INDIANAPOLIS, IN — While the medication alerts, automated reminders and warnings that pop up in electronic medical records (EMRs) improve patient care in theory, reality can be quite different: Alerts may be viewed as unhelpful noise by providers and rarely lead to medication changes.

WASHINGTON — Veterans with PTSD are more likely than others to be prescribed opioids for post-injury pain, and that can lead to an increase in adverse mental and physical effects, according to a recent VA study.

WASHINGTON — Scope of practice for pharmacists in the private sector needs to be expanded to improve the quality and costs of healthcare delivery, according to a new U.S. Public Health Service report.

WASHINGTON — As government agencies struggle with an ever-increasing number of drug shortages on a national level, pharmacists at VA hospitals deal with the problem — usually very successfully — on a day-to-day basis.

The survival rate for older men receiving colon cancer care and some types of lung cancer in VA was better than similar fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare beneficiaries, according to a study out of Harvard Medical School. ¹

WASHINGTON — What should FDA’s role be in the continuing globalization of the prescription drug market, and should the agency be obligated to consider the health of the American pharmaceutical industry in any decisions it makes?

WASHINGTON — Last year, a “perfect storm” seemed to result in more prescriptions filled by TRICARE’s mail-order pharmacy, and Chief of Pharmaceutical Operations Rear Adm. Thomas McGinnis said he hopes the trend will continue in 2012.

WASHINGTON — Unless FDA knows of a potential drug shortage in advance, the agency is not very effective in preventing or controlling that shortage, according to a recent government report.

An Obama administration proposal that affects drug co-pays in TRICARE has raised
concerns from trade groups representing community pharmacies, which, in 2010, filled
40% of TRICARE prescriptions.

SILVER SPRING, MD — VA is not immune to the effects of drug shortages, and even small problems in the drug pipeline can have serious effects on the department’s ability to get the right pharmaceutical to the right patient, VA officials said at a recent public hearing.