Pharmacy Voices

With the advent of Apple Pay and its integration with the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, mobile payment technology is ready to take flight to a new altitude. Smart partnerships with finance and technology companies like Citigroup Inc., American Express, and Stripe have laid the groundwork for mobile payment technology to hit the tipping point.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a report in September questioning pharmaceutical manufacturers’ safeguards to prevent co-pay card use in federally funded programs, specifically Medicare Part D. The OIG voices its concern with the strategies employed by the pharmaceutical manufacturers and their vendors that facilitate the execution of co-pay card programs.

This issue is all about what people think will happen next year. So I got out my crystal (xstal) ball and examined it carefully. Big blur — foggy ball — too many unpredictable influences.

One of the articles in a recent issue of iHealthBeat described a study conducted by Geisinger Health System. In the study, patients were allowed to review their medication lists for accuracy and completeness before seeing their doctor.

Fairleigh Dickinson University decided a few years ago that a school of pharmacy would be a good opportunity to broaden its base of degree offerings. I was asked to serve on the advisory board during the developmental phase. This was quite an education, to see what goes into bringing a new school to fruition.

Significant advances have occurred in electronic prescribing over the past few years. A substantial increase in volume was mainly due to the meaningful use of e-prescribing in prescriber systems according to the requirements set by CMS.

In the last issue I said that in the future there would be more health/medical electronic gadgets. My computer told me about these — and I can’t resist adding some comments.

In anticipation of releasing a “refreshed” health information technology (HIT) strategic plan later this year, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) is seeking comment on a 10-year vision for achieving an interoperable HIT infrastructure that it released in June.

Today, we are immersed in a completely different Web experience, known as Web 2.0. This modern-day Web is very different from the Web 1.0 world. Individuals have literally thousands of free tools available to create and share Web-based content. Whereas organizations spent large amounts of money to create content in the Web 1.0 world, anyone reading this article can build an engaging Web experience using free tools right now.

Forty-nine states now have PDMPs in place requiring pharmacies to report controlled substances that have been dispensed. I recently had the opportunity to attend a meeting on the topic in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the Bureau of Justice Assistance.