Content about Pharmacist Society Top Story

November 12, 2012
Obama win solidifies health reform’s future

It looks like health reform is for keeps.

It looks like health reform is for keeps.

November 5, 2012
Taming the diabetes dragon: Pharmacists as front-line warriors for wellness

Here’s a chilling statistic to ponder: Every 24 hours, more than 4,000 adults in the United States are diagnosed with diabetes, and some 200 die from its effects. That’s according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which also reports that diabetes afflicts roughly 26 million Americans and could eventually develop in another 79 million U.S. residents considered to have prediabetes.

Here’s a chilling statistic to ponder: Every 24 hours, more than 4,000 adults in the United States are diagnosed with diabetes, and some 200 die from its effects. That’s according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which also reports that diabetes afflicts roughly 26 million Americans and could eventually develop in another 79 million U.S. residents considered to have prediabetes.

October 29, 2012
As election looms, Americans are set to decide future of health reform

Is America really ready to turn back the clock on healthcare reform? That question will be one of many confronting voters when they stand in the voting booth Nov. 6 and choose between President Obama — effectively endorsing his sweeping, if incomplete, overhaul of the nation’s vastly expensive and semi-dysfunctional health system — or his equally determined rival, Mitt Romney. The former Massachusetts governor has sworn he’ll begin working to kill the Obama era health reforms on his first day in office if elected president.

Is America really ready to turn back the clock on healthcare reform?

That question will be one of many confronting voters when they stand in the voting booth Nov. 6 and choose between President Obama — effectively endorsing his sweeping, if incomplete, overhaul of the nation’s vastly expensive and semi-dysfunctional health system — or his equally determined rival, Mitt Romney. The former Massachusetts governor has sworn he’ll begin working to kill the Obama-era health reforms on his first day in office if elected president.

October 23, 2012
Enlisting pharmacy in better health outcomes

Every day now, it seems, health researchers keep coming up with new reasons why the troubled U.S. healthcare system needs to more effectively engage pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in its urgent search for more accessible and more cost-effective ways to deliver care and boost patients’ lifespans and quality of life.

Every day now, it seems, health researchers keep coming up with new reasons why the troubled U.S. healthcare system needs to more effectively engage pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in its urgent search for more accessible and more cost-effective ways to deliver care and boost patients’ lifespans and quality of life.

October 15, 2012
Ontario’s pharmacists get some overdue respect

Oh, Canada. In some ways, you’re showing your much bigger neighbor in the south the way forward in taking pharmacy to a higher level of practice. And if we’re smart, we’ll pay attention to the results.

Oh, Canada. In some ways, you’re showing your much bigger neighbor in the south the way forward in taking pharmacy to a higher level of practice. And if we’re smart, we’ll pay attention to the results. I’m talking about last week’s announcement by the provincial government of Ontario to expand the role of pharmacists so they can offer services that were previously the exclusive turf of the province’s 25,000 doctors.

October 8, 2012
Crossing the 'retailization' threshold

The U.S. healthcare system's steady migration beyond the exclusive terrain of the physician practices, professional clinics and hospitals — and into the far more accessible and more cost-conscious world of retail pharmacy and health — continues to accelerate. The shift is dramatically expanding access to health services for millions of patients — many of them uninsured or underinsured — and elevating the status of retail clinicians and community pharmacists.

The U.S. healthcare system's steady migration beyond the exclusive terrain of the physician practices, professional clinics and hospitals — and into the far more accessible and more cost-conscious world of retail pharmacy and health — continues to accelerate. The shift is dramatically expanding access to health services for millions of patients — many of them uninsured or underinsured — and elevating the status of retail clinicians and community pharmacists.

October 1, 2012
Personal service trumps mail Rx — again

How do patients want to get their prescription medicines and the advice that comes with them? In person, face to face, with their pharmacist.

How do patients want to get their prescription medicines and the advice that comes with them? In person, face to face, with their pharmacist.

September 24, 2012
Big pharma's future: Life after the patent cliff

It wasn’t that long ago that the branded drug industry was seen as an unstoppable titan of American industry, churning out a steady stream of breakthrough therapies and blockbuster products. But a tsunami of expiring patents on such top selling drugs as Lipitor, Plavix and Seroquel, combined with a slowdown in research and development, flattened the growth curve in recent years and opened the door for the ascendancy of generic drugs.

It wasn’t that long ago that the branded drug industry was seen as an unstoppable titan of American industry, churning out a steady stream of breakthrough therapies and blockbuster products. But a tsunami of expiring patents on such top selling drugs as Lipitor, Plavix and Seroquel, combined with a slowdown in research and development, flattened the growth curve in recent years and opened the door for the ascendancy of generic drugs.

September 17, 2012
DME and the competitive bidding rules: Freezing out mom-and-pops and patients

Will Congress rip away the ability of independent and small chain pharmacies to sell diabetic supplies and durable medical equipment to Medicare patients?

Will Congress rip away the ability of independent and small chain pharmacies to sell diabetic supplies and durable medical equipment to Medicare patients?

That's the essential question being debated by the U.S. House Small Business Subcommittee on Healthcare and Technology. The congressional panel is mulling a proposal from some lawmakers to exempt smaller pharmacy operators — defined as those with 10 or fewer locations — from the new Medicare competitive bidding program.

September 10, 2012
Raising the professional practice bar, one federal health campaign at a time

Pharmacists got another opportunity this month to show their skills and help ease the healthcare system's growing financial crisis and resource shortage. Will it move the needle on true health reform and the expanding pharmacy practice model?

Pharmacists got another opportunity this month to show their skills and help ease the healthcare system's growing financial crisis and resource shortage. Will it move the needle on true health reform and the expanding pharmacy practice model?

September 4, 2012
Patients to PBMs: Give us choices, not mandatory mail!

It's no secret that managed care has steered millions of Americans into ordering their maintenance medications by mail. But pharmacy benefit managers should take note: Most patients don't like the arrangement.

It's no secret that managed care has steered millions of Americans into ordering their maintenance medications by mail. But pharmacy benefit managers should take note: Most patients don't like the arrangement.

August 27, 2012
Practicing at 'the top of their profession': are pharmacists able to fully contribute?

The nation’s vast, multi-trillion dollar healthcare industry churns up plenty of statistics — a constant stream of them, in fact. But here’s one that may get your attention: nearly 70% of people in the United States don't have or don't use a primary care physician.

DENVER — The nation's vast, multi-trillion dollar healthcare industry churns up plenty of statistics — a constant stream of them, in fact. But here's one that may get your attention: nearly 70% of people in the United States don't have or don't use a primary care physician.

August 21, 2012
Chicago's Food Rx provides prescription for healthy eating

The University of Chicago Medicine and Walgreens are teaming up to launch a "Food Rx" initiative that will help people with diabetes improve their eating habits by overcoming two major hurdles when shopping for food: access and affordability, the groups announced Aug. 15.

CHICAGO — The University of Chicago Medicine and Walgreens are teaming up to launch a "Food Rx" initiative that will help people with diabetes improve their eating habits by overcoming two major hurdles when shopping for food: access and affordability, the groups announced Aug. 15.

August 13, 2012
Migration of health care to retail accelerates

If there's any clear trend emerging from the murky waters swirling around a reforming U.S. healthcare system undergoing fundamental transformation, it's the fact that more of that system is migrating from emergency rooms and doctors' offices to retail clinics and pharmacies.

If there's any clear trend emerging from the murky waters swirling around a reforming U.S. healthcare system undergoing fundamental transformation, it's the fact that more of that system is migrating from emergency rooms and doctors' offices to retail clinics and pharmacies.

August 6, 2012
A cool trillion in generic savings: Are the feds taking full advantage?

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.

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.

July 30, 2012
Clampdown on the Rx gray market: Striking a balance amid drug shortages

How can Congress plug the leaks in the pharmaceutical supply chain and dry up the stream of gray market drugs without making the current drug shortage even worse? And can federal regulators shut down gray market profiteers without limiting “the ability of pharmacies to take care of their patients?”

How can Congress plug the leaks in the pharmaceutical supply chain and dry up the stream of gray market drugs without making the current drug shortage even worse? And can federal regulators shut down gray market profiteers without limiting “the ability of pharmacies to take care of their patients?”

July 23, 2012
Walgreens, ESI bury hatchet. Now what?

So Walgreens and Express Scripts have buried the hatchet. The question is, can the nation’s top pharmacy retailer regain the billions of dollars in contracted prescription revenues it ceded to its competitors after the two sides severed relations in January? And, given the way Walgreens has adjusted and reset its growth strategy since then, does it matter that much?

So Walgreens and Express Scripts have buried the hatchet. The question is, can the nation’s top pharmacy retailer regain the billions of dollars in contracted prescription revenues it ceded to its competitors after the two sides severed relations in January? And, given the way Walgreens has adjusted and reset its growth strategy since then, does it matter that much?

July 16, 2012
Will PDUFA break the FDA's generic logjam?

Is the reauthorization of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act “the most important pharmaceutical legislation since the 1984 Hatch-Waxman Act?”

Is the reauthorization of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act “the most important pharmaceutical legislation since the 1984 Hatch-Waxman Act?”

The generic drug industry’s chief spokesman and top lobbyist says so, at any rate. Ralph Neas, president and CEO of the Generic Pharmaceutical Association, called the newly enacted Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act “a remarkable achievement for patients, industry and the FDA.”

July 9, 2012
WAG fires another salvo in bid to outflank ESI

Another quality regional drug chain is about to be a memory.

Another quality regional drug chain is about to be a memory.

July 2, 2012
Health system changing with or without reform

Obamacare will stand.

Obamacare will stand.

The U.S. Supreme Court last week upheld the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, including the notion that individuals could face federal tax penalties if they failed to purchase some level of health insurance by 2014. That could put as many as 40 million uninsured Americans into the coverage rolls — and potentially into prescription drug coverage — by the time the health-reform law is fully enacted.

June 25, 2012
Thinking globally: Will it work for WAG?

Is Walgreens’ decision to buy a major stake in European drug store giant Alliance Boots a good idea?

Is Walgreens’ decision to buy a major stake in European drug store giant Alliance Boots a good idea?

June 18, 2012
Texas indies decry shift to Medicaid managed care

If you're an independent pharmacist trying to make ends meet in the state of Texas, good luck.

If you're an independent pharmacist trying to make ends meet in the state of Texas, good luck. A shift in the way the Lone Star State pays for Medicaid — as enacted by Texas legislature — is hammering many pharmacies, according to a June 14 report from the Texas Tribune, as reported in the New York Times.

June 11, 2012
Enact PDUFA, but leave restrictions out of it

With overwhelming support in both the U.S. House and Senate and the strong backing of President Obama, a reauthorization of the landmark Prescription Drug User Fee Act that funds new drug application reviews at the Food and Drug Administration is a near certainty, probably within days or weeks at most. But one amendment to the Senate's version of PDUFA reauthorization, contained in the Food and Drug Administration Safety Innovation Act, could threaten both retail pharmacies and the patients they serve.

With overwhelming support in both the U.S. House and Senate and the strong backing of President Obama, a reauthorization of the landmark Prescription Drug User Fee Act that funds new drug application reviews at the Food and Drug Administration is a near certainty, probably within days or weeks at most. But one amendment to the Senate's version of PDUFA reauthorization, contained in the Food and Drug Administration Safety Innovation Act, could threaten both retail pharmacies and the patients they serve.

June 4, 2012
Americans don't understand health reform? No kidding!

Calling all pharmacists: If ever there was a need for pharmacy-based patient education, that time is now. Patients will need your help to unravel the complex set of regulations spawned by health reform.

Calling all pharmacists: If ever there was a need for pharmacy-based patient education, that time is now. Patients will need your help to unravel the complex set of regulations spawned by health reform.

May 29, 2012
Pharmacist interventions and patient adherence

The most effective way to get patients to stick with their medication regimens all the way through their therapy, it turns out, is to give the job to community pharmacists. That means giving them time and adequate compensation to do what they do best: counsel and monitor patients, one-on-one.

The most effective way to get patients to stick with their medication regimens all the way through their therapy, it turns out, is to give the job to community pharmacists. That means giving them time and adequate compensation to do what they do best: counsel and monitor patients, one-on-one.

Behind the common-sense conclusion that pharmacists can be the most effective resource for improving patients' drug adherence rates is a new study from CVS Caremark.