Content about Medicare

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A pharmacy school in Alabama is getting a grant for a program designed to reduce hospitalizations among nursing home residents.

CLEVELAND — More than 20,000 RxAlly member pharmacies — including independent pharmacies, regional chains and Walgreens — will begin accepting a new federally qualified Medicare Prescription Drug Plan, SmartD Rx, beginning Jan. 1, 2013. Developed by Smart Insurance Company with the input of pharmacists, SmartD Rx will be offered to beneficiaries for the first time this fall during Medicare’s open enrollment period. 

When National Association of Chain Drug Stores president and CEO Steve Anderson earlier this year at NACDS Annual urged pharmacy leaders to be “disruptive innovators,” and new NACDS chairman and Walgreens president and CEO Greg Wasson called on the industry to embrace a holistic view of the total store in improving patient lives, they easily could have submitted Walgreens and its Take Care Health Systems subsidiary as an ideal case study.


PHILADELPHIA — The pharmaceuticals business will begin picking up in 2014, AmerisourceBergen president and CEO Steve Collis said last week at the wholesaler's ThinkLive Manufacturer's Summit held here. "Next year is a slower brand-to-generic [trend] and in 2014 we’re going to see a resumption in that top-line growth rate [across the pharmaceutical industry in the U.S.] to a modest 4% growth," Collis said. "That’s not too bad," he added, especially when you compare that growth up against what's happening worldwide.

There was something that jumped out at me during the one-hour interview with Walgreens president and CEO Greg Wasson that helped set the tone for the massive, 86-page exclusive report on the company that appears in this issue. It had to do with Wasson’s vision for the role of community pharmacy in the future of 
health care.


ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Louisiana pharmacist Randy Mire testified before Congress Tuesday that efforts to combat the diabetes epidemic in his home state and elsewhere would be significantly undermined if independent community pharmacies like his are forced to stop offering diabetes testing supplies as a result of Medicare’s competitive bidding program for durable medical equipment, according to a National Community Pharmacists Association release.

Mire appeared on behalf of NCPA before the U.S. House Small Business Subcommittee on Healthcare and Technology.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Community Pharmacists Association on Wednesday announced that it is participating in the "Team Up. Pressure Down." program to help hypertensive patients more effectively manage and control their high blood pressure — and ultimately prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes by 2017.
 

WASHINGTON — Former secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt will lead presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's transition planning should Romney win the fall elections, according to a report published Wednesday by National Journal Daily.

Leavitt helped author the prescription coverage under Medicare Part D during his tenure at HHS.

WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — The idea of pharmacists as the most accessible healthcare professionals isn't just some hokey marketing gimmick: It's a readily observable fact, and one that will become increasingly important as retail pharmacies and retail clinics play a greater role on the front lines of care.

WASHINGTON — The Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday announced partnerships with several pharmacies to help customers learn about new Medicare benefits available to them under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

These partnerships — with CVS Caremark, Sam's Club, Thrifty White, Walgreens and Walmart — will provide Medicare beneficiaries with a range of educational materials on newly available preventive services, as well as savings on prescription drug spending in the "doughnut hole" coverage gap.

A cool trillion dollars. That’s what the generic industry said U.S. patients and public and private health plan payers have saved over the last decade by switching from branded to generic prescription drugs at pharmacy counters.

Looked at another way, the Generic Pharmaceutical Association trumpeted in a study released last Thursday that me-too medicines saved a half-billion dollars a day between 2002 and 2011.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Monday hosted a public meeting to entertain a controversial payment adjustment — called "inherent reasonableness" — in reimbursing for non-mail-order diabetes supplies.