News

Progress has been made in the effort to eliminate infections that commonly threaten hospital patients, but more work is needed to improve patient safety, according to 2 reports released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Low-risk Medicare patients entering home healthcare and receiving a telephonic medication therapy management (MTM) consultation by a pharmacist were three times less likely to be hospitalized within the next 2 months, while those at greater risk saw no benefit, according to a study in Health Services Research.

Antidiabetic drugs are considered to be first-line treatment options for individuals with type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus. It is estimated that type 2 diabetes affects about 24 million persons in the United States. Over time high blood levels can lead to complications such as heart disease, kidney damage, or blindness.1 When it comes to the treatment of type 2 diabetes individuals have the option of using oral hypoglycemic agents, compared to individuals with type 1 diabetes that requires insulin therapy.

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius resigned within a short time after announcing that nearly half a million more people enrolled in the exchanges

FDA has approved naloxone hydrochloride injection (Evzio; Kaléo, formerly Intelliject) for emergency treatment when opioid overdose is known or suspected because of respiratory and/or central nervous system depression.

FDA approved dabigatran etexilate mesylate (Pradaxa, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals) for treatment of deep venous thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) in patients who have been treated with a parenteral anticoagulant for 5 to 10 days, and to reduce the risk of recurrent DVT and PE in patients who have been previously treated.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) found that pregnant women who are at high risk for developing pre-eclampsia can take a low dosage of aspirin daily to help prevent the condition, and this can result in better health outcomes for both the mother and the baby.

Final notice from CMS changes the 1.9% pay cut to 0.4% increase, but that's only half the story

Critically ill patients requiring mechanical ventilation in an intensive care unit (ICU) may be at increased risk of a new psychiatric illness and medication use following hospital release, according to a report published March 19 in JAMA.

Adult Americans lack sufficient information about the safety of vaccines and the risks of failing to vaccinate for highly contagious diseases, according to a survey released by the National Consumers League.

More than 2,000 biomarker tests are available, and the NCCN Biomarkers Compendium contains information designed to support decision-making around the use of such testing in patients with cancer

Exclusive video of Edith Rosato, AMCP CEO on the formulary of the future.

In yesterday’s pipeline update, Chris Peterson, PharmD, a director in the Emerging Therapeutics department at Express Scripts, reviewed the trend in FDA approvals and noted several of the key therapeutic areas with recent generics.

Increasing costs, loss of drug exclusivity and crowded drug classes have prompted the need for better outcomes data to ensure optimization of payer resources

To help manage costs, the panel noted that managed care organizations could move coverage of the new orals into the pharmacy benefit

While Medicare will use blunt instruments to institute payment reform, private payers will be more nimble, causing providers to abandon fee-for-service Medicare in favor of Medicare Advantage.

Compared to a combination of heparin and a glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa inhibitor, use of bivalirudin (Angiomax) is associated with significant absolute reductions in risk for cardiac death and major non-coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) bleeding, according to data presented at the American College of Cardiology 63rd Annual Scientific Session (ACC.14), in Washington, D.C.

Results of 5 phase 3 studies evaluating evolocumab (AMG 145), an investigational fully human monoclonal antibody that inhibits PCSK9, a protein that reduces the liver’s ability to remove low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), or “bad” cholesterol, from the blood, were presented at the American College of Cardiology’s 63rd Annual Scientific Session (ACC.14), in Washington, D.C

Sandoz this week introduced its calcipotriene and betamethasone dipropionate ointment in the United States. It will be the first generic version of Leo Pharma’s Taclonex ointment in the market.

FDA has approved non-prescription esomeprazole 20mg (Nexium 24HR, Pfizer).

A partnership between Catamaran and Health New England achieved a 30% reduction in 30-day readmissions, presented at Session 216 at AMCP

FDA is slowly implementing draft guidelines for bringing biosimilars to market, while states are enacting laws requiring additional notification and record keeping for the products

More evidence-based treatment sequencing must be put into practice to reduce the number of medications patients use on a trial-and-error basis

In 2014 and beyond, pharmacy leaders should watch for more oral drugs and more expanded indications of specialty drugs.

Reducing readmissions has clinical and financial benefit, but key challenges must be addressed

In a study recently published in Nursing 2014, atrial fibrillation patients on warfarin therapy who self-tested their coagulation (via international normalized ratio [INR]) and were remanaged by their clinicians using a “Management by Exception” protocol had better warfarin control than traditional self-testers.1 The protocol, in which patients followed specific clinic-issued, written instructions for managing out-of-range INR self-test results within a predetermined safety range, also benefited clinics by reducing the need for telephone follow-up and related costs.

Poor adherence to prescription drug regimens has long been seen as a substantial roadblock to achieving better outcomes for patients. Data show that as many as half of all patients do not adhere faithfully to their prescriptions, and the result is more than $290 billion spent each year on avoidable medical treatment.

With total healthcare costs in the United States approaching $3 trillion, and costs for a wide range of drugs approaching nearly 15% of healthcare costs overall, or $450 billion, the industry is shifting toward a new emphasis focused on drug formularies.