy should be part of any team evaluating an outpatient center. Effective communication between physicians, hospital administrators, pharmacists, and nursing staff is crucial to whether the infusion center will succeed.

Everyone seems to realize that when the lady being a pain in the neck carries a Gucci handbag, she's someone who helps pay the pharmacy's bills. Not so many people seem to realize that this is equally true of the lady carrying the Medicaid card.

The one condition that is probably shared by most pharmacists can harm marriages, health, and jobs. But it comes with the job, so what do we do about that?