Last week NACDS RxIMPACT facilitated a record-breaking 20 pharmacy tours—a 34 percent increase in tours hosted in just one week. This week, NACDS RxIMPACT hosted 10 in-district activities, bringing the 2017 tally to 90.
The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) released a new report, the Internet Drug Outlet Identification Program Progress Report for State and Federal Regulators: August 2017, which discusses how illegal online pharmacies exploit the American perception that Canadian pharmacies provide safe medication at a lower cost.
Historic flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey has left widespread damage in southeastern Texas. Here are resources for pharmacists.
In response to Hurricane Harvey, which has brought devastating flooding to southeastern Texas, NACDS chain and associate member companies have mobilized--in collaboration with public health partners and emergency preparedness authorities--to meet the ongoing needs of people in Texas affected by the storm.
In response to Hurricane Harvey in Texas, NACDS partner Healthcare Ready is coordinating with federal, state, local officials, nonprofits and shelters to ensure those affected by Hurricane Harvey can access the medical supplies they need. The group has also activated Rx Open, an online mapping tool which shows open pharmacies in Texas and Louisiana.
NACDS RxIMPACT hosted a record-breaking 20 pharmacy tours this week alone—a 34 percent increase in tours hosted in just one week.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen's (D-MD) staff members toured a Giant Pharmacy in Rockville, Md. today as part of the NACDS RxIMPACT program and the experience was positive for both Van Hollen's team and the Giant Pharmacy team.
Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) got a chance to learn about pharmacy value and accessibility during a tour of the Safeway pharmacy in Fort Collins, Colo., as part of the NACDS RxIMPACT grassroots advocacy program.
NACDS print ads, and Coalition radio and digital ads, are running in selected Congressional Districts this August to tout the Pharmacy and Medically Underserved Areas Enhancement Act.
You may have seen the news this week about an interim report of the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis. The Commission – chaired by Governor Chris Christie – included among its initial recommendations one that it describes as “first and most urgent”: declaring a national emergency on this issue. The Commission explained that bringing this type of intensity to the effort would have specific ramifications for funding and resource allocation, as well as awakening every American to the risks associated with drug abuse and addiction.
Pharmacy – including actions of NACDS specifically – maintains a long-standing commitment to developing and implementing solutions on this extremely challenging topic. In July, NACDS submitted comments to the Commission that describe this commitment, as well as specific views on new opportunities to improve the nation’s approach to addiction, abuse and diversion.
This is a topic on which NACDS has been engaged for a long time, and with tremendous concern for patients and for the pharmacy teams who serve them in every neighborhood across the country. There is often talk of the moment of truth that occurs at a pharmacy, when an individual arrives to have a prescription filled for a controlled substance. At that moment of truth, pharmacies and pharmacists often are caught in the middle of highly complex issues related to patient care, healthcare access, addiction, abuse, diversion.
In May 2015, an NACDS op-ed in the Tampa Bay Times put it this way: “The pharmacy counter … is where the patient ultimately is receiving either a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ as to whether the prescription will be filled. However, pursuing a zero tolerance for drug abuse and a 100-percent commitment to patient care — at the same time — requires collaboration that reaches far beyond that interaction between a patient and a pharmacist.”
Whatever policy changes are ultimately made – with the active engagement of the pharmacy community and with diverse stakeholders – we are urging that they be pursued with a new level of national curiosity that gets to the essence of these complex issues like never before. It has been said that one needs to ask [ READ MORE ]
