Actions Taken by the Georgia State Board of Pharmacy at its March 12 Meeting

Macon, Ga. (March 24, 2008) — The Georgia State Board of Pharmacy held its monthly meeting on Wednesday, March 12, 2008.

The Board adopted revisions to the following rules:

480-13 Hospital Pharmacy Regulations. Provides definitions for Remote Location, Remote Order Entry, and Remote Order Entry Pharmacist.
480-13-.03 Personnel. Provides that the Director of Pharmacy is responsible for the implementation of written policies and the clinical operations and staff protocol of the pharmacy.
480-13-.04 Absence of Pharmacist. Amended. Allows for remote order entry under certain conditions.

The Board accepted the following public consent orders:

Shirley Morris-Adams, Peachtree City: Public reprimand and $500 fine for allowing the pharmacy technician at Southern Crescent Hospital for Specialty Care to access the pharmacy, open the pharmacy and start preparations without the licensed pharmacist present.

Southern Crescent Hospital for Specialty Care, Riverdale: Public reprimand and $500 fine for allowing the pharmacy technician to access the pharmacy, open the pharmacy and start preparations without the licensed pharmacist present.

Nader Afif El-Kareh, Buford: Suspended license for admitting to an arrest for possession of Hydrocodon[e and] Alpra[z]olam[?] and diet pills not in the original containers and not labeled in accordance with Georgia law.

The Georgia State Board of Pharmacy will hold its next meeting Tuesday, April 15 and Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. at the Professional Licensing Boards Division in Macon, Georgia.

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There's a new Telepharmacy grant available...

To non-profits. Summary, full details.

Telepharmacy project receives additional funding

Sen. Byron Dorgan recently notified Charles Peterson, dean of pharmacy, nursing, and allied sciences, that NDSU’s North Dakota Telepharmacy Project has been approved for $813,535 in federal funding for fiscal year 2008. The grant will be funded through the Health Resources and Service Administration's Office for the Advancement of Telehealth.

The funding will be used for developing telepharmacy services to smaller, rural (critical access) hospitals across the state that are struggling to maintain pharmacists staffing and pharmacy services.

According to Peterson, current studies indicate 35 percent of rural hospitals have a pharmacist on site for less than 40 hours per week. Eight percent of hospitals have a pharmacist on site for two hours or less per week. One-third of rural hospitals with 0.5 full-time equivalent or less pharmacists staffing share a pharmacist with another hospital.

“As a result, many rural hospitals have limited pharmacist coverage, which greatly impacts their ability to deliver even the most basic pharmacy services,” said Peterson. “So, there is a critical need for telepharmacy services for remote rural critical access hospitals in North Dakota.”

The project was established in 2002 to restore, retain and establish access to pharmacist and pharmacy services in remote medically underserved rural communities of North Dakota. Peterson hopes to establish a national model for delivering telepharmacy services to remote rural hospitals that will make the state a national leader in delivery of pharmacy services to rural areas.

In early December, NDSU's telepharmacy was a featured program at the American Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists national convention in Las Vegas.

As of September 2007, there are 57 participating pharmacies in 33 medically underserved area counties, including two in Minnesota, serving a population of more than 40,000 rural citizens who previously had no access to a pharmacist or pharmacy services in their own community. The project has added more than 50 new jobs and approximately $12.5 million annually in economic development to the local rural economy. Thus far, the North Dakota Telepharmacy Project has received more than $3.3 million to support its efforts.

For more information, contact Ann Rathke, telepharmacy coordinator, at 1-5863 or ann.rathke@ndsu.edu. David Scott, associate professor of pharmacy practice, is the co-principal investigator and can be reached at 1-5867 or david.scott@ndsu.edu.

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UnitedHealth Group/Pacificare Awards More Than $6 Million in Grants to Help Improve Health Care in California

CYPRESS, Calif. (Jan. 17, 2008) – As part of its ongoing commitment to California, UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) and PacifiCare have awarded more than $6 million in grants to benefit health care consumers and improve the delivery of health care services in the Golden State. The grants, ranging from $100,000 to $740,000, have been awarded to 15 California nonprofits dedicated to improving health care services through enhanced health care technology opportunities, and driving preventive health and coordinated care initiatives.

“UnitedHealth Group and PacifiCare are committed to investing in a healthier California,” said David Hansen, CEO, Pacific Region of UnitedHealthcare. “We do this by offering products and services that address affordability, access and quality needs for all Californians, and also through grants to community health organizations that will help improve the health care delivery system for everyone, including underserved populations.”

The grants announced today include:

• $360,000 to the Ukiah-based Alliance for Rural Community Health to implement electronic health records in six federally qualified health centers in Mendocino County;
• $100,000 to Centro La Familia Advocacy Services Inc. in Fresno to expand community health outreach activities related to healthful eating and lifestyles via its Promotora program;
• $350,000 to Orange-based Children’s Health Initiative of Orange County to implement a Web-based application and tracking system for children’s health programs and other state-sponsored services;
• $367,250 to Darin M. Camarena Health Centers Inc. in Madera to purchase computer equipment that will enhance clinical information management, billing and organizational service growth;
• $664,688 to Glendale Adventist Medical Center to help implement a rural telepharmacy project that will enable rural hospitals and clinics to better comply with pharmacy standards, improve quality and reduce medication errors;
• $187,000 to Willows-based Glenn Medical Center to purchase new equipment to allow digital recording and transmission of diagnostic studies, which will help improve speed and efficiency of rural patient care;
• $360,000 to the Institute for Healthcare Advancement in La Habra to support implementation of electronic medical record (EMR) and practice management systems in a pediatric community clinic serving Los Angeles and Orange counties;
• $593,720 to the Northridge Hospital Foundation to enhance and expand its school-based obesity- and diabetes-prevention program;
• $740,000 to Planned Parenthood Mar Monte/Fresno to establish a response center serving a 27-county area using IP Telephony;
• $361,684 to Ukiah-based Redwood MedNet to establish an information network allowing clinics and hospitals in Mendocino, Lake and Northern Sonoma counties to share patient and medical information;
• $500,000 to Ridgecrest Regional Hospital to expand telehealth and telemedicine capabilities to additional rural care providers;
• $200,000 to Shasta Community Health Center in Redding to complete the implementation of its EMR system;
• $159,155 to Fremont-based Tri City Health Center to upgrade its telephone system and improve its ability to serve its low income, ethnically diverse patient population;
• $705,184 to the Vista Community Clinic to purchase and implement its EMR system;
• $731,070 to the University of California San Diego Department of Emergency Medicine to develop the San Diego Safety Net Health Information Exchange, an integrated information system between community clinics and hospitals.

The grants are part of a $25 million commitment to California by UnitedHealth Group and PacifiCare. The grants and their identified uses are well-aligned with UnitedHealth Group/PacifiCare’s historic and ongoing commitment to improve the health care delivery system across California.

Recently, UnitedHealth Group committed $10 million to University of California Riverside and University of California Merced for the creation of medical and health science education programs at the two campuses, and for hiring of administrative, teaching and support staff needed to establish course work and classes for the programs.

Today’s grants represent the first phase of proposal applications, which were received in fall 2007. The second phase began Jan. 2 and will end Feb. 18. Copies of the Request for Proposal, which includes complete instructions and information on qualifications, are available online at www.pacificare.com and www.unitedhealthcare.com.

UnitedHealth Group offers health benefits, including commercial and Medicare health plans to nearly 2.5 million Californians and partners with about 50,000 physicians across the state.

About UnitedHealth Group
UnitedHealth Group is a diversified health and well-being company dedicated to making health care work better. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn., UnitedHealth Group offers a broad spectrum of products and services through seven operating businesses: UnitedHealthcare, Ovations, AmeriChoice, Uniprise, OptumHealth, Ingenix, and Prescription Solutions. Through its family of businesses, UnitedHealth Group serves approximately 70 million individuals nationwide.

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Baird Secures Funding for Pharmacy Programs in Rural Communities in SW Washington

Washington, D.C. - One of the biggest challenges facing the country is health care; and in rural communities a lack of access to care is compounded by a shortage of doctors, pharmacists, and allied health care professionals. To help address part of the problem, Congressman Brian Baird (WA-03) secured $550,000 for the Western Washington Rural Health Care Collaborative (WWRHCC) to implement a telepharmacy program. The funding was included in the House Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act Conference Report for 2008.

"Rural communities face many challenges, especially when it comes to access to quality and comprehensive health care services,” said Congressman Baird. “Pharmacists provide crucial services, and yet, there is a tremendous shortage of registered pharmacists in rural communities throughout Southwest Washington. In fact, none of the Critical Access Hospitals in the region have 24/7 pharmaceutical services or full-time pharmacists on staff. This funding will allow residents access to prompt service, medication information, and healthcare management services that could be critical to their overall health.”

Telepharmacy programs allow a licensed pharmacist at a central location to supervise technicians at a remote site through the use of state-of-art technologies. The technician prepares the prescription, and the pharmacist communicates in real time to the technician and patient through various audio and visual means. This project includes providing equipment, Pxyis automated systems software, and training to rural hospitals.

"By using state of the art technologies, residents in medically-underserved communities can receive all the services they normally would from an on-site licensed pharmacist,” continued Congressman Baird. “This is an innovative approach that can assure the delivery of safe, high quality pharmacy services.”

President Bush has threatened to veto this bill.

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CONGRESS: Senate bill includes $7 million for N.D.

North Dakota is in line to receive $7 million in federal funding for economic development and health care initiatives, according to North Dakota Sens. Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan.

The funding is included in the Fiscal Year 2008 Labor and Department of Health and Human Services Appropriations bill, according to Conrad and Dorgan.

The bill goes next to a House-Senate conference committee, which will iron out the differences between the two chambers.

The bill includes $1.5 million for UND's proposed Center for Forensic Research. The money will be used to build a multifunctional building at UND that would be used to conduct post-mortem examinations that would help solve crimes and identify unknown health problems and public health hazards.

The facility would help reduce the workload on the State Medical Examiner's Office and provide a valuable educational opportunity for students at UND's School of Medicine and Health Sciences. Other funding will support projects across the state - from an energy technology training program at Bismarck State College, to a Job Corps management program in Minot, to a new vocational education program in Belcourt.

“I'm proud of the work we were able to do in this bill both to continue support for some projects that have proven to be important, and to start some new initiatives that will help move our state forward,” said Dorgan, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “Bismarck State College has a world-class education program, and this will allow them to continue building their reputation as a training hub for power plant operators. And projects like the NDSU Telepharmacy Project help expand access to health care for small communities that struggle to maintain basic health care services.”

“The research conducted at our universities and colleges is resulting in significant advances, both in North Dakota and across the nation,” Conrad said. “By continuing to invest in technology and advanced sciences, we continue to enhance North Dakota's reputation as a hotbed for scientific research while growing our state's economy.”

Here is a list of the other projects included in the bill:

-- Bismarck State College National Energy Technology Training and Education Project, $1 million: This funding will be used to develop a new Instrumentation and Control component to BSC's electronics and telecommunications technology program. The program will enhance BSC's nationally known program to prepare students to run power plants.

-- Minot State University Job Corps Program, $750,000: The funding will be used to expand MSU's customized master's degree program for Job Corps management personnel. The school will add a multi-track program that allows students to earn a Master of Science in management or a Master of Science in information systems, and a graduate certificate in knowledge management.

-- North Dakota State University Telepharmacy Project, $1 million: The funding will be used to expand NDSU's groundbreaking program by providing remote rural hospitals access to 24/7 pharmacy service by connecting them to a central hub using videoconferencing technology. The telepharmacy project has provided pharmacy service to more than 50 rural communities in North Dakota and Minnesota, where residents would otherwise be forced to drive long distances to fill a prescription.

-- North Dakota State College of Science Center for Nanoscience Technology Training, $1 million: This funding will be used to support the North Dakota State College of Science Center for Nanoscience Technology Training in Wahpeton. The Center provides students training in advanced courses related to nanoscience. The program will graduate its first students in the spring of 2008.

-- Marketplace for Kids, $500,000: This funding will support a number of daylong regional events in North Dakota that helps students explore entrepreneurship and self-employment through the recognition and development of their inventive, critical thinking and problem-solving skills. This year, more than 16,000 students participated in Marketplace for Kids.

-- Great Plains Autism Project, $500,000: This funding will be used to establish a program at Minot State University that provides training, research, diagnostic and treatment services for North Dakota children and youth diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders.

-- Turtle Mountain Career and Tech Ed Program, $750,000: This funding will be used to develop and implement a Career and Technical Education Program at Turtle Mountain Community College in Belcourt. The program will provide vocational and technical training to tribal residents and help boost the economy of the Turtle Mountain Reservation.

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Pharmacy machine coming to Royal City

ROYAL CITY - Royal City residents may no longer need to travel out of town to fill a prescription.

A telepharmacy service is being planned for Royal City Clinic, said Moses Lake Clinic Administrator David Olson.

Olson said he hopes to have the service running by the beginning of 2008.

A room at Royal City Clinic would house two vending machines, holding a total of 128 kinds of prescription medicine.

"Those vending machines are connected via a computer to a pharmacist in Bellevue," Olson said.

After the clinic's physician assistant writes out a prescription, the patient takes it to the pharmacy room. A pharmacy technician takes the prescription and sends it electronically to the pharmacist. The vending machine dispenses the prescription and a label is printed.

People who have questions about the prescription can get their questions answered live by the pharmacist, Olson noted.

"The computer monitor has a live video of the pharmacist in Bellevue," he said.

Olson said the machines, made out of titanium and steel, are secure. They are going to hold certain types of medication, such as inhalers and antibiotics - medications of little interest to a thief, he said. Narcotics are not going to be available from the machine.

Olson said Royal City used to have a pharmacy in the 1980s, but it closed down due to lack of business.

"A little place like Royal City wouldn't be able to afford that, but what they can afford is this system where the pharmacist is in Bellevue," he said.

He said the service could be a model for small towns unable to afford a pharmacy.

Royal City Clinic Physician Assistant Bret Moore said the clinic is excited about the new service.

"It's going to save people gas and keep them safe off the road," Moore said.

Patients can get their medications faster and more conveniently than if they traveled out of town, he said. Patients can come in and be seen by him, receive their prescription and fill it in the same place. In addition, the clinic is less busy than others, Moore said.

"I think the patients here will actually have it easier than people in larger towns," he said.

Royal City residents said they would become patients of the clinic if a pharmacy was available, Olson said.

"We listened to the people in the community," he said.


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University Of North Dakota: Blue Cross Blue Shield Grants Administered By UND Encourage Use Of Technology To Improve Rural Health Care Delivery

GRAND FORKS, N.D. - Nine grants have been awarded to facilities that have shown the initiative to utilize information and communication technology to improve health care delivery in rural communities. Nearly $425,000 was awarded through the Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota's (BCBSND) Rural Health Grant Program, which is administered by the Center for Rural Health at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

"We appreciate the diligent work done this year by all the provider organizations on many innovative and worthwhile projects," said Mike Unhjem, president and CEO of BCBSND. "I wish we could fund them all. The competition for available funds continues to be excellent and that shows us providers are achieving a high level of creativity in addressing cost-quality-access issues in rural areas. We're pleased to have supported this effort over the past six years."

Coal Country Community Health Center of Beulah will use the grant funds to purchase a digital radiology imaging system that will improve the quality of patient care, reduce errors, lower healthcare costs and boost productivity with rapid image availability.

Jacobson Memorial Hospital Care Center of Elgin will use the grant to purchase computed radiography equipment that will optimize patient care, reduce exam times, lower health care costs and boost productivity with rapid image availability.

Sakakawea Medical Center of Hazen will use the grant to implement an electronic medical records system that will include a picture archiving and communication system.

Hillsboro Medical Center and the Hillsboro Medical Center Foundation of Hillsboro will use the grant to implement an electronic medical records system that will be shared with other health care facilities, providers and patients by purchasing a picture archiving and communication system.

Kenmare Community Hospital of Kenmare will use the grant to implement a computerized radiography system that will coordinate with Trinity Health in Minot to network with the web-based picture archiving and communications system.

Linton Hospital of Linton will use the grant to purchase digital radiography equipment to enhance networking for the hospital and associated clinics, optimizing patient care, reducing exam times and reducing health care costs.

Northwood Deaconess Health Center of Northwood will use the grant to build a centralized data center to be shared between hospitals that will provide a cost-effective method to support implementation of telemedicine, telepharmacy and a picture archiving and communications system.

Turtle Lake Community Memorial Hospital of Turtle Lake will use the grant to purchase digital radiography equipment that will optimize patient care and boost productivity with rapid image availability.

Wishek Community Hospitals & Clinics of Wishek will use the grant to purchase digital radiography equipment that will optimize patient care, increase health information between facilities, lower health care costs and boost productivity.

"Many rural health care facilities are in the process of developing a plan to eventually implement electronic health records (EHR), per President Bush's vision that most Americans will have electronic health records by 2014," said Lynette Dickson, the program's director at the Center for Rural Health. "However, at $600,000 or more per facility, it is more realistic to build their systems one component at a time.

The funding that BCBSND provides through this grant program affords rural health care facilities the ability to get one step closer to a complete electronic system."

In an effort to strengthen the rural health delivery system in North Dakota, BCBSND initiated a new rural health grant program in 2001. Developed and administered by the Center for Rural Health, the purpose of the grant program is to support communities who demonstrate an effective plan to successfully transition to new models of rural health care delivery.

For more information about the BCBSND Rural Health Grand Program visit: http://www.med.und.nodak.edu/depts/rural/sorh/bcbs

CONTACT: Wendy Opsahl, Communications Coordinator, Center for Rural Health, UND Tel: +1 701 777 0871 e-mail: wopsahl@medicine.nodak.edu Lynette Dickson, Program Director, Center for Rural Health, UND Tel: +1 701 777 6049 e-mail: ldickson@medicine.nodak.edu Larry Gauper, Vice President, Corporate Communications, Noridian Mutual Insurance Co., Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota Tel: +1 701 282 1160 e-mail: larry.gauper@noridian.com Peter Johnson, Associate Director & UND Media Relations Coordinator Tel: +1 701 777 4317 e-mail: peter.johnson@mail.und.nodak.edu


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Two 24 Hour Augusta Pharmacies Slice Hours Due to Pharmacist Shortage

Filling prescriptions in Augusta is getting harder than it used to be. Two 24 hour Walgreens pharmacies have changed their hours and are no longer open 24 hours a day.

They say it's due to a shortage in pharmacists. And professors at the Medical College of Georgia say it's a problem all over the state.

"More diseases are known and treatments for the diseases have increased, so it reflects a real need." said Susan Fagan of The University of Georgia.

We did find two CVS pharmacies in Augusta that are open 24 hours a day.

The two Walgreens stores are open 24 hours a day, but the pharmacies are not. The pharmacy hours are 6:00am to 10:00pm Monday through Friday and 8:00am to 6:00pm Saturday and Sunday.

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Pharmacist shortage adds to risk of medication mistakes

Auckland City Hospital patients are at a higher level of risk of medication errors than usual because of an unprecedented shortage of pharmacists.

The scarcity of pharmacists is the latest in an unending series of health-worker shortages to afflict parts of Auckland or the whole country, some of the worst being among junior doctors, pathologists and anaesthetic technicians.

Auckland City Hospital budgets to employ the equivalent of 34 full-time pharmacists, but has only 22, leading to many wards having to do without one.

The basic role of pharmacists is to prepare medicines in the right doses, including cancer chemotherapy, to be administered to patients by nurses.

But to minimise medication errors, the hospital's pharmacists normally also work in 50 wards or other clinical areas such as mental health units.

"Unprecedented staff shortages in clinical pharmacy will result in services to 10 clinical areas being withdrawn in September," say Auckland District Health Board papers for October.

In his monthly report to the board, chief medical officer Dr David Sage says: " ... in the wards now functioning with a lower pharmacist presence there is acceptance of a higher level of risk.

"The created levels of vigilance requested of all the clinical staff in these wards pending replacement will have little impact because the role of the pharmacist is in part to pick up errors not detected by other clinical staff."

Chief pharmacist Sarah Fitt yesterday agreed. "Doctors are responsible for prescribing, nurses are responsible for administration and we put in an extra safety check.

"We've got so short we have had to put our focus back on our basic dispensing service."

Ms Fitt hoped to be down to four or five vacancies - from the present 12 - by the end of the year with the appointment of newly registered pharmacists and experienced staff.

Pharmacists would then be posted back to the 10 hospital wards - none had been withdrawn from the mental health units - at present without them.

"There is a national and international shortage of hospital pharmacists. Recruitment is always an issue for us," she said.

But it had become harder this year because of the ending of a reciprocal agreement between New Zealand and Britain covering pharmacist registration.

The agreement ended because of Britain's commitments to the European Union.

Before the changes coming into force on February 1, Ms Fitt said, it was relatively easy for pharmacists from either country to register in the other. Only a period of supervision and an interview were required.

But now New Zealanders had to have a lengthy period of extra study to work in Britain and Britons coming to New Zealand had to pass an exam.

"In the past, we've picked up people who were travelling. They work for six to nine months. People aren't going to bother doing an exam," said Ms Fitt, who came from Britain intending to stay one year and has been here for nearly nine.

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