Category Archives: Pharmacy

CORPUS CHRISTI — A Corpus Christi pharmacy joined others in a federal lawsuit to delay Texas' planned move to managed care for Medicaid services. DeLeon's Pharmacy, a Texas TrueCare pharmacy, partnered with seven parties in the lawsuit against the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. As part of a list of initiatives aimed at controlling costs, the Texas Legislature approved letting the Health and Human Services Commission expand its managed care program March 1. When a Medicaid recipient gets a prescription filled, the pharmacist submits a claim to the state's vendor drug program seeking reimbursement. When the claim is processed, the state pays the pharmacist a dispensing fee and the drug company pays the pharmacist a fee tied to the cost of the medication. The proposed changes would slash the professional dispensing fee — now about $6.50 per prescription — to less than $2, though fees will be negotiated by health plans with pharmacists. The lawsuit claims that the Texas Health and Human Services Commission failed to establish reasonable standards for the reimbursement of pharmacy claims under Medicaid managed care, in violation of existing law. The commission failed to take any action to remedy the inequitable fees being imposed on … Continue reading →

Researchers at MIT have developed what they're hoping will be something of a pharmacy on a chip. Scientists have developed a wirelessly controlled and programmable microchip that can be implanted into the human body to deliver medicine -- and it could replace daily drug injections, according to MIT. "You could literally have a pharmacy on a chip," said MIT professor Robert Langer, who worked on the project with fellow MIT professor Michael Cima. "You can do remote control delivery, you can do pulsatile drug delivery, and you can deliver multiple drugs." [RELATED: New Biochip Gives Blood Test Results in Minutes] The university researchers worked with scientists at MicroCHIPS Inc., a medical product company based in Waltham, Mass. The university reported that the wireless chips were tested delivering an osteoporosis drug called Teriparatide to seven women between the ages of 65 and 70. The test reportedly showed that the chips delivered dosages comparable to injections with no adverse side effects. The chips were reportedly implanted in the patients in a doctor's office using a local anesthetic and left in the patients for four months. According to MIT, the chips also could be used for treating patients fighting cancer and multiple sclerosis. … Continue reading →

COMPETING petitions have been lodged both for and against a proposed in-store pharmacy at a Godalming supermarket. A controversial application by Sainsbury’s, in Woolsack Way, was submitted in December last year, and opinion is divided over what decision should be made. Many are angry at the way the supermarket went about applying for the pharmacy, which was opened without permission in November before a retrospective planning application was submitted. Nearly six weeks later, a spokesman for Sainsbury's confirmed that it would be closing the facility "until the planning application was decided". Store manager Joe Lock said at the time that feedback from customers had been positive, and that research was being done to determine whether the Sainsbury’s pharmacy would have a "detrimental impact on the town centre". Two petitions have now been received by Waverley Borough Council, one of which was created on behalf of the supermarket and features comments and signatures from customers in favour of what they said was a more convenient facility. Another petition has been lodged, signed by 1,133 residents of Godalming and the surrounding villages, all of whom object to the application on the grounds that it will negatively affect other, smaller pharmacies in the … Continue reading →

KITTANNING — The county is looking for a company to provide pharmacy service for its health center — again — but this time it's all about the bottom line rather than a complicated scoring system that made it difficult for the board of commissioners to decide on the best pharmacy. On the advice of the county's solicitor, Chase McClister, the commissioners on Thursday rejected all bids and reopened the bidding process. "The process needs resolved in the fairest way possible," said Commissioner Chairman Dave Battaglia. "We checked with the solicitor and this is the best way." "We were in a time constraint," he said. "It gives all bidders a fresh opportunity." Controversy about the health center's next pharmacy contract started when Mission Pharmacy — a small Kittanning company which has been the provider for the past 10 years — was passed over for Diamond Pharmacy of Indiana on the recommendation of health center officials. David Mansour, health center administrator, recommended awarding the two-year contract to Diamond Pharmacy based on its having the lowest cost determined from a sample list of medical and non-medical services, and on its having the highest point score using criteria that included electronic system, experience, price … Continue reading →

16 February 2012 Last updated at 15:21 ET By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News, Vancouver The futuristic idea that microchips could be implanted under a patient's skin to control the release of drugs has taken another step forward. US scientists have been testing just such a device on women with the bone-wasting disease osteoporosis. The chip was inserted in their waist and activated by remote control. A clinical trial, reported in Science Translational Medicine, showed the chip could administer the correct doses and that there were no side effects. The innovation has also been discussed here at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). One of the designers, Prof Robert Langer from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), claimed the programmable nature of the device opened up fascinating new avenues for medicine. "You could literally have a pharmacy on a chip," he said. "This study used the device for the treatment of osteoporosis. However, there are many other applications where this type of microchip approach could improve treatment outcomes for patients, such as multiple sclerosis, vaccine delivery, for cancer treatment and for pain management." The work is described as the first in-human testing … Continue reading →

Newswise — Robert Beardsley, RPh, PhD, has devoted his entire career to making pharmacists the best health care professionals they can be. In recognition of his outstanding leadership in the field, the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) has made Beardsley its top officer. The ACPE is an autonomous agency that determines the accreditation of U.S. professional degree programs in pharmacy and providers of continuing pharmacy education. It elected Beardsley president of its ruling board of directors for 2012-2013. Beardsley is a professor and vice chair for education in the Department of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy in Baltimore, where he instructs students in the social behavioral aspects of pharmacy, with topics ranging from patient counseling to care of the terminally ill. For the past 15 years, Beardsley has taken part in ACPE's evaluation site visits to various pharmacy schools nationwide. He says, "The visits are designed to improve the quality of programs by evaluating their strengths and weaknesses." The visiting teams then make recommendations to the ACPE board for future action, such as to continue the school as is or to take some other action - from issuing warnings to calling for … Continue reading →

GREENWOOD, Ind. (WISH) - A witness’s good description of a suspect’s getaway vehicle is being credited with helping Greenwood police make an arrest following the robbery of a Walgreens store Wednesday at 700 S. U.S. Highway 31. Police were called to the pharmacy at 10:21 p.m. Wednesday after employees reported a man robbed the store at gunpoint. A witness followed the armed suspect out of the store and was able to provide police with a description of the getaway vehicle. Within minutes, officers located a vehicle matching the same description and attempted to stop it. Police say the driver led them on a short pursuit through the Valle Vista neighborhood just south of Smith Valley Road. The suspect tried to lose the officers by driving through yards and eventually bailed out on foot. Police checked the vehicle’s registration and went to its registered owner’s home where they found a man matching the description of the robber. Police took the man, Jason Matthew Gray, into custody. He was booked into the Johnson County Jail. Continue reading here: Pharmacy heist, chase ends in arrest … Continue reading →

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- An interactive survey taken on an iPad could help pharmacists and patients better use their time together to identify and eliminate harmful drug side effects. Matthew Murawski, a Purdue University associate professor of pharmacy administration, created a tool called Pharmaceutical Therapy-Related Quality of Life (PTRQoL) that presents patients with a five-question checklist that catches up to 60 percent of all known medication side effects. "Many patients do not mention side effects to their doctor or pharmacist because they either don't recognize that they are connected to the medication or they consider them the cost they must pay to keep from being ill," Murawski said. Exponential growth in the traffic at pharmacies has slashed the time pharmacists have with each patient to an average of two minutes - one third of what the counseling time was 20 years ago - and a system was needed to make the discovery of adverse reactions easier and more efficient, he said. "This tool makes the few minutes available for counseling much more rewarding," Murawski said. "The checklist results allow the pharmacist to immediately see side effects the patient is experiencing and target their time to solving these problems and improving … Continue reading →

A Montague pharmacy that planned to use the Todd family name has run into some problems that delayed its opening. Todd’s Family Pharmacy was originally slated to open in mid-January, owner Mike Cook said, but construction and state approval took longer than anticipated, and a legal notice from Walgreens will force a name change. The store will open as Mike’s Family Pharmacy in March, Cook said. He gave an update at the Montague Downtown Development Authority meeting Thursday while asking for a $15,000 loan to help cover the increased costs and lost revenue from the delay. The DDA voted unanimously to approve the loan after a few questions. Cook is a member of the DDA and had received a previous $15,000 loan, but abstained from voting on his loan request. Todd’s Pharmacy had been an institution in Montague since the 1950s. It began as a family business, but was later sold to Oceana County-based Home Town Pharmacy. Cook, who had managed the store and pharmacy for a time, decided to open a new pharmacy in the Montague Foods grocery store, 8718 Water, under a similar name after the original closed in 2011. The name led to a cease and desist … Continue reading →

Quentin Winstine / The Daily Mississippian The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy recently announced that a University of Mississippi faculty member is among 18 recipients of the New Investigator Award. Rahul Khanna, assistant professor of pharmacy administration and assistant professor in the Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, will use the award to study the relationship between the health and well-being of caregivers of autistic children and the emotional and physical stress they experience. “I feel really fortunate and excited to be selected for this award, especially since they are so competitive,” Khanna said. “This is a national award, and there is a lot of prestige associated with it.” Khanna applied for the same award last year but fell short of the selective process. “Thanks to the support and encouragement I received from our department chair, Dr. Donna West-Strum, and other colleagues, I applied for this award with a new research proposal,” he said. Khanna has already started working on the project associated with the award. This is a one-year award that goes until the end of this year and also includes the submission of a mid-year progress report. “Since there are several steps involved in this project, I have … Continue reading →