Call for Nominations for PTCB CPhT of the Year

PTCB is seeking nominations for the 2013 PTCB CPhT of the Year. PTCB aims to honor the achievements and recognize the contributions of outstanding CPhTs. PTCB CPhTs with active certifications who have been certified for at least two years are eligible to be nominated. Semi-finalists will be selected by PTCB, and finalists will be chosen through open online voting. The winner will receive a $1,000 honorarium, and be recognized at a ceremony and reception in Washington, DC in late October. Nominations are due by August 28.

PTCB will sponsor travel and accommodations for the winner and finalists to participate in the ceremony in Washington, DC. If you would like to nominate a qualified PTCB CPhT, review the Official Description and then submit your nomination online. When nominating a CPhT, you will be asked to provide information and answer a brief series of questions asking you to describe accomplishments and workplace contributions of the nominee. You will also be asked to provide a quote from the nominee.

PTCB looks forward to receiving your nomination of an outstanding PTCB CPhT. Please go to PTCB’s Facebook page and Like PTCB to keep up on the CPhT of the Year nomination process!

Pharmacists Feeling Pain Over AMA Resolution

A bluntly worded American Medical Association (AMA) resolution that was intended to curb a barrage of retail pharmacy phone calls to physicians requesting additional information about pain medication prescriptions has triggered a backlash from pharmacists, some of whom objected to the resolution’s sharp tone as a departure from the mostly collegial relationships that exist between the two professions.

“It’s a step backward,” said David Craig, PharmD, BCPS, a clinical pharmacy specialist at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, in Tampa, Fla. “I work collaboratively with many physicians who do not agree with this resolution at all. In fact, they welcome any pharmacist’s input, advice and recommendations.”

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Why Tumors Become Drug-Resistant

Aug. 6, 2013 — Cancer drugs known as ErbB inhibitors have shown great success in treating many patients with lung, breast, colon and other types of cancer. However, ErbB drug resistance means that many other patients do not respond, and even among those who do, tumors commonly come back.

A new study from MIT reveals that much of this resistance develops because a protein called AXL helps cancer cells to circumvent the effects of ErbB inhibitors, allowing them to grow unchecked. The findings suggest that combining drugs that target AXL and ErbB receptors could offer a better way to fight tumors, says Doug Lauffenburger, the Ford Professor of Bioengineering, head of MIT's Department of Biological Engineering and an affiliate member of MIT's Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research.

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Surescripts Expands Network to Provide Clinical Messaging Capabilities for Users of Four Health Technology Vendors

ARLINGTON, Va. - JULY 23, 2013 - Surescripts, the nation's largest health information network, continues to expand its reach by enabling four additional health technology vendors to offer clinical messaging capabilities to their users. Surescripts' messaging and communications product for clinical interoperability will now be offered to users of Greenway, Inofile, SCI Solutions, and SOAPware.  These enhanced capabilities will allow healthcare providers to seamlessly communicate and share important clinical information through a secure and integrated messaging service powered by the Surescripts network.

"Clinical messaging enables the safe and timely exchange of electronic health information across rapidly evolving healthcare communities," said Jeff Miller, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Clinical Interoperability for Surescripts.  "We are thrilled to expand our network reach to include these leading organizations and to provide innovative solutions to improve overall care and patient outcomes."

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Pharmacists Mutual Insurance Company Announces New Rates for Individual Pharmacist Professional Liability Coverage – Most Members to Receive Lower Premium

After a comprehensive review of their claims experience, Pharmacists Mutual Insurance Company has begun filing new rates for its Individual Pharmacist Professional Liability coverage.  Thomas Claude, Sr. Vice President of Underwriting and Product Development, commented that “Our overarching goals are to ensure we can honor the promises we make by charging adequate rates, provide excellent service to our members, and minimize as much as possible cross subsidies between members with different risk profiles.”

As a result, Pharmacists Mutual is introducing new rate classes for individuals performing sterile compounding.  Members not performing sterile compounding will receive a modest reduction in premium.  Members performing sterile compounding will see a rate increase to reflect the higher risk inherent in their practice.

The current rate for employed pharmacists in Iowa is $144.  The new rates will be $139 for members not performing sterile compounding and $299 for members engaged in sterile compounding.

The new rates have been approved in Iowa effective August 1 for new policies and October 1 for renewals. The new structure will be rolled out across the country in the next few months.

An exclusion for sterile compounding will be added to policies receiving the lower rate.  Members receiving this rate whose practice includes sterile compounding should contact Pharmacists Mutual and request a policy change.

Pharmacists Mutual expects a significant majority of its members will benefit from the lower rate.

For more information, contact Pharmacists Mutual at 515.295.2461. 

Survey of Community Pharmacies Impact of Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) Contracting and Auditing Practices on Patient Care

The Medicare Prescription Drug Program Integrity and Transparency Act (S. 867) was recently introduced by U.S. Senators Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and would establish reasonable parameters around pharmacy audits and require regular updates to maximum allowable cost (MAC) lists and generic reimbursement in Part D.

While Part D pharmacy audits are necessary to detect fraud and abuse, PBMs are abusing this process by singling out expensive drugs and targeting typographical errors in order to recoup significant amounts of money that are in turn not turned over to the Medicare program. Also, pharmacies are typically forced to sign contracts with Part D plans and/or PBMs without any disclosure of the terms and conditions surrounding reimbursement for generic drugs. Increasingly, pharmacies are being paid below their costs to dispense and the Maximum Allowable Cost (MAC) lists are not updated on a regular basis in order to reflect generic drug spikes.

In order to provide lawmakers with the scope of the challenges faced by independent community pharmacies with regard to audits and MAC pricing in Part D, please respond to the following survey. Your responses will help to bolster NCPA advocacy efforts with regard to S. 867—a bill that would make fundamental changes with regard to audits and MAC pricing in Part D.

Immunization Action Coalition May 2013 Issue of Needle Tips

The Immunization Action Coalition (IAC) has recently released its May 2013 issue of Needle Tips, for healthcare professionals who administer vaccines.  Also available is Vaccinate Adults, a shortened version of Needle Tips,modified for those who work only with adult patients. Both are now available for downloading, printing, and reading.

Here are links directly to the PDFs of the publications: Needle Tips and Vaccinate Adults.

These publications contain ready-to-print educational materials for healthcare professionals and their patients, vaccine news highlights, and IAC’s popular “Ask the Experts” Q&A column with answers by CDC experts Andrew Kroger, MD, MPH; Donna Weaver, RN, MN; and Iyabode Akinsanya-Beysolow, MD, MPH.

Needle Tips and Vaccinate Adults are available exclusively online. Current and past issues of Needle Tips are available at www.immunize.org/nt and Vaccinate Adults at www.immunize.org/va.

To receive direct notification when new issues are published, subscribe at www.immunize.org/subscribe.  On this page, you can also subscribe to IAC’s free weekly email news service, IAC Express, which keeps you up to date on immunization news between issues of IAC’s periodicals.

PQA Endorses Two New Performance Measures

Springfield, VA - June 7, 2013 -  PQA announced the endorsement by its membership of two new performance measures during a vote on May 29th at the PQA Annual Meeting & Best Practices Forum.  The new measures are:  Adherence to Non-Warfarin Oral Anticoagulants Antipsychotic Use in Children Under 5 Years Old The measure, Adherence to Non-Warfarin Oral Anticoagulants, addresses the percentage of patients 18 years and older who met the Proportion of Days Covered (PDC) threshold of 80 percent during the measurement period for the non-warfarin oral anticoagulants apixaban, dabigatran and rivaroxaban.  Adherence to all anticoagulants is important to decrease risk of stroke, pulmonary embolism and DVT.  This measure addresses an important safety concern because adherence to these new drugs cannot be monitored through a surrogate lab value, such as INR.  The half-life of these medications is short (in comparison to warfarin), so adherence to these non-warfarin anticoagulants may be more critical to monitor.

Heparin Label Changes: Are Your Patients At Risk?

To prevent medication errors, the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) revised the label standard for two heparin products: Heparin Sodium Injection, USP and Heparin Lock Flush Solution, USP (including pre-filled heparin flush syringes). As a result, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is requiring manufacturers to change the labels of these products.

Instead of prominently listing the total content of the entire container, previous labels for these multiple-dose vials showed the per-dose volume. To prevent dosing errors, the new labels display the container’s full volume, with the per-dose strength in close proximity. You can learn more and view a side-by-side comparison of the labels in this FDA Drug Safety Communication.

Label images courtesy of FDA

These changes took effect May 1, 2013, so you may already see the label changes in new stock. USP recommends the following steps to protect patients during this label transition:

Community Pharmacy Goes Digital

Alexandria, Va. - The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) and RxWiki, Inc., the leading pharmacy media network, announced today a new partnership that will offer digital solutions to over 23,000 community pharmacies across the country. Through this strategic partnership, NCPA will incorporate RxWiki's Digital Pharmacist™ offering as a new, cost-free benefit for its members. The Digital Pharmacist suite includes website, social media, and mobile solutions for pharmacists to deliver medication information to patients.
"With pharmacists becoming more involved in the delivery and management of patient care, there is a valuable opportunity for greater collaboration with patients to improve overall health outcomes," said NCPA President Donnie Calhoun, RPh, a pharmacy owner in Anniston, Ala.