Arizona Outpatient Telepharmacy Program gets Federal Earmark

On US Congresswoman from Arizona Gabrielle Giffords' website, under 'Fiscal Year 2011 Appropriations,' she highlights several earmarks she referred to the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies. One interesting item, referred to Giffords by State Rep Bradley is listed below:

Telepharmacy – Marana Health Center, Inc., 13644 North Sandario Road, Marana, AZ 85653 - $200,000, HHS-HRSA: Funding will be used to establish a telepharmacy in the MHC Primary Care Health Center at the TMC Campus to provide low-cost pharmaceuticals to uninsured and underinsured patients utilizing the 340B drug program. This service would be available to patients at six MHC satellite clinics in east and central Tucson, encompassing over 145,000 people. This is an important use of taxpayer funds because the only pharmacy services currently available in this area are commercial pharmacies, none which provide low-cost prescription drugs. Click here for a letter of support from Arizona State Representative David Bradley.

Looks like an ambulatory care telepharmacy operation is in the works in urban Arizona!

College of Pharmacists of British Columbia Propose Bylaw Changes Involving Telepharmacy Rules

Earlier this month, the BC College of Pharmacists proposed some amendments to the Bylaws of the Pharmacy Operations and Drug Scheduling Act (PODSA, which is Current law in the Canadian province of British Columbia). Among the changes (in yellow) are adjustments from "Pharmacist" to "Full Pharmacist," rules for managers of "Central pharmacy sites" and quite a few responsibility shifts. Here are the current bylaws for comparison.

Thanks to a reader for pointing this out.

NDSU Telepharmacy Update at the North Dakota Pharmacists Association Convention

The North Dakota Pharmacists Association (NDPhA) is hosting several talks at their 125th Annual Convention in April. One is an update on the North Dakota Telepharmacy Project from Shelley Johnsen and Ann Rathke, the director of the Hospital Telepharmacy Project, and Telepharmacy Coordinator at NDSU, respectively. According to the convention schedule, it's from 2 to 3 PM on Friday, April 23, 2010. Students get in free and the lectures are worth CE credits.

New Nationwide Grants Provide for Telepharmacy Service in Rural Hospitals

First up, the FCC gave out $145 million in grant money to rural health consortiums in support of upgrading their networks for things like telehealth and just general day-to-day operations. All in all, the grants affect more than 2000 rural hospitals around the US. The press release, Rural Telemedicine Program Funds 16 More Broadband Telehealth Networks, states at least one health network will use the cash explicitly for a telepharmacy system between 12 hospitals:

Pennsylvania Mountains Healthcare Alliance ($4.49 M) – A new broadband network of approximately 12 hospitals in rural western Pennsylvania will provide a variety of telehealth services, specialty care, and telepharmacy in 18 counties. The network will provide a minimum of 10 Mbps service and connect with Internet2. The project previously merged with the Juniata Valley Network project, a network in the rural region of the Appalachian Mountains that will connect approximately 79 health care facilities to enable telemedicine and school wellness programs, and will connect to Internet2 at speeds ranging from 7 to 100 Mbps.

Additionally, this "Flex Update" from the University of North Dakota's Center for Rural Health has a section called Impacts of the 2009-2010 SHIP Grant Awards where they detail how Small Rural Hospital Improvement Program grants from the federal Office of Rural Health Policy were spent at Critical Access Hospitals around the state. North Dakota CAHs received a total of $271,250, of which, 69% were purchases for computers, software, servers and the like. Last years grants allowed CAHs to implement Electronic Medical Records. Some of this money will undoubtedly go to telepharmacy projects.