Content about Medicare

Want to weigh in on healthcare reform? What do you think it weighs, anyway—Congress’ Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act? Drug Store News printed out the 2,400-plus page document, and with no binder clips big enough nor a stapler aggressive enough to contain it, we have kept it in a 9 in.-by-12 in. box that is roughly 10 in. deep—the pages overflow by about an inch.

I spot it at about 25 lbs. or so.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT Once again, government seems to be mangling the delicate balance among pharmacies, generic drug suppliers and consumers. Ontario lawmakers and health “reformers” are doing it the old-fashioned way: by seeking short-term cost cuts at the expense of long-term savings.

(THE NEWS: Shoppers Drug Mart responds to Ontario's revised generic pricing rules. For the full story, click here)

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT After more than a year that spawned bitter debate, a tea party, a growing divide in Congress and a never-ending clash of ideas, charges, countercharges and soul-searching about the role of government and deficit spending, healthcare reform is law.

WASHINGTON Passage of the mammoth health-reform bill Sunday night by the U.S. House of Representatives is drawing guarded support from several sectors of healthcare industry, including community pharmacy providers, physician groups and the pharmaceutical industry. But the insurance industry is expressing alarm over provisions in the bill aimed at forcing insurers to cover Americans regardless of pre-existing conditions.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT If Medicare Part D is to remain solvent in the future, then lawmakers may want to take a closer look at the more than 10% of spending on drugs under the program that has gone toward specialty drugs — some of the most expensive drugs on the market — and find ways to come up with cheaper alternatives.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT For the second year in a row, Raleigh, N.C.-based Kerr Drug has earned high marks from a major health provider network for its ability to deliver effective medication therapy management to its patients. Considering that MTM is critical to the future of pharmacy as a real, patient-centered healthcare profession instead of merely a dispenser of medications, Kerr’s efforts — and recognition by Outcomes Pharmaceutical Health Care for those efforts — are a timely step in the right direction.