Texas Pharmacy Today - Texas Pharmacy Association

In the News
TPA and TSHP join PTCB in Special Washington, D.C., Meeting

Earlier this week, Joe DaSilva, CEO of the Texas Pharmacy Association, along with Deanna Menesses, Executive Director of the Texas Society of Health System

Pharmacists, met with top leadership of the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board to discuss ongoing concerns with the pending PTCB 2020 certification plan that would establish minimum education requirements prior to being eligible to sit for the certification testing. Fifteen of the largest states were invited to attend the meeting and share feedback from their organization’s pharmacists. PTCB endorsement and relationship issues also were reviewed. Miriam A. Mobley Smith, PharmD, FASHP, TPCB Director of Strategic Alliances, led the discussions. More information to come. Pictured above: Deanna Menesses, Miriam Mobley Smith and Joe DaSilva

Don't Miss This Important and Timely Seminar!
Register Now It's Right Around the Corner...
The Pharmacist’s Role in the Opioid Abuse Epidemic

Learn how to Identify patients at risk for opioid overdose; select an appropriate naloxone formulation based on patient-specific factors;educate patients and caregivers regarding naloxone administration; recognize the signs and symptoms of an acute opioid overdose; administer naloxone to a patient experiencing an acute opioid overdose and more...!

When: 10/23/2016 at 9:00 AM
Where: Renaissance Austin Hotel, 9721 Arboretum Boulevard • Austin, Texas 78759
Agenda:

7:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. Registration
9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Naloxone Harm Reduction for Texas Pharmacists
10:15 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. Signs and Symptoms of Abuse
11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Motivational Interviewing in Substance Abuse
12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. Lunch with Exhibitors
1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Using the Prescription Monitoring Program
2:45 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. How to Protect Yourself:
The Pharmacist’s Rights in Abuse Prevention

Questions? Contact: Lisa Goerlitz at lgoerlitz@texaspharmacy.org or 512-615-9169

And Don’t Forget TPA's Naloxone Standing Order
As you know, the Association is offering a free one-hour electronic continuing education course – a requirement for pharmacists to utilize TPA’s physician-authorized “standing order” to dispense Naloxone/Narcan — a fast-acting antidote that can be administered to someone who is actively overdosing on opioids.

Click here for the Texas Pharmacist Naloxone Standing Order Application to take the continuing education course.

September CE Free to Members

The Emerging Science of Health Behavior Change

As the most accessible health care professional, pharmacists increasingly are called on to assist patients in making health behavior changes. Emerging information about effective and personalized approaches to achieving sustained behavior change spans the disciplines of cognitive and affective neuroscience, behavioral genetics, neuroeconomics, and behavioral economics; unfortunately, pharmacists generally have little exposure to this information. This presentation will introduce pharmacists to what we currently know about successful behavior change.

Combat DIR Fees! New Session at NCPA Annual Convention

TEXAS PHARMACISTS

The magnitude and unpredictability of DIR fees are wreaking havoc on independent community pharmacies. Learn what you can do to help offset the impact of DIR fees on the bottom line and what NCPA and its allies are doing.

Join 3,000+ community pharmacists at the 2016 NCPA Annual Convention in New Orleans from Oct. 15-19, 2016. Also, find out more about the newly introduced DIR legislation in Congress that would effectively prohibit retroactive DIRs for pharmacies in Medicare Part D.

Plus, peer-led programs feature pharmacy owners describing strategies they have successfully used to increase pharmacy revenue, attract new patients with unique niches and reduce overhead costs.

And UT alums show your team spirit as the UT College of Pharmacy vies to win the 2016 Good Neighbor Pharmacy NCPA Pruitt-Schutte Student Business Plan Competition!

Learn more + Register at www.ncpanet.org/convention

TSU College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Gives Back

Rain or shine, student pharmacists from Texas Southern University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences made it a mission to give back to the community last weekend. On September 24th, Phi Delta Chi brothers participated in the annual St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Run to help bring awareness and funding to cancer prevention and treatments. APhA-ASP was also busy administering almost 400 flu vaccinations, alongside Walgreens, to patients at the Ismaili Jamatkhana Headquarters. Later on that day, APhA-ASP participated at The 92nd Annual St. Christopher Catholic Church Bazaar to provide parishioners with seasonal flu vaccinations, blood pressure and blood glucose screenings, sponsored by La Rx Pharmacy.

State News

Vendor Drug Program: 2016-17 Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection (RSV) Season and Synagis
The 2016-17 Synagis benefit begins October 1 for some Medicaid- and Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN) Services Program-eligible individuals, and

thereafter for others. Start dates are based on the individual's county of residence at the start of the RSV Season. Please reference the RSV Season Schedule for a complete listing of season start dates. Prior authorization forms will begin to be accepted for Fee-For-Service Medicaid and CSHCN individuals beginning September 23, 2016. Medicaid managed care plans will have their own forms and instructions.

Fee-For-Service (FFS) Medicaid clients
Providers must obtain Synagis through the Vendor Drug Program for all eligible clients. Providers may begin using the FFS Medicaid Synagis Prior Authorization form on September 23, 2016. To obtain prior authorization, the prescriber must complete the form and send it to the dispensing pharmacy. Pharmacy staff will then fax the form to the Texas Prior Authorization Call Center for processing. Providers can call the Texas Prior Authorization Center at 1-877-728-3927 for questions related to submitting forms.

Prior authorization forms and instructions for Fee-For-Service patients are available at TxVendorDrug.com/pa/rsv/2016/.

Medicaid Managed Care clients
Providers should contact the patient’s corresponding managed care health plan for forms and instructions by referring to the Prescriber Resources section at TxVendorDrug.com/managed-care/.

Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN) Services Program
Providers must obtain Synagis through the CSHCN Services Program for all eligible clients, and utilize the CSHCN Services Program Synagis Prior Authorization form. Providers can call the CSHCN Services Program at 1-800-252-8023 for questions related to submitting forms. Prior authorization forms are available at www.TxVendorDrug.com/pa/rsv/2016.

The option to purchase and bill through TMHP is not available this season.

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October 2016 Drug Utilization Review Board Agenda Available
The agenda for the Friday, October 14, 2016, Drug Utilization Review Board meeting is now available.

Board members meet quarterly in Austin to promote patient safety through an increased review and awareness of outpatient prescribed drugs. Members recommend medical criteria, standards, and educational intervention methods used in the Texas Vendor Drug Program (VDP). The board reviews and approves the therapeutic criteria for prospective and retrospective drug utilization as well as clinical prior authorization criteria. In addition, members also recommend drugs for inclusion on the Medicaid preferred drug list, considering the drug's clinical efficacy, safety, cost-effectiveness, and program benefits.

Additional online resources include:

Vaccinate Texas

Through TPA's partnership with Vaccinate Texas, a non-branded awareness campaign, promotional materials are available to bring together entities across Texas to increase flu vaccination rates beginning October 1, 2016, and running through National Influenza Vaccination Week, December 5-11, 2016.

TPA asks that you consider using the toolbox here, along with your own logo and specific message to promote vaccinations in your pharmacy setting.

Download the complete zipped toolkit folder here.

National News
The Man Behind the Curtain in Drug Price Increases
By: Rep. Earl L. "Buddy" Carter
More so than most issues we deal with in Washington, health care is personal. We all feel it when something changes in our health care system. No one is immune, and for some, those changes mean life or death.

It is very understandable, then, that fluctuation in drug prices draws so much public attention. Lifesaving medications are not a choice for a family relying on them to protect a loved one, they are a necessity.

As a pharmacist for more than 30 years, and the only pharmacist in Congress, I’ve seen firsthand the anguish of families balancing their health care needs with their bottom line. It is indescribably heart wrenching to see a mother decide whether to buy groceries or her child’s medication, or a senior citizen struggle to pay for medicine on a fixed budget.

Often those of us behind the counter are left to answer for factors contributing to increasing health care costs that are completely out of our control, and many times we don’t have the answer.

Similarly, when Heather Bresch, CEO of EpiPen distributor Mylan, was brought before the Oversight and Government Reform Committee to answer for the drastic price increase of EpiPen, she also didn’t have all the answers.

While it makes for attention grabbing headlines and may make those of us on the other side of the dais feel better, hollering at drug manufacturers does not get to the root of the problem. READ THE ARTICLE

Unused Dental Surgery Prescriptions May Help Fuel Opioid Epidemic
By Catharine Paddock PhD for Medical News Today
The United States is in the midst of a prescription opioid epidemic. Evidence suggests people who abuse prescription opioids often use leftover pills that were prescribed for friends or family members. Now, new research finds over half of opioids prescribed to patients who have dental surgery - such as wisdom tooth removal - are not used.

The study found patients prescribed opioids following dental surgery were more likely to dispose of leftover pills safely if they were given specific information about a pharmacy-based drug disposal program.

A report on the study, by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) in Philadelphia, is published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

The authors suggest if there were more drug disposal kiosks in pharmacies, and if dentists reduced the amount of opioid pills they prescribe following surgery by just a little, it could reduce the mountain of unused pills - and therefore the amount of misuse - significantly.

They estimate - if we translate their findings to the whole U.S. population - that potentially over 1 million opioid pills prescribed to patients following removal of wisdom teeth are unused.

Opioids to relieve pain are often prescribed following surgery or injury, or for health conditions such as cancer.

In recent years in the U.S., there has been a dramatic increase in prescribing opioids for chronic, non-cancer pain, such as back pain or osteoarthritis, even though they carry serious risks and there is no evidence about their long-term effects.
READ THE ARTICLE

I AM TPA!

Member Spotlight: Denys Coates, Tanglewood Pharmacy & Medical Supplies (Stephenville)
TPA member Denys Coates recalls working at a Drug Emporium when she was a high school student in Phoenix, AZ.

“The pharmacist in charge was a woman, and I realized that pharmacy could be a good career for me,” says Coates. “We used to do a brown bag lunch on Sunday in the early 90s. People could bring in their Drug Utilization Reviews—it was really helpful for the patients. Today we are much more connected, and people are notified through their insurance claim."

Coates earned her BS in Pharmacy from Drake University College of Pharmacy in De Moines, Iowa in 1995.

“I really enjoyed the program,” she says. “At the time, I was working as a pharmacy technician for Walgreens as part of a scholarship program. In turn, I worked at Walgreens in San Antonio right after graduating.”READ THE ARTICLE

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