Roadblock for Georgia Medicaid expansion

It looks like Georgia’s planned Medicaid waiver request may not be happening.

Georgia apparently wants to expand Medicaid partially — i.e., it wouldn’t cover all the lower-income people envisioned by the Affordable Care Act — but it still wants the federal government to pay 90 percent of the cost.

Utah’s plan, similar to that, was just denied by CMS.

(If a state expands Medicaid to everyone earning up to 138% of
the poverty level, Obamacare requires the feds to pay
90% of the cost. But if a state only wants partial expansion, CMS
can choose to pay only 67%. That’s what happened to Utah.)

More bad news for PPIs

Earlier this year we told you that proton-pump inhibitors could have serious side effects over the long term (cardiovascular disease, kidney damage, etc.). Now a new study out of Austria finds that they can also increase the risk of developing allergies.

[With PPI use] the normal chemical reactions involved in digestion do not work as well, meaning larger protein molecules and other potentially harmful substances are able to pass through to the intestine. This can trigger an allergic response from the immune system.

PillPack vs Surescripts

Surescripts contracts with a company called ReMy Health to deliver patients’ medication data to prescribers — but not to pharmacists.

Still, Amazon’s PillPack got hold of that data, and Surescripts says it did so illegally. PillPack says it had patient consent, and further that Surescripts (which is owned by PBMs including CVS and ExpressScripts) is acting like a monopoly.

Amazon sued. Surescripts called the FBI.

Grab the popcorn!

Canadian imports get closer

How do you enact price controls without enacting price controls? You hitch a ride on your neighbor to the north’s.

HHS has taken the next first step to allowing states and other groups in the U.S. to take advantage of Canada’s drug-price controls by buying their meds from the Great White North™. And
besides allowing imports…

The agency also said that it would allow drug makers to bring drugs that they sell more cheaply in foreign countries into the United States for sale here, potentially enabling them to sell below their contracted prices in the U.S.

Canada is a bit cool on the idea (ha!) because of the size of the U.S. market, which might put a strain on their supply. And some agreements on the other side of the World’s Longest Friendly* Border™ don’t allow for exporting drugs anyway.

* With a few exceptions

Spare some change?

Three pharmacy companies — Endo, Teikoku Pharma, and Teva — will pay a whopping* $70 million to the state of California as a penalty for colluding to keep generic drugs off the market.

* That is sarcasm. Teva alone had $18.9 billion in revenue in 2018.

This isn’t terrifying at all

“Facebook is funding brain experiments to create a device that reads your mind.” And yes, it’s from a legit magazine — MIT Technology Review.

How can pharmacists’ lives and practices be improved?

That’s the question five organizations have tackled — and they’ve created a list of 50 recommendations to reduce stress and burnout within the pharmacy profession.

These ideas apply to everyone from pharmacy schools to employers to corporations, and are designed to be implemented quickly — to “provide immediate, viable, and sustainable solutions.”

“Well-being”? Can you be more specific?

The goal is to improve:

• Pharmacist work conditions and patient safety
• Payment models
• Relations between pharmacists and employers
• Pharmacist and student pharmacist well-being
• Well-being education and training
• Communications
• Data, information, and research on pharmacist well-being

Who came up with these recommendations?

A “consensus conference” of 85 people within the profession — representing pharmacists and employers across practice
settings, schools of pharmacy, and professional organizations.

What organizations organized this?

• The Accreditation Council for Pharmacist Education (ACPE)
• The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP)
• The American Pharmacists Association (APhA)
• The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP)
• The National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations (NASPA)

What are some examples of recommendations?

“Employers should provide pharmacists with mandatory, scheduled, uninterrupted meal breaks away from the pharmacy workflow to promote pharmacist well-being and improve patient safety.”

“All faculty, staff, student pharmacists, and preceptors should complete formal training that addresses behavioral health awareness (e.g., Mental Health First Aid and Question. Persuade. and Refer.).”

All right, where can I see the full list?

You can click here to see all 50 recommendations as well as details about the process of creating it.