Search

Inside the trunk of Lee Joffee's car is a suitcase packed with combat boots and a camouflage uniform, neatly folded and waiting to be worn. He's not in the military. [...]

They're forces to be reckoned with. They're the stars of their class. They re the independent pharmacies nominated by wholesalers in response to Drug Topics' 2008 Call for Excellence in [...]

Introduction Hypertension affects over 50 million Americans. It is a risk factor for heart disease, stroke, and kidney disease. The incidence of hypertension increases with age, but the onset most [...]

Every year, a multitude of large-scale natural and human-made disasters strike communities across the United States and throughout the world. Recent notable examples include Hurricane Katrina in 2005, torrential rainfall [...]

Would you believe it? Automated machines, robots, and kiosks will assume most, if not all, of the prescription dispensing duties over the next 25 years. Well, that's what almost 50% [...]

Public and private payers seemingly intent on wringing the last bit of profit from drug distribution have forced pharmacy to a "critical juncture," according to Bruce Roberts, R.Ph., executive VP/CEO, [...]

Infectious diseases affect very old and young patients more severely than the general population, but the prescription of proper antibiotic regimes require great care and awareness of potential complications. This has become even more complex as new medications have been introduced. The development of drug-resistant bacteria can be minimized by proper care regimes and careful drug selection. The article includes a test and answer form., Introduction Since the 1950s, the few available antimicrobial compounds have evolved into a broad spectrum of choices. Initially, the newer agents developed from the need for an extended breadth of [...]

Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) say that they are increasingly taking on an active role in reducing overall healthcare costs for companies while offering advice on how to maintain a high level of care at the same time. Lowering prescription drug costs is still the number one priority for most PBMs, but companies are also asking them to take a proactive role in sophisticated health management strategies. A severe consolidation of PBMs is expected to occur soon, as the organizations struggle for prime reimbursement rates and cost-cutting measures., As pharmacy benefit managers face ever-increasing demands to lower drug costs for their clients, the resultant thinning of profit margins is forcing them to reinvent themselves. The focus is no [...]

A survey indicates that pharmacists need to improve their services to meet the requirements of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990. They are required to screen for potential problems with prescriptions, offer medication counseling, keep patient profiles, and document prescribed actions. They need to offer to discuss common drug topics with customers, develop presentation aids, overcome barriers which hinder communication with customers, and develop a general plan which can be adapted to individual customers., Introduction Patient counseling refers to the process whereby a pharmacist listens to a patient's concerns about his/her drug therapy and offers education appropriate to the patient's needs. The purpose of [...]

Pharmacists and drug companies were once allies, but traumatic healthcare-system changes have put them at odds. Agreements between healthcare payers and drug makers are going to give consumers and physicians fewer choices and pharmacists lower profits, securities analyst Hemant K. Shah explained. Some drug industry representatives have communicated a desire to reconcile with pharmacists, however., If East and West can link up 245 miles above the Earth, hurtling through space at almost five miles a second, why not pharmacy and industry? It may take the [...]

The home infusion market is growing in the pharmaceutical industry, employing up to 12,000 nurses and pharmacists. The number of elderly patients is growing along with the number of patients with such diseases as AIDS, and federal health-care reform could also help the home infusion market grow. However, this health care area requires special education and training. In addition, the rate of insurance reimbursements has decreased in the 1990s., With fierce concentration, one pharmacist carefully prepares an intravenous bag under a laminar flow hood. In the background, another R.Ph. skilled in home infusion discusses a patient's drug regimen with [...]

The Food and Drug Administration's 'Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalents,' the Orange Book, is a useful guide for pharmacists to making generic substitution decisions. The Orange Book was first published in Oct 1980 to meet the growing need for an authoritative guide to product selections, brought about by the repeal of antisubstitution laws and the drive to reduce health care costs., The issue of generic substitution is not a new phenomenon to pharmacy practice. Generic substitution has been a part of pharmacy for many years now. Today, all states allow pharmacists [...]

Many young pharmacists view ownership of an independent pharmacy as a distant dream. The high cost of borrowing the initial capital, lack of sufficient management experience, and a fear of [...]

In the past, pharmacists played a somewhat limited role in the care and treatment of brain cancer. But all that is changing. According to the Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of [...]

The changing market for over-the-counter drugs offers opportunities for pharmacists to expand their professional services and sales. Pharmacists should think of new strategies to offer patient counseling through various media. Information on the selection and use of nonprescription drugs can help build customer loyalty and repeat sales. The nonprescription drug market has evolved from basic drugs such as aspirin to include drugs for managing more complex ailments. The next wave of over-the-counter drugs may focus on treating long-term or chronic illnesses., (Editor's Note: The following article was written by Randy P. Juhl, Ph.D. A former chairman of the Food & Drug Administration's Nonprescription Drug Advisory Committee, Juhl is dean of the [...]

It's one of the things I've always dreamed of doing and I accomplished it last October, two months before I turned 60. As an admitted adventure travel junkie, I reached [...]

The handwriting is on the wall. With pharmacy being reimbursed at a low and slow rate under Medicare Part D and severe cutbacks expected in the payment for generic drugs [...]

There is a long paper trail that links a lower rate of adverse drug events to discharge counseling by pharmacists for hospitalized patients. But most health systems don't take advantage [...]

Iowa pharmacists are being paid to manage the medications of patients at high risk of therapy problems in a one-year collaborative practice pilot funded by the Community Pharmacy Foundation (CPF). [...]

Early in his pharmacy career Victor Perini, R.Ph., hadn't planned on becoming a hospital executive. But as he reflects on his current position as VP of operations at Methodist University [...]

Have you ever worked in a setting where you felt you were set up to fail as a pharmacist-a place where there was a large gap between the standards and [...]

Even though the law was adopted two years ago, many pharmacists are just now waking up to the fact that there's a Medicare prescription drug benefit heading straight for their [...]

A new type of pharmacy benefit manager has sprung up, preaching transparent pricing. The ideal is to disclose ingredient and dispensing costs, rebates, discounts, and all other financial details to [...]

Q: A clinical pharmacist colleague remarks to you, "Dispensing pharmacists could lose their jobs with all the changes coming in pharmacy law," and says he's glad it won't affect him. [...]

By the year 2015, pharmacists will be the healthcare professionals responsible for providing patient care that ensures optimal medication therapy outcomes, according to the best hunch of the Joint Commission [...]

Pharmacists play a critical role in ensuring patient safety. They detect and report medication errors, counsel patients, and educate other healthcare personnel. But two common communication problems--lack of a shared [...]

Picture this scenario: A state employee health plan switches patients from an Rx to an over-the-counter (OTC) drug. Pharmacists help expedite the switch without taking a hit to their pharmacy's [...]

Pharmacists, along with physicians and politicians, top the list of barriers keeping emergency contraception out of easy reach. That's the news from the annual meeting of the American College of [...]

Q: You receive a faxed prescription for a patient you've never met. After reviewing records and speaking with the patient's family, you are unable to reach the prescriber. You have [...]

Are hospitalized heart failure patients getting adequate discharge instructions, such as counseling on diet, exercise, medication management, and smoking cessation? Not according to the results of a new study released [...]

Q: An impatient senior citizen pushes several OTCs and his credit card across the pharmacy counter. The pharmacist begins to say, "The side effects of this drug include ..." and [...]

Deadly medication errors related to patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) by proxy often result from the best of intentions, noted Rick Croteau, M.D., executive director for strategic initiatives for the Joint Commission [...]

Busy behind the pharmacy counter, many pharmacists may think they can't enlist in the fight against increasingly bold and sophisticated counterfeiters, but there are ways they can make it tougher [...]

Instead of merely complaining about the tactics of pharmacy benefit managers, the National Community Pharmacists Association is working on a game plan to take the Rx drug benefit play away [...]

Less than 24 hours after Chiron Corp. announced it wouldn't be shipping its 48 million doses of Fluvirin influenza virus vaccine to the U.S. market, rumors of price gouging began [...]

Community pharmacists got mixed news last month pertaining to their fight to reign in the growing power of pharmacy benefit managers. On the federal level, independents have achieved limited success [...]

Supermarket pharmacists attending the 2004 Supermarket Pharmacy Conference last month in Chicago not only had an opportunity to attend their own professional conference, but were also treated to a behind-the-scenes [...]

Pharmacists who divert drugs, are blatantly incompetent, abuse controlled substances, or thumb their noses at the rules will most likely feel the full regulatory weight of their state pharmacy board. [...]

Steering a 34-ft motor home through the remote mountains of North Carolina, pharmacist Martha Lyon has navigated bumpy roads, encountered some bad drivers, and endured inclement weather to get her [...]

Pharmacy groups are reacting with dismay to new Medicare regulations that they say severely shortchange pharmacists for providing anticancer and related drugs. Experts say the new rules, released by the [...]

It's no wonder pharmacists are concerned about who speaks for them. They believe that the chorus of voices claiming to speak for their profession has led to a latter-day Tower [...]

More than six out of 10 Pennsylvania pharmacists cannot fill a prescription for emergency contraception (EC) the day it is requested, according to a phone survey. The survey was conducted [...]

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to own a radio station and play your favorite music for people around the world? Well, George Kloda, R.Ph., did, and [...]

Polypharmacy raises healthcare costs for patients and health plans. Prescribing too many drugs, the wrong drugs, or the wrong drug dosages is usually expensive and often dangerous. When patients add [...]

Michael Hebert is having fun again in his Louisiana pharmacy. He can fill 300 prescriptions a day without breaking a sweat. Every day he's pulling in as many as 15 [...]

Counseling. Information. Low-risk introductory products. Permanent new-product sections. These are the most important in-store strategies pharmacists can implement in order to maximize the potential for merchandising over-the-counter (OTC) and Rx-to-OTC [...]

Pharmacy benefit managers owned by chain drugstores have a tough row to hoe. On the one hand, as pharmacies, chains must strive to get the best reimbursement they can. On [...]

Looking for a creative way for a pharmacist to be in two places at once, Nebraska pharmacy leaders turned not to the techno gadgets of telepharmacy but to the simple [...]

A major goal for many hospitals these days is to find the ideal system to document pharmacists' clinical activities, as well as keep track of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and [...]

The National Community Pharmacists Association is losing its patience with pharmacy benefit managers and has launched a campaign against the influence PBMs exert on independent community pharmacies. Bruce Roberts, executive [...]