Pharmacy

DEA Helps Distributors Avoid Oversupplying Opioids

The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) continues to work with its over 1.7 million registrants to combat the United States opioid epidemic and recently added a new feature to the ARCOS Online Reporting System that will assist drug manufacturers and distributors comply with their regulatory obligations under the Controlled Substances Act. Under current DEA regulations, distributors…

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Buprenorphine: Prescribing by Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants

Pharmacists are uniquely positioned to assist in medication assisted treatment programs and need to be aware of a change in prescribing rights regarding buprenorphine for maintenance or detoxification treatment of opioid additions. Section 303 of the Comprehensive Addition and Recovery Act (CARA) was signed into law on July 22, 2016, and made several changes to…

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AG Sessions Announces DEA Surge to Combat Prescription Drug Diversion

Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced this week that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will surge Special Agents, Diversion Investigators and Intelligence Research Specialists over the next 45 days to focus on pharmacies and prescribers who are dispensing unusual or disproportionate amounts of controlled substances. The DEA plans to analyze the data from 80 million transaction…

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New Nebraska Law Requires All Prescription Drugs to be Reported to PDMP

On January 1, 2018, Nebraska became the first state to require all dispensers to report all prescription drugs dispensed for an enhanced medication history, as required by Neb. Rev. Stat. 71-2454(2).  The Nebraska Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) is a statewide tool for prescribers and dispensers that collects dispensed prescription information and serves as a…

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New York Pharmacists Allowed to Give Flu Shots to Children After Executive Order

Flu season typically runs from October through May with peaks seen in February. However, flu cases nationwide continue to increase at alarming rates. New York, like Florida, recently enacted legislation that addresses flu testing and administration by authorized pharmacists. Last week, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a state disaster emergency and issued an executive order intending…

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North Carolina STOP Act Looks to Address the Opioid Crisis

North Carolina’s Strengthen Opioid Misuse Prevention Act (STOP Act) sets limits on certain ‘targeted controlled substance” prescriptions for acute and post surgical pain and seeks to address the opioid abuse epidemic in North Carolina by changing the way certain controlled substances are prescribed. According the the STOP Act, practitioners, including physician assistants and nurse practitioners,…

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Patient Choice of Pharmacy Bill Introduced in the Colorado Legislature

House Bill 18-1097 (HB 1097), also referred to as the Patient Choice of Pharmacy, is a bipartisan sponsored bill that focuses primarily on patient choices when filling prescription medications and is aimed at protecting small, rural pharmacies that may be closer to patients. HB 1097, in its current form, states that an insurance carrier or…

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FDA’s 2018 Priorities for Drug Compounding

After the fungal meningitis outbreak of 2012 that killed 76 patients and injured hundreds more, Congress passed the Drug Quality and Security Act (DQSA), which, in part, tried to bring more compounding pharmacies, traditionally overseen by state boards of pharmacy, under FDA oversight. The DQSA created a new entity, called ‘outsourcing facilities,’ that could register…

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Will Pharmacists be able to Test for the Flu?

With flu cases reportedly quadrupling this year as compared to 2017, Florida lawmakers proposed a bill that would give Florida pharmacists the ability to perform the rapid flu test and have a diagnosis in approximately 15 minutes. Florida House Bill 431, if passed, would take some of the burden off doctors as patients who suspect…

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