Mercer and South students at the Dome

Check out these photos of student pharmacists from Mercer and South universities as they hit the halls of the Gold Dome on Wednesday to talk to legislators about HB233 andHB323:

From Mercer’s Dalton Vining:

From Mercer’s Elizabeth Heard:

From Mercer’s Gabriel Ramirez:

And my favorite, from Mercer’s Donna Thomas:

Scholarship shout-out

Congrats to Dominique Taylor, student pharmacist at Mercer University College of Pharmacy — she’s winner of APhA’s 2019 Mary Munson Runge Scholarship. (It’s in honor of Mary Munson Runge, a pioneer for women in pharmacy and the the first female and African American president of APhA.) Nice going, Dominique!

Measles so far

127 confirmed cases in the U.S., more than both 2016 and 2017. While half of them are in Washington State, Georgia is one of nine other states to report the measles. Tell your patients to vaccinate their kids!

Speaking of which, FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said the federal government may have to step in if states don’t do more to get kids vaccinated.

Georgia is one of 47 states that allow a religious exemption*; like most states, though it does not allow philosophical exemptions.

* Interestingly, the only major religious denomination that forbids vaccination is the Church of Christ, Scientist. Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and other Christian denominations “have no theological objection to vaccination.”

Georgia faces rural-hospital crisis

Georgia has the third-highest percentage of rural hospitals facing closure — 26 of them across the state (41.3%) are at a high risk of closing for financial reasons. Only Alabama and Mississippi rank lower.

Women pharmacists: Looks like you made a good choice

Pharmacist is the top-paying job for women in the U.S. Other facts from the USA Today report: Women make up about 62.7 percent of the profession, but they typically earn 83.2 percent of their male counterparts.

Meanwhile, in Fulton County…

After 28 students at Sandtown Middle School got sick, the GBI got involved … and it found that at least one of the items the kids ate showed the presence of THC. They’re looking at “homemade Rice Krispy treats and heart-shaped lollipops” from Valentine’s Day.

Why can’t he get his daughter’s Epidiolex?

If a business and healthcare writer can’t navigate the healthcare system to get his daughter’s medication, how can ‘civilians’ expect to?

It’s available, but @ExpressScripts will only pay for it if it’s compounded in PA. But that means her secondary insurance, MediCal, won’t pick up the co-pay ($125 a month). I gave up yesterday and went ahead with the co-pay but it still won’t process through CVS Specialty Pharm

How’d he finally get it? By having his wife, a lawyer, threaten an injunction for medical negligence. Sheesh.

Epidiolex arrived today after 19 calls + 338 min on phone. Still not clear on hold up. It’s not a miracle drug – my daughter is on 4 meds, still has weekly seizures, but had 4 in past week off this med, so it helps.

Elsewhere

Six states — Arizona, California, Ohio, Rhode Island, Vermont Virginia, and Washington — now require that physicians give patients with opioid prescriptions a prescription for naloxone as well. The federal government is also considering such a “co-prescribing” recommendation.

Although no prescription is required for naloxone in some states (including Georgia), the idea is that more people will be carrying naloxone just in case.