Hospital

Although the virtual format of this year's advisory board meeting was different, the feedback was no less valuable than it has been in other years.

The FDA hold was announced in December 2020 following the diagnosis of one patient with hepatocellular carcinoma in the HOPE-B pivotal trial.

A heart rhythm disorder, atrial fibrillation occurs at least twice as frequently in patients with diabetes as those without.

Scott J. Knoer, MS, PharmD, FASHP, EVP and CEO of APhA, discussed the value of the pharmacist on patient care teams and how this value could be supported and enhanced in the future.

Although the CDC and FDA have lifted the pause on Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, Humphreys said the vaccine now comes with a warning label, and ongoing safety reviews will be paramount to ensure its continued safety.

Individuals with an average risk of colorectal cancer said they would prefer a stool-based screening test for colorectal cancer over colonoscopy.

Although therapeutics and vaccines for COVID-19 have dominated the news in the last year, development of other drugs has continued.

The efforts of pharmacists to keep their doors open during the pandemic, build COVID-19 testing sites, and prepare for and administer COVID-19 vaccinations took extraordinary investment and determination.

In addition to altered supply chains and medication access during the early months of the pandemic, the report predicts long-term changes for both COVID-19 survivors and those with chronic illnesses.

A metanalysis published in SN Comprehensive Clinical Medicine found that administering the therapies early in a patient’s treatment could be associated with better outcomes.

Cedric Richmond, senior advisor to President Biden and director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, thanked the NACDS and other health care providers for their hard work during a session at the 2021 NACDS Annual Meeting.

Bipartisan legislation has been introduced in the US Senate that would give millions of Medicare patients in medically underserved communities access to critical primary health care services delivered by pharmacists across the country.

Directions in Oncology Pharmacy® is getting to know oncology pharmacy professionals through a series of interviews. In this issue, we talk to David DeRemer, PharmD, BCOP, FCCP, FHOPA, president of the Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association (HOPA) Board of Directors, whose term ends this month.

A high dose of vitamin D administered at the time of admission to the hospital cannot improve the condition of patients with moderate to severe COVID-19, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The Star Rating for Biosimilars Act, HR 2855, aims to create a biosimilars access measure in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Star Ratings Program.

Researchers found that the amount of time between the onset of heart attack symptoms and an artery-clearing percutaneous coronary intervention was an important target for public education efforts.

Pharmacy Times® interviewed Scott J. Knoer, MS, PharmD, FASHP, the EVP and CEO of APhA, on how the recently introduced Pharmacy and Medically Underserved Area Enhancement Act may impact pharmacy and health care outlooks.

Americans who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 no longer need to wear masks when outside alone, with members of their household, or when attending small outdoor gatherings.

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have identified additional genetic mutations that strongly predispose otherwise healthy women to peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM), a rare condition characterized by weakness of the heart muscle that begins sometime during the final month of pregnancy through 5 months after delivery.

The report further showed that drug expenditure in nonfederal hospitals declined 4.6%, while drug spending in home care settings increased 13%, and drug expenditures in nonfederal hospitals spiked in the 3 weeks immediately following the March 8, 2020 lockdown.

The antibiotic fights both resistant enterococcus, streptococcus, and staphylococcus bacteria via a unique mechanism of action, which causes resistance to develop at a very slow pace.

Pharmacies cannot prevent shortages, particularly with the complexities of treating COVID-19; however, they can strengthen their ability to prepare their organization to respond to those complexities.

A new service connects community pharmacies with health care systems to support the delivery of health care products and services through crowdsourcing.

Individuals who had COVID-19 and recovered had a robust antibody response after the first mRNA vaccine dose, but little immune benefit after the second dose.

New research findings published in Cell Reports identified a type of immune cells that acts as a major driver of breast cancer growth by preventing the accumulation of a specific protein that induces anti-tumor responses.

The legislation does not expand scope of practice, but instead brings Medicare rules in alignment with existing responsibilities already granted to pharmacists through various credentialing and privileging programs.

The study further explored the various aspects of financial hardships, including material, psychological, and behavioral measures.

Community pharmacists should consider leaning on their specialty pharmacist peers, where available, as we continue to navigate the new, more virtual normal and attempt to expand these types of services in the future.

Health systems individually have struggled to demonstrate improvements to total cost of care because, without data about patients they do not serve, they cannot define a comparison group.

Pharmacy Times® interviewed Dennis O’Neill, president and board member of Biomedican, to discuss how providers are looking to psychedelic medicine to treat certain mental health disorders.