PFC to Offer Free
Live CE on Medication Errors
On September 14, PFC CEO Michael
Negrete will be delivering a free, 1 hour CE program at the University of Southern California between 6:30pm and
8:00pm. At the conclusion of the talk, Michael will provide a brief overview of
the Foundation’s medication error-related activities, and explain how
pharmacists can help PFC address this growing public health concern. During the
program, light food and refreshments will be generously provided by Ralph’s
Grocery Stores. Anyone who is interested in attending or sponsoring the program
can click here for more
information.
10 Common
Medication Mistakes That Can Kill
This article was published this week
on MSN
Health and Fitness and it contains several quotes from Pharmacy Foundation
CEO Michael Negrete. It was rated #1 under “Most Popular” on MSN for several
days following its publication, and author Melanie Haiken says she was “happy to
bring attention to this important issue.” As the article’s title implies, it
highlights 10 common but preventable errors consumers should watch for,
including mix-ups between drugs which have names that look- or sound-alike, and
accidentally combining medications which exert similar
effects.
Motivating
Consumers to Access Pharmacist Services
Earlier this week, Michael Negrete
attended a meeting with Lynn Rolston and other members of the California Chronic
Care Coalition (CCCC) to design an outreach project for motivating consumers to
participate in interventions that will be part of the Dept. of Managed Health
Care’s Right Care Initiative (RCI). This initiative is designed to improve
Health Plan HEDIS scores relative to blood pressure, lipid, and glucose control.
It is anticipated that one of the major interventions will be the use of
pharmacists as medication managers. The next meeting of the RCI will be held inBerkeley during
the month of October.
PFC Attends CA
Board of Pharmacy Meeting on Rx Label
Regulations
This week, PFC CEO Michael Negrete,
and PFC Director Steve Gray, attended the Board of Pharmacy’s first meeting
regarding proposed new regulations to establish a “standardized,
patient-centered prescription label.” The Board’s development of these new
regulations are the result of the 2007 passing of SB
472, which sought to help decrease medication errors by making critical
information about a medication’s use more accessible and understandable to
patients and caregivers. While some components of the Board’s proposed
regulation met with little or no resistance during the hearing (e.g. clustering
of the 5 critical elements into one area of the label), the pharmacy industry
expressed significant opposition to many other components, such as minimum 12
point font size for the 5 critical elements, the required use of certain phrases
in the sig, and requirements for printing the label in languages other than
English. Due to this opposition, the Board was unable to finalize their
language and will need to meet again next month. You can review the first draft
of the proposed regulation on the Board of Pharmacy’s website.
DMHC Right Care
Initiative Moves Forward – Looks Promising for
Pharmacy
Last week, we told you about PFC’s
participation in a Department of Managed Health Care meeting which was held
to identify
interventions for improving certain health plan HEDIS scores. This effort is a
part of the Department’s Right Care Initiative (RCI), which seeks to improve
patient care related to blood pressure, diabetes, and lipid control. Efforts
put forth by the pharmacy community to inform meeting participants apparently
had a significant impact, as three of the four workgroups at the meeting
recommended moving forward with an MTM demonstration project. We’ll be sure to
provide more information about pharmacy opportunities related to this project as
it becomes available.
National
Quality Forum Endorses Measures to Improve Medication Safety and
Quality
To improve the quality and safety of
medication use in the United
States, the National Quality Forum (NQF)
endorsed 18
measures for managing over the counter and prescription medications. The 18
endorsed measures assess prescribing and use of appropriate medications and
medication adherence, reconciliation, and monitoring. The measures are among the
first to be endorsed for medication management and help to highlight gaps in
measurement and quality improvement for medication use and adherence.
PFC Represents at
DMHC “Right Care Initiative” Meeting
On August 14th, the
Department of Managed Health Care is hosting a meeting of health plan Medical
Directors and other interested parties at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, CA. The purpose of the meeting is to identify
interventions for improving health plan HEDIS scores related to blood pressure,
diabetes, and lipid control. The Department’s goal is to have these
interventions tested in a large-scale demonstration project that will take place
in the San Diego
area. To ensure attendees are aware that California’s pharmacists stand ready
to help as medication experts and one of the most accessible members of a
patient’s health care team, PFC helped arrange for several pharmacists to attend
the meeting including Eleanor Vogt (PFC Director), Rebecca Cupp (PFC Director),
and Grace Kuo (PFC Medication Errors Taskforce Member). PFC also collaborated
with CPhA President-Elect Eric Gupta to draft a letter of support on behalf of
California Pharmacy, and worked with current CPhA President Jeff Goad to obtain signatures on the letter from
every CA school of pharmacy Dean, and the Presidents and Executive Officers of
CPhA, CSHP, the CSHP Research and Education Foundation, the CA Board of
Pharmacy, and of course PFC. A very big THANK YOU goes out to everyone who took
the time to urgently review the letter and sign it on behalf of California
Pharmacy. A copy of the letter can be viewed online. We’ll
be sure to keep you informed of any developments related to this exciting
opportunity.
Senior Drivers
Unaware of Medication Effects
According to a recent report
from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, only 28 percent of adults ages 56-93
knew that their medications could affect their driving ability, and the
awareness of potential side effects decreased with age. Alarmingly, awareness
dropped off around the same age that people increase the number of prescriptions
they take, the paper said. "We as a society are not getting the message to
these older drivers," said Peter Kissinger, President and CEO of the AAA
Foundation. "Health care professionals need to do a better job of educating
patients. Family members of older drivers need to be much more engaged. They
need to find out what medications their relatives are on, talk to a pharmacist
if necessary. It's something that could avoid a
catastrophe."
PFC And CPhA
Launch Online “CE Bank” Beta Site
In an effort to facilitate the
delivery of live CE throughout the state, PFC and CPhA have collaborated on the
development of an online “CE Bank.” The CE Bank provides organizations
interested in hosting live CE programs with links to individuals who can help
make that happen. Whether you are looking for a quality speaker on a particular
topic, assistance promoting your program, or help accrediting a program for CE,
the CE Bank can help. If you are someone who has a lecture you’d like to
deliver to pharmacy professionals in California, the CE Bank can help you too.
Just download a form from the site, type in the information about you and your
program, submit it via email, and have it posted for everyone to see. The CE
Bank can be accessed on CPhA’s website by clicking here.
Not Taking Meds
as Intended Costs $290 Billion/Year
A new report released this week by the New England
Healthcare Institute indicates that patients who
don't take their medications as prescribed have poorer health, more frequent
hospitalizations, a higher risk of death, and increased medical costs amounting
to a combined $290 billion per year. The Boston-based health policy group urges
making the issue part of the national debate on healthcare reform, and
recommends making system-wide changes such as revamping how health care
providers are paid. Rather than reimbursing doctors based on the number of
patients they see, the Institute suggests they instead be paid based on how well
their patients are doing. "If physicians and other care providers are reimbursed
for better health outcomes, we believe that will go a long way toward driving
adherence because providers will have incentives to invest in the time and
resources and counseling and technology and other tools that are really needed
to educate patients and in some cases to change their behavior and to really
move the needle on adherence," said Valerie Fleishman, Executive Director of the
New England Healthcare Institute.