Representatives Cox and Carter Introduce Bipartisan STOP METH Bill

February 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Rep. Cox will speak on this topic at the MPA’s 2012 Legislative Day, April 11th!

Legislation Bolsters Stop-Sale System & Reduces Annual Purchase Limits

JEFFERSON CITY — State Reps. Stanley Cox, R-Sedalia, and Chris Carter, D-St. Louis, today introduced bipartisan legislation designed to significantly strengthen Missouri’s anti-meth laws. The STOP METH legislation (HB 1328) enacts tougher penalties for criminals in possession of pseudoephedrine (PSE), significantly reduces the monthly and annual purchase amount of cold medications that contain PSE, requires that anyone convicted of a drug related offense obtain a prescription for pseudoephedrine medicines, and enhances the proven stop-sale system already in effect in Missouri.

“Methamphetamine is a scourge on our communities and real-time, stop-sale technology is the best solution for reducing meth labs,” said Cox, chairman of the Missouri House Judiciary Committee.  “Our bipartisan anti-meth legislation creates tougher penalties for criminals and significantly restricts the amount of cold medications with PSE that can be purchased in a month and year.  Our solution will help stop the criminals while ensuring honest, law-abiding citizens can access the cold medications they need without a prescription.”

“I’m pleased to join with Representative Cox in introducing this tough anti-meth bill,” said Carter.  “Making popular cold medications prescription-only is not the answer.  Our legislation protects legal access for law-abiding Missourians, while cutting off access for the criminals with tougher penalties and restrictions to help law enforcement track them down and keep meth off our streets.”

To read this full story, click here.

Filed Under: Pharmacy Tagged With: , , ,

A prescription for a tantrum

February 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

(Shutterstock.com)

Does refilling a prescription need to be class warfare?

By KEVIN HORRIGAN | St. Louis Post-Dispatch 

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. When I got sick, my mom got me medicine at a local drugstore by handing a nice man a prescription and paying him a few bucks.

When I became a man, I put away childish things. When I got sick, I handed my prescription to a pharmacist’s assistant in a white coat at a chain drugstore. Usually my insurance paid most of the cost.

Now that I am a middle-aged man, I have resumed childish tantrums. These occur whenever I have to refill a prescription. Unless it’s something short-term like an antibiotic, I have to go online to order a 90-day supply. If there are no refills remaining, I must try to get in touch with the doctor.

Or maybe there’s a billing snafu, some holdup among me, my health insurer, my health insurer’s pharmacy benefits manger and my health insurer’s flexible spending account manager, which wants more documentation than a French passport inspector.

My theory: They deliberately make things hard to discourage you from using your benefits.

To read the full column, click here.

Filed Under: Pharmacy Tagged With:

2012 Legislation to Watch

February 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Today we’re listing some legislation we’re keeping track of during the 2012 legislative session which began at the beginning of January and will run through mid-May.  You will only find Missouri House bills on the list as the Senate hasn’t sent many bills through to committees while the House bills have been on the calendar in committees or are important to our legislative activities.

House Bills the MPA is Following

HB 1075 – Pharmacy Inventory Requirement Bill – Sponsor:  Rep. David Sater 
Summary:  Prohibits a licensed pharmacy from being required to carry or maintain in inventory any specific prescription or nonprescription drug or device.
MPA Position:  Support

HB 1193 – Prescription Monitoring Program – Sponsor:  Rep. Keith Frederick
Summary:  Establishes the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Act to monitor the prescribing and dispensing of controlled substances
MPA Position:  Support

HB 1328 – Pseudoephedrine Products – Sponsor:  Rep. Stanley Cox
Summary:   Changes the laws regarding the sale and possession of controlled substances
MPA Position:  Support

HB 1372 – Prescription Monitoring Program – Sponsor:  Rep. Caleb Jones
Summary:  Changes the laws regarding the dispensing of controlled substances and establishes the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Act
MPA Position:  Support

HB 1450 – Pharmacy Benefit Managers – Sponsor:  Rep. Mike Bernskoetter
Summary:  Changes the laws regarding the electronic transmission of prescriptions and pharmacy benefit managers
MPA Position:  Support 

HB 1563 – Legend Drugs – Sponsor:  Rep. David Sater
Summary:  Allows a pharmacy to sell, purchase, or trade legend drugs to other pharmacies under certain conditions
MPA Position:  Support

HB 1581 – Pharmacy Benefit Managers, Mail Order – Sponsor:  Rep. Steve Hodges
Summary:  Requires all health carriers and health benefit plans providing prescription drug coverage to allow insureds to fill mail order prescriptions at either participating mail order pharmacies or retail
MPA Position:  Support

If you have any questions about the legislation and where any of these bills are in the process, please direct them to Ron Fitzwater via email to ron@morx.com.  Also, if you’re interested in being involved in the MPA’s Legislative Committee Legislative conference calls, let Robyn Silvey know by sending her an email, robyn@morx.com (You have to be an active MPA member to participate in these calls).

Filed Under: missouri pharmacy, missouri pseudoephedrine legislation, morx, pbm, Pharmacy, pharmacy benefits manager, pharmacy legislation, pse legislation, pseudoephedrine electronic tracking, pseudoephedrine prescription Tagged With: , , ,

Vaccines for Adults: What You Should Know

February 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

By: PAMELA BABCOCK | WebMD

Vaccines aren’t just for kids. Here’s why grown-ups need them, too.

Think of vaccines and you might envision teary-eyed kids at the doctor’s office or flu clinic getting a cartoon character bandage on their arm after getting a shot. But there are plenty of reasons adults should get vaccines too.

The vaccines you need as an adult depend on everything from your age and lifestyle to high-risk medical conditions, travel plans, and which shots you’ve had in the past.

“Vaccination is as important for adults as it is for children, and yet many adults are not optimally vaccinated,” says William Schaffner, MD, president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases and chairman of the department of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville.

Although there has been a slight increase in adult vaccination rates in recent years, Melinda Wharton, MD, MPH, deputy director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization & Respiratory Diseases, says “there clearly is a gap in getting adults vaccinated.”

You can keep track of vaccines you may need as an adult with an online CDC scheduling tool or by taking a CDC quiz. You can also ask your doctor or your pharmacist because in many states they are licensed to give adult vaccines.

12 Reasons

The best reasons to get vaccinated are to protect yourself and to protect the people around you. The details:

1. You may no longer be protected. You may have received a vaccine as a child. But some vaccines require a booster if you want to remain protected. Protection may not be life-long for diseases like pertussis (whooping cough) or tetanus, which is usually given with the diphtheria toxoid. The CDC recommends a booster for the latter every 10 years after an initial childhood series.

2. Getting vaccines helps protect your kids — especially babies too young for vaccines. Whooping cough vaccines are recommended for people who have contact with young babies. The same is true for the flu vaccine. There’s no flu vaccine licensed for infants younger than 6 months old. “We call that creating a cocoon of protection around the baby,” Schaffner says.

3. Some vaccines are just for adults. The shingles vaccine is a good example. Shingles (also known as herpes zoster or zoster) is caused by a reactivation of the chickenpox virus. It can cause a severe and painful skin rash. The risk for shingles increases as a person ages. The vaccine is recommended for adults 60 and older.

For the full story, click here.

Filed Under: Pharmacy

APhA Releases New Edition of Popular NAPLEX Review

January 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Contact: Michelle Fritts

WASHINGTON, DC – The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) just published the 9th edition of The APhA Complete Review for Pharmacy, a reference widely used by student pharmacists and new graduates to prepare for the North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination (NAPLEX®). The book is also a popular benefit of APhA membership, provided at no charge, except for a $10 shipping and handling fee, to thousands of final-year student members upon request.

The 9th edition features a three new chapters—Drug Information, Biostatistics and Clinical Trial Design—plus updated information on drug approvals, indications, and formulations. About half of the book’s 41 chapters focus on drug therapy for chronic and common diseases, the heart of today’s NAPLEX. Other features of the book are more than 900 practice exam questions and answers, plus explanations that reinforce key learning points; and 13 appendices providing a broad range of useful information including normal laboratory values, drugs in renal and hepatic failure and the top 200 prescription and over-the-counter products.

The APhA Complete Review for Pharmacy, 9th edition (ISBN 978-1-58212-162-8; softbound; 996 pages; $65.95 [$52.95 for APhA members]), was edited by Dick R. Gourley, PharmD, and James C. Eoff III, PharmD. Gourley is Dean Emeritus at the University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy, Memphis, and Interim President of the University of Tennessee Research Foundation. Eoff is Executive is Interim Dean at the College of Pharmacy. The more than 40 chapter authors all are current or former faculty members at the college.

A current, one-volume compilation of pharmacy knowledge, The APhA Complete Review for Pharmacy is also a popular reference for busy practitioners wishing to stay current and for those returning to the field after a hiatus. The book may be ordered online atwww.pharmacist.com/shop_apha or by phone by calling 800-878-0729.

The content is also available through APhA’s digital subscription product, PharmacyLibrary, www.pharmacylibrary.com.  In addition to the searchable book, PharmacyLibrary features a NAPLEX Review self-testing functionality, using all 900 questions from the book plus an additional 700 practice exam questions exclusive to PharmacyLibrary.

About the American Pharmacists Association
The American Pharmacists Association, founded in 1852 as the American Pharmaceutical Association, is a 501 (c)(6) organization, representing more than 62,000 practicing pharmacists, pharmaceutical scientists, student pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and others interested in advancing the profession. APhA, dedicated to helping all pharmacists improve medication use and advance patient care, is the first-established and largest association of pharmacists in the United States.

Filed Under: Pharmacy Tagged With: , , ,
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