CEO Message May 9, 2008
Author: Lynn Rolston
Dear Member,
Recall Alert – Board of Pharmacy Asked Us to Rerun this Alert with Additional Information
The Board of Pharmacy recently sent out the following subscriber alert related to a very important recall: Actavis Totowa (formerly known as Amide Pharmaceutical, Inc.) recalls all lots of Bertek and UDL Laboratories Digitek (digoxin tablets, USP) as a precaution.
Actavis Totowa LLC, a United States manufacturing division of the international generic pharmaceutical company Actavis Group, is initiating a Class I nationwide recall of Digitek (digoxin tablets, USP, all strengths) for oral use. The products are distributed by Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc., under a "Bertek" label and by UDL Laboratories, Inc. under a "UDL" label. The voluntary all-lot recall is due to the possibility that tablets with double the appropriate thickness may have been commercially released. These tablets may contain twice the approved level of active ingredient than is appropriate. For more information: http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/actavis04_08.html
Mouthwash Recall
Hydrox Labs has issued a voluntary recall of Cardinal Health labeled alcohol-free mouthwash. As a result of this recall, Cardinal Health is initiating a voluntary recall of the same alcohol-free mouthwash. The FDA has been apprised of the action. The mouthwash has been tested and been found positive for Burkholderia cepacia (B. cepacia). The CDC has confirmed hospital illnesses in one state associated with the use of the affected mouthwash. For more information:
http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/actavis04_08.html
CPhA Joins Alliance in Filing Lawsuit Against the State of California’s 10 Percent Reduction in Reimbursement for Medi-Cal
On Monday, the attorneys for a coalition of providers filed a class action lawsuit against California in Los Angeles Superior Court to stop the 10 percent cuts. The coalition includes CPhA, the California Medical Association, the California Hospital Association, the California Dental Association, the California Association for Adult Day Services, the California chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians and the California Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems. This coalition is seeking a temporary injunction to stop these cuts from going into effect on July 1, 2008. The group held a press call with over 20 news outlets and press coverage was extensive throughout the state (you can read some of the coverage below). If allowed to go through, these cuts would seriously cripple the state’s health care provider network, especially safety net providers and pharmacy. The impact on vulnerable patients would be devastating. The coalition already has a great number of tragic and compelling stories and if you have a story to tell, please forward to Bill Bradley at bill@perrycom.com. The impact on pharmacies throughout the state could be massive. Any pharmacy currently servicing Medi-Cal could experience huge reductions in staff services and workload or could actually be forced to go out of business. Pharmacies could be overwhelmed with needy patients going from store to store trying to get their medications that could be broadly unavailable. Everyone who serves Medi-Cal patients in any capacity should have a huge concern over this disastrous situation.
If you have not already done so, there are many ways to get involved in this effort including having patients sign the petition, which can be downloaded at www.calaccessrx.org or by contributing to the Pharmacy Defense Fund of California at www.cpha.com. And, if you are a pharmacy owner, you can participate in a very important Cost of Dispensing study, which is at no cost to you. For more information, see the Question of the Week.
NCPDP Annual Conference
Kathy Lynch attended the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP) Annual Meeting this week. The theme for the conference was Interoperability for Quality Healthcare. CPhA is a member of NCPDP and the recently formed Work Group 17 that was created to discuss and promote Pedigree and Track-and-Trace solutions. One of the other important topics discussed at the Annual Meeting was ePrescribing. NCPDP is a not-for-profit, Standards Development Organization (SDO) that is accredited by the American National Standards Institute. Its members represent chain, independent and mail service pharmacies, database management organizations, federal and state agencies, health maintenance organizations, pharmaceutical manufacturers, wholesale drug distributors, and other parties interested in electronic standardization within the pharmacy services sector of the healthcare industry. Kathy reports it was a very productive meeting.
Sharps Disposal Program Meeting
Today, Paige Talley and Kathy Lynch attended a Sharps Task Force meeting. The meeting is one of a series that the California Integrated Waste Management Board arranged to bring together all interested parties to discuss Sharps disposal. The goal of the meetings is to determine how to set up an integrated infrastructure for the statewide, convenient, cost-effective collection of millions of home-generated Sharps by September 1, 2008. Other groups represented included the California Department of Public Health, Marin County, County of Los Angeles, San Diego County and Kaiser Permanente. CPhA is committed to working to find an appropriate solution for Sharps disposal. We’ll keep you posted.
PACE Meeting
As I mentioned last week, I was in the process of heading to a meeting of the PACE Alliance board of directors. PACE provides generic buying opportunities for pharmacies in member states. The PACE Alliance is owned by 19 state pharmacy associations including California. This annual meeting contained updates and a strategic planning session. PACE continues to grow and provides great opportunities in the marketplace. In California, we are in the very early stages of getting the program off the ground and we will keep you posted as to progress and availability.
NASPA Leadership Meeting
Following the PACE meeting, President-Elect Jeff Goad and I attended the National Alliance for State Pharmacy Associations Annual Leadership Meeting along with over 30 other state executives and PE’s. The topics included innovations in board governance, strategic planning and tips on handling the media. Jeff and I both agreed that the sessions provided tremendous food for thought and a great start for Jeff’s upcoming presidential year.
Visits around the State
On Wednesday, Theresa Andrews, Director of Membership, and Charlie Brown, President, Inland Empire Pharmacists Association, visited with students from Loma Linda University School of Pharmacy. Both Theresa and Charlie spoke about the importance of being involved in the profession beyond the workplace. They reminded student pharmacists that as the future of the profession, they could effect change. Theresa reported that the students at Loma Linda were terrific and will be great future leaders.
On Thursday, Theresa Andrews also attended a continuing education program at the Hollywood-Wilshire Pharmacists Association in West Los Angeles. There were many long time members in attendance. Hollywood-Wilshire is in need of more pharmacists to take an interest in bringing in additional programs to the members of the local. If you are interested in becoming involved with HWPhA, contact Theresa at tandrews@cpha.com or (916) 337-8877 and she will put you in contact with the appropriate person.
Also on Thursday, Annette Todaro-Smith, Vice President of Business Development and Erin Moeller, Manager, Membership & Events, attended the Santa Clara local CE meeting. Over 50 pharmacists and pharmaceutical representatives participated in the meeting held at Ming’s restaurant featuring John Cronin as the guest CE speaker. John gave an excellent presentation regarding the history and implementation of Drug Pedigree and, afterwards, engaged in a lively question and answer session. Bruce Uyeda, Santa Clara local president, in his closing remarks, gave an update on the Local’s events for the coming year and encouraged people to contact him to get more involved.
CPhA Elections
Elections are just four months away and CPhA needs YOU to step forward and take on a leadership role. All you need is a strong desire to help guide CPhA to make it the best association for all pharmacy professionals in the State of California. We have a variety of open positions:
President-Elect
Region 1 Trustee
Region 3 Trustee
Region 5 Trustee
Region 7 Trustee
Academy of Managed Care Trustee
Academy of Pharmacy Technicians Trustee
In addition, the CPhA Board Nominating Committee is looking for individuals to serve on the Board of Directors for the following Academies:
Academy of Compounding Pharmacists
Academy of Employee Pharmacists
Academy of Hospital Pharmacists
Academy of Long Term Care
Academy of Managed Care
Academy of Pharmacy Owners
Academy of Pharmacy Technicians
Academy of Pharmacy Educators
If you would like information regarding any of the open positions above, including requirements of the position and expected duties, please contact Theresa Andrews at (916) 337-8877 or tandrews@cpha.com
Sad News
It is with sadness that I announce that Wayland Fuller passed away earlier this week at the age of 92. Mr. Fuller was a member of the UCSF School of Pharmacy volunteer faculty who owned and operated Fuller Pharmacy. He was known to be a great supporter of pharmacy. Services will be held Saturday May 10 at Forest Hill Christian Church, 250 Laguna Honda Blvd in San Francisco (Phone: 415.566.1414). On Saturday, the viewing is at 10 AM, with the Memorial Service at 11 AM, followed by internment at Cypress Lawn. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Fuller family.
Disaster Preparedness
ASHP was a key participant on a task force that created detailed guidelines to prepare health professionals to provide optimal care for critically ill patients when large-scale disasters strike. Click here for more information.
In the News
We have received significant coverage regarding the lawsuit in Drug Topics Magazine, the Gridley Herald, San Francisco Examiner, Sacramento Bee as well as the San Francisco Chronicle, Monterey Herald, San Jose Mercury News, Los Angeles Times, Riverside Press Enterprise among many others. Radio also picked up the story--you can listen to the KCBS report or to the KPBS report, which includes CPhA president Paul Lofholm.
Both last week and this, I mentioned the Digitek recall. Sacramento Bee’s Anita Creamer wrote a column on this issue and included quotes from Cathi Lord and Brian Komoto. You can read the column here.
Question of the Week
Dear Lynn,
Why is it important for all pharmacy owners to participate in this new Cost of Dispensing Study since we already have a study released by the state from Myers & Stauffer?
Ken Ross
Medical Arts Pharmacy
North Hollywood
Answer
Dear Ken,
It is absolutely imperative that all pharmacies (independent and chain) participate in this new study. The recently released Myers & Stauffer study contained data from early 2006, which is a fixed point of time in the past. Also, Myers & Stauffer generally does not include any kind of pharmacy profit in their numbers.
This new study has an online data collection opportunity. Consequently, you can refresh your data regularly, which will allow for reports to be generated at a moment’s notice whenever market conditions change. This study is scheduled to continue over a full three-year timeframe. Thus, we can pull reports as often as needed. Since the national data put California’s cost of dispensing at $13.08 and the Myers & Stauffer study set it between $10.50 and $11.50, we believe it to be critical that we have more recent and robust data as we have ongoing talks with both government and private payers about pharmacy reimbursement. This data will also be instrumental in helping us to make an even stronger case against the 10 percent cuts. We hope to be able to pull our first data reports in June, so please input your data today. Please go online at www.pharmaccount.com and submit data for your pharmacy to strengthen this effort. If you have any questions contact Veronica Van Orman at vvo@cpha.com.
Sincerely,
Lynn Rolston
Chief Executive Officer
California Pharmacists Association