Proposed Pharmacy Bill Could be Big Win for Small Pharmacies

Recently, US Representative Tom Marino held a press conference in order to introduce legislation that could be considered a big victory for small, independent pharmacies. The HR-1946 bill empowers independent pharmacies in negotiations with pharmacy benefit managers so that they can negotiate the most important terms that affect prescription drug prices that most consumers and insurers are unaware of. The bill would allow independent pharmacies to collectively combine in order to negotiate better deal so that buying in less volume would no longer be a deterrent. Marino has six co-sponsors and continues to seek more as of June 20. He plans on talking with GOP leadership in order to get the bill to move forward and hopes that it will come to the House floor for a vote this year.

Marino views this legislation as a win for everyone. It would not cost the government any money, and would greatly benefit the more than 23,000 independent community pharmacies in the United States that currently account for 300,000 American jobs. By allowing the community pharmacies to work together as a collective unit, they are able to better negotiate prices with pharmacy benefit managers instead of just receiving take it or leave it contracts. This would allow the community pharmacies to pass down the benefits and savings to the consumers, as they would no longer have to base their pharmacy preferences on a financial reason but rather where they feel the best about going for their prescription drug needs.

It will be interesting to follow this legislation through the House and see if it is approved, and also how if does effect the drug prices at local pharmacies around the country in the future.

Contact Healthcare Consultants -Pharmacy Business Solutions for help with your pharmacy planning, pharmacy start up, pharmacy design or interim pharmacy management.

Technology Advances Give You Deals on Prescription Drugs

More and more pharmacy customers around the nation are taking advantage of Zip-Price, a process available online through ZipcodeMeds, searches discounted prescription prices at neighborhood retail pharmacies. Zip-Price uses a multi-pronged price search that examines both published discount lists and unpublished secondary deals. It also can generate customized price requests that will pop up on multiple pharmacy web pages in order to spur competitive price quotes, allowing the customer to lock in the best deal online before they ever travel to a pharmacy.

No account is needed to use Zip-Price, instead customers just need to enter their 5 digit location ZIP code and the name of any medication for which they have a legal prescription. Andy Keesler, a member of the Zip-Price development team, explained the system as similar to the method an industry insider would use to find the best deal on prescription drugs. He explains that due to the continuous changes in price listings, what was the best deal last week might not be the best deal this week.

If the program does not return results in its discount program search, it automatically goes to a secondary deal pathway, searching for short-term deals or any local pharmacy listings that stand out. When pharmacies receive these sort of requests for information they evaluate them quickly and respond with an exact quote that expires by a set time, and the customer is able to select an exact price, making the system simple and convenient for both the customer and pharmacy.

The company also recommends that consumers use manufacturer coupons as often as possible, as this could mean getting expensive medication for free. ZipcodeMeds does its best to find these deals for you as well. Some of its services, like Zip-Price, are available nationwide while others are being introduced in a number of cities over this summer.

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Links Found Between High-Dose Simvastatin and Myopathy

Recently, Merck announced that it would be making changes to the prescribing information for its drugs Zocor (simvastatin) and Vytorin (ezetimine/simvastatin) after recent studies linked it to an increased risk of myopathy, including rhabdomyolysis. The increased risk of myopathy was found in those who were using simvastatin 80 mg compared with both lower doses of the drug and other similarly effective statin therapies. Risk was found to be highest during the first year of treatment with noticeable decreases after. Drug interaction was also considered in the new prescribing information, and concommitnent use of strong cytochrome P450 3A4 inhibitors, gemfibrozil, cyclosporine, and danazol is contradicted. The dose caps for other drugs used in conjunction with simvastatin were changed as well, with amiodarone, verapamil, and diltiazem not being used in excess of 10 mg and amlodipine and ranolazine not being used in more than 20 mg doses. The prescribing information also recommends that the 80 mg doses of simvastatin be restricted to those patients who have already been taking the dose chronically, for more than 12 months, and have shown no evidence of muscle toxicity.

These changes were made after findings from the Study of Effectiveness of Additional Reductions in Cholesterol and Homocysteine (SEARCH) and others. The SEARCH clinical trial showed that the increase of myopathy, or unexplained muscle weakness or pain with serum creatine kinase, to be ten times the upper limit of normal in significantly more patients taking 80 mg doses of simvastatin than those taking 20 mg doses. Te risk for rhambdomyolysis, or myopathy with serum creatine kinase more than 40 times the upper limit of normal, was also seen in significant increases.

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Pharmacies Increase Popularity in Flu Vaccination

During the 2010-2011 flu season, there was a rise of supermarkets and pharmacies as a popular place to receive flu vaccinations. A report by the CDC in Morbidity and Morality Weekly Report stated that while nearly 40% of adults still received their vaccinations at a doctor’s office, supermarkets, pharmacies, and other similar stores came in second with over 18% of the vaccinations being held there. Workplaces came in third with over 17%. This is a substantial rise, as in the 2006-2007 season only 7% of adults were vaccinated in supermarkets and pharmacies. The overall number of people being vaccinated in pharmacies and supermarkets went up exponentially as well, from about 6 million in 2006-2007 to 17 million in 2010-2011.

There are many factors that could contribute to this rise in flu vaccinations in alternative locations, including many states changing their laws to allow pharmacists to administer influenza vaccinations to adults, causing the vaccinations to become more widely available at these locations. But regardless of why the vaccinations are becoming more prevalent, it is important that they are, as they reach audiences that would not normally receive flu shots. This includes those who have not been do a doctor in over a year (with 53.5% of people in this category going to a nonmedical setting), as well as those populations who are non-Hispanic white and college educated.

The CDC’s report went on to show other comparisons as well, including that those patients over the age of 65 were more likely than younger patients to receive the vaccination in a supermarket or pharmacy, and younger patients were more likely to receive it in the workplace than supermarkets or pharmacies. It is good to see the increase in people receiving the influenza vaccinations, and hopefully the new avenues to receive the treatment will encourage even more people to get the vaccination.

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