NCPDP to tackle Medicare Rx benefit

The National Council for Prescription Drug Programs will host two educational summits later this year. "Future Standards Under HIPAA and MMA: New & Unfinished Business" will be held Aug. 15 at the Westin Philadel- phia in Pennsylvania. "Innovation and the Prescription Drug Benefit" summit will take place Nov. 8 at the Hilton Long Beach in California. For more information, go on-line to http://www.ncpdp.org/; or send an e-mail to Lindsey Kerby at Lkerby@ncpdp.org

Making the grade NDCHealth Corp. has upgraded NDC PharmacyRx, the Atlanta firm's network-based pharmacy practice management system for community pharmacy. Upgraded features included optimized paperless e-prescribing, an advanced automation interface, and enhanced security features to help meet HIPAA regulations. So far, automation systems from Innovation Associates and Parata Systems have been declared compatible with NDC PharmacyRx. For more information, phone (800) 778-6711.

New kid on the block QS/1 Data Systems has entered the pharmacy automation market with a new pill counter and dispensing system that will be unveiled at the firm's annual customer conference in Orlando, Fla., in July. Fully integrated with QS/1's pharmacy management and workflow software, the automated device will enhance patient safety, boost productivity, and reduce future personnel expenses, according to the Spartansburg, S.C., firm. For more information, visit http://www.qs1.com/; or phone (800) 231-7776.

Royal pain WebMD's Medscape has an on-line resource center devoted to the pharmacological management of pain. The offerings include continuing education, medical conference coverage, journal articles, a drug search, and practice guidelines. Go to http://www.medscape.com/; click on the Resource Centers tab; and scroll down to the pain management section. While you're there, you can check out other diseases and conditions all the way from addiction to women's sexual health.

Swiss ingenuity Swisslog has added an automatic restocking feature to PillPick, the firm's high-density, robotic warehouse for automated packaging, storage, and dispensing of bar-coded unit-dose drugs in hospitals. Returned medications can now automatically be restocked in the PillPick, which stores up to 44,400 unit doses of more than 4,000 medications. A unique identifier tracks each drug dose. For more information, go to http://www.swisslog.com/ and click on Healthcare Solutions.

Marathon man item Paper, pressure-sensitive labels, and used plastic pill bottles are all food for the RxShredder to help pharmacies keep sensitive patient information from ending up in the wrong hands and the HIPAA cops off their backs. The unit is about two feet square, and it features a self-sealing bag for shredded materials, a HEPA filter, gliding casters, and a replaceable cutting head, according to the manufacturer, Marathon Equipment, Vernon, Ala. It handles plastic bottles up to 4.25 in. wide by 3 in. deep or 3 in. in diameter and 5 in. tall.

The base price is $3,950. For more info, phone (800) 633-8974; or go to http://www.RxShredder.com/.