Fagron US’ Post

🚨 IV Fluid Shortage Update 🚨 Hospitals and healthcare systems nationwide are facing a critical IV fluid shortage after Hurricane Helene damaged a major Baxter plant, which produces 60% of the nation’s supply. Hospitals nationwide are postponing non-emergency surgeries, exploring alternative fluids, and implementing conservation strategies to manage the shortage. The CDC issued a health advisory on Oct. 12, providing guidelines for managing supply disruptions, including assessing current supplies, reporting shortages to the FDA, and communicating changes to providers and families.Baxter expects supply levels to reach 90-100% by year-end, but disruptions will continue until then. At Crestmark Pharmacy, we're here to support long-term and senior care facilities during these challenges and will continue to will keep providers informed with the latest updates and solutions. #IVShortage #PatientCare #PharmacySupport #LongTermCare #CDC #Baxter https://lnkd.in/gfJWKmyn

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Launches Emergency Resources for Hurricane Helene Victims in Florida and Georgia The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, under the leadership of Secretary Xavier Becerra of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has launched an emergency response to support Florida and Georgia following Hurricane Helene. With President Biden's state of emergency declaration, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is deploying resources, including waivers for healthcare providers to maintain operations, and introducing special enrollment periods for Medicaid and CHIP. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services also activated the Kidney Community Emergency Response program to assist dialysis patients and is replacing damaged medical equipment for Medicare beneficiaries. These efforts aim to ensure uninterrupted healthcare services during the disaster. For more details please click the link! https://lnkd.in/dHQadbkd #marketaccess #reimbursement #pricing #hta #heor #healtheconomics #medicaldevices #pharmaceutical 

This #WorldMenopauseDay, we publish figures on #HormoneReplacementTherapy (HRT) prescriptions. The publication aims to provide a view of HRT prescribing covered by the HRT PPC in England, April 2015 to June 2024. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eMrJNmN4 Key findings 2023/24: ▶️ There were 13 million #HRT items prescribed to an estimated 2.6 million identified patients, a 22% increase since 2022/23. ▶️ The estimated number of identified patients receiving HRT increased by 12%, from 2.3 million in 2022/23 to 2.6 million in 2023/24. ▶️ Patients aged 50 to 54 were the largest group of identified patients - 640,000 patients were identified in this category. They account for almost a quarter of all identified patients in 2023/34. ▶️ An estimated 740,000 identified patients were prescribed HRT items in areas of the lowest deprivation. This was more than double the estimated 325,000 identified patients in the most deprived areas. ▶️ Since its launch, the HRT PPC has helped people across England with health costs, with 893,593 successful applications to date. The HRT PPC covers an unlimited number of listed HRT medicines for 12 months, for the cost of two single prescription charges, currently £19.30. It is available to buy online at: https://lnkd.in/eb3CEy5h, or in-person at some pharmacies. To read the full statistical publication, visit: https://lnkd.in/ekQVWibX

(Braxton, first-hand account) As you can see, GEDSA’s “mission” is to minimize the risk of small bore tubing misconnections, which caused 8 patient deaths over the span of thirteen years. This is a small number, but preventing death is always important. Without GEDSA, hospitals already implemented a host of process controls and checks which essentially eliminated the risk of patient deaths altogether, but for some reason, GEDSA still decided to take-on this already-mitigated problem. This design also introduces a host of other problems that currently do not exist in healthcare - some of which create potential mortality on a much higher scale than they started with. The ISO 80369-3 system increases risk of infection, risk of medication overdose, risk of medication underdose, and significantly increases medication waste / product cost. GEDSA companies like Baxter, via ISO 80369-3, stands to make way more money on medication because the new syringe design causes so much wasted product (up to 400% of the intended dose, based on the data I saw). In order to fix this new problem, you’d have to buy three more products that you weren't buying before in order to keep the original product “safe” and “efficacious.” I had an email from Scott Colburn at the FDA stating this standard was introducing “intolerable” cost to the healthcare system because its design was so flawed. Nurses and pharmacies would now have to wipe-off very expensive medication because the system design is so sloppy to fill. Some of that slop could overdose a baby, for example, like a NICU patient, if a nurse or pharmacist doesn't wipe it off properly. This means the nurse better have some kind of insurance because she’ll get blamed in the event of a patient death. This fact is not mentioned anywhere by GEDSA on their website. The BD numbers I saw personally showed hundreds of millions of doses administered per year using just BD's systems. Increased infection, likelihood of overdose or underdose- even if these adverse health effects occur in only 0.1% of the time, this would equate to 10,000 patients per year being affected- much more than 8 times every 13 years (which has already been resolved). Change management is really important. Some products are quite sensitive, and can function differently if only one aspect of it changes, let alone a whole connector system attached to it like this one. For example, if a box of COVID vaccines gets stuck on a hot cargo plane in the Summer heat, the doses might heat up enough to change on a chemical level, and either not work properly or cause other issues to the people receiving them. Most companies retain teams of engineers and experts to ensure that each and every change made to products has been properly assessed. https://lnkd.in/g6QzTzrp

🚨 Concerned by Committee Approval of S.B. 1179 – Urging the Senate to Protect Michigan Patients We are concerned that S.B. 1179 has passed the committee and is now headed to the Michigan Senate. This bill represents a step backward for the 340B Drug Pricing Program’s mission to serve low-income and uninsured patients. Key Concerns About S.B. 1179: - Only 28% of contract pharmacies are in medically underserved areas, leaving pharmacy deserts in Michigan's most vulnerable communities. - 92% of 340B hospitals provide less charity care than the national average, highlighting the program’s misuse. - Corporate stakeholders, not patients, are benefiting most from 340B discounts—hospitals and PBMs reap profits while patients are left without significant savings. The original intent of the 340B program was to provide affordable care to the underserved, but S.B. 1179 prioritizes profits over patients, exacerbating these inequities. Now is the time for the Senate to step up and reject S.B. 1179. Legislators must prioritize patient-centered reforms that ensure safety net programs like 340B truly serve those in need. Let’s hold our leaders accountable and advocate for policies that protect Michigan's most vulnerable populations. #SayNoToSB1179 #PatientCare #340BReform #MichiganHealthcare #ProtectPatients Sam Singh Mallory McMorrow Erika-Marie S. Geiss Dayna Polehanki State Sen. Ed McBroom Jonathan Lindsey for State Senate

We are excited to announce that AF Association has partnered with Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust. The project “is looking at how the detection and treatment of AF can be improved via ‘enhanced’ medicines use reviews in community pharmacies. Community pharmacists currently provide medicines use reviews to patients and are ideally situated to facilitate the diagnosis of AF.” Read the full press release: https://loom.ly/oFQQmOA

#OnlineFirst w/ #PMT #JPharmTechnol this week, Richardson and colleagues w/ Cleveland Clinic report improved time to #antibiotic administration using a new inpatient code protocol for treating #sepsis in adult patients: https://lnkd.in/eJenaFYz #pharmacy #medicationmanagement #pharmacists

Since its establishment in 2012, the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Rare Pediatric Disease Priority Review Voucher (RPD PRV) program has been pivotal in encouraging the development of new therapies for primary immunodeficiency (PI). The RPD PRV program supports medical advancement for rare pediatric diseases by awarding companies that develop new treatments with vouchers that can expedite the FDA’s review of any future medicine. Recently, the program has helped incentivize the development of life-saving therapies for four types of primary immunodeficiency that previously had no FDA-approved treatment options. This is why it is imperative that Congress passes the Creating Hope Reauthorization Act (H.R. 7384/S. 4583) to prevent the PRD PRV program from expiring on September 30, 2024. To preserve PRD PRVs and the positive impact on children affected by PI, urge your members of Congress to support this legislation.

💊 Multi Drug Therapy (MDT) has been good news in the control of leprosy since the 1980s, but with some anomalies for children under 10. The MDT regime for young children has been either inaccessible or otherwise free but of the size that young children would struggle to swallow. With dispersible formulations or oral liquid of some TB medicines now available, the lack of advance in the treatment of leprosy among children can now be addressed. With the support of partners, Lepra produced a call for action supported by a Factsheet, and presented it to the technical advisors at Lepra, then at an alliance of NGO’s working on leprosy called ILEP, and finally at World Health Organization’s Global Leprosy Programme. Read more 👉 https://bit.ly/4auOVPd . . . . . . . . . . #lepra #leprosy #mdt #ntd #medicine #medical #health #globalhealth #worldhealth #international #world #global #charity #medicalcomms #medicalcommunity #medicalcommunications #children #child #india #bangladesh #uk #justice

Greater ambition is needed to improve patient access to innovative medicines. In this post, Paul Catchpole outlines what needs to change to ensure that NHS patients can access new clinically proven and cost-effective medicines that could benefit them. https://lnkd.in/eGWQSD9y