Content about Congress

A 12-to-1 return on investment. That’s what researchers in Minnesota estimated public and private health plan payers can get when they pay pharmacists to provide medication therapy management.

NEW YORK — Automatic spending cuts stemming from the failure of Congress and the White House to reach a budget deal will likely harm the disease-preventing capabilities of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to a new report.

GlobalData, a market research and analytics firm, said the slashing of the CDC's funding by $450 million, or 8%, due to the sequester would both hamper its ability to prevent infectious diseases through immunization, surveillance and response programs while also failing to accomplish the goal of decreasing federal spending.

WASHINGTON — According to a report filed to Congress by the Government Accountability Office on Wednesday, the seizures of methamphetamine-producing labs declined following state and federal sales restrictions on pseudoephedrine. And while electronic tracking systems help enforce PSE sales limits, those efforts have not reduced meth lab incidents and have limitations related to smurfing, the GAO added. 

NEW YORK — Telehealth is expected to reach 1.8 million patients around the world by 2017, according to a new report by healthcare market research firm IHS.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A survey of community pharmacists suggests that "preferred pharmacy" Medicare Part D drug benefit plans may pose challenges for seniors in rural communities. The finding comes shortly after similar questions were raised at the January public meeting of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, Congress' advisory board on Medicare issues, the National Community Pharmacists Association noted Thursday. 

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A lobbying organization for independent pharmacies has launched an ad campaign in The Hill, the Washington-based daily newspaper covering Congress.

The National Community Pharmacists Association ad lays out the group's legislative agenda for the 113th Congress and the Obama administration.

The National Community Pharmacists Association last week noted that language in the "fiscal cliff" legislation that averted the worst of potential tax consequences for individuals nonetheless had a chance to negatively impact diabetics who buy their supplies from their local community pharmacy. 

WASHINGTON — The National Community Pharmacists Association on Wednesday urged Congress, such as through mail order, as lawmakers held a House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee hearing entitled, “Examining Options to Combat Health Care Waste, Fraud and Abuse.”

According to the House committee’s web site, its lawmakers are concerned about Medicare spending in particular and the hearing is intended to “explore potential new approaches to address these substantial and ongoing threats.”

When considering new, stiffer regulations governing the compounding of medicines in the wake of the meningitis outbreak, tread carefully and don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.

That’s the message chain pharmacy had for Congress as lawmakers mull new restrictions on drug compounding by pharmacists.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Association of Chain Drug Stores announced that it has joined pain care advocacy and other healthcare organizations in urging members of Congress to help address the problem of prescription drug diversion and abuse.  

It looks like health reform is for keeps.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — Given the extent of the meningitis outbreak linked to a compounding pharmacy in Massachusetts, new regulations for such pharmacies might be a good idea, but how to implement them remains uncertain.

(THE NEWS: Meningitis outbreak linked to compounding pharmacy spawns new proposed legislation. Click here to read the story.)