Based off a January study, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommended that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) expand its outreach efforts to reduce antipsychotic drug use among older adults with dementia to include those not living in nursing homes. Read More »

AstraZeneca on Tuesday announced that it completed the transaction to acquire the rights to Actavis’ branded respiratory business in the United States and Canada. Read More »

Clyde L. Reese III, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Community Health, on Monday announced the appointment of Linda Wiant as new chief of the Medical Assistance Plans Division. Read More »

The growth of health care spending has plateaued, while brand-name prescription drug prices appear to have been increasing more quickly in recent years, according to an article by John Graham, senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis. Read More »

The Partnership for Prescription Assistance (PPA) launched a redesigned website on Tuesday, with new functionality and features that give caregivers and patients easier, faster access to information on more than 475 private and public patient assistance programs. Read More »

Centene Corp. on Feb. 27 announced that Nurtur, its health and wellness company serving employers, health plans and government programs, received at Wellness and Health Promotion Accreditation renewal from the National Committee for Quality Assurance. Read More »

The House Committee on Ways and Means passed multiple bills last week to protect Medicare, including the Protecting the Integrity of Medicare Act of 2015. Read More »

Congressman Bruce Poliquin recently wrote to the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about a rule that could enable pharmaceutical companies to distribute prescription information through electronics rather than through paper. The letter, which he sent to Dr. Margaret Hamburg (Commissioner of the FDA), opposes the idea that the companies should be allowed to electronically send such information to health care professionals. His reasoning is that there are still many families witho Read More »

A survey by Xcenda, published in the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy’s March edition of “Journal of Managed Care and Specialty Pharmacy,” showed that 75 percent of pharmacists are most confident substituting interchangeable biosimilars for brand biologics when products share non-property name. Read More »

Bravos Private Equity Partners, LLC, a private investment firm, said on Thursday that it has agreed to sell its portfolio company, Healthcare Solutions, to Catamaran Corp. Read More »

Omnicell, a provider of medication and supply management solutions to health care systems and pharmacies, said on Thursday that it signed an agreement to purchase MACH4 Pharma Systems, which supplies highly automated medication management systems to over 1,000 retail hospitals and pharmacies in Europe, China and the Middle East. Read More »

A bill was introduced in the U.S. House this week to prevent Medicare fraud. Read More »

The National Association of Chain Drug Stores urged recognition of pharmacist as health care providers Read More »

TeaserRetail Management Solutions, a leader in POS systems that supplies small pharmacies with specialized POS software, on Thursday announced a partnership with VUCA Health that will allow clients access to a new feature called MedsOnCue. Read More »

Navitus Health Solutions, LLC, a national pharmacy benefit manager, on Wednesday announced that it is opening a new regional office in Phoenix in order to accommodate the company’s great corporate growth. Navitus anticipates moving into the new space in spring 2015. Read More »

Diplomat Pharmacy, Inc., and BioRx, LLC, on Thursday announced an agreement in which Diplomat will acquire BioRx. Read More »

Buck Consultants at Xerox released the findings from the 2014 annual “Prescription Drug Benefit Survey” which revealed that 77 percent employers spend 16 percent or more of their total healthcare budget on pharmacy benefits for employees and almost five percent of employers spend more than 30 percent on pharmacy. Read More »

PeformRx said on Tuesday that it is launching HealthNHandSM, a personalized digital mobile platform that is aimed at improving medication-regimen adherence for asthma patients. Read More »

The Pharmacy Benefit Management Institute (PBMI), a national organization committed to research and education of pharmacy benefit management, said on Monday that it has hired Sharon Glave Frazee to be its new vice president of research and education. Read More »

Inovalon, a technology company that provides cloud-based data analytics and data driven intervention platforms to the healthcare industry, on Tuesday announced a multi-year expansion of its relationship with Walgreens. Read More »