Search is Powered by Google
Follow us on:
Follow our health news on Twitter
Follow Our News on Facebook
Personalization
login | register
Pharmacy / Pharmacist News

Pharmacy Benefit Manager Medco To Launch Prescription Drug Review System As Part Of Effort To Reduce Medication Errors

Main Category: Pharmacy / Pharmacist
Article Date: 17 Oct 2007 - 10:00 PDT

email icon email to a friend   printer icon printer friendly   write icon view / write opinions   rate icon rate article
Current Article Ratings:

Patient / Public:3 stars

3 (2 votes)

Health Professional:not yet rated

Article Opinions: 0 posts

Pharmacy benefit manager Medco Health Solutions on Tuesday will launch a prescription review system in an effort to reduce costly and potentially life-threatening medication errors, the AP/Long Island Newsday reports. According to a 2006 report by the Institute of Medicine, 1.5 million preventable medication errors occur annually and such errors cost at least $3.5 billion in treatment.

Under Medco's program, computers will flag incoming prescriptions for people with chronic health conditions, such as diabetes, cancer and infectious disease, for a specialty pharmacist to review as needed. Medco has trained 700 pharmacists, each on one of seven chronic conditions. The PBM also has established a resource center for each condition at its mail-order pharmacies.

Pharmacists will look for dosing errors, interactions with other medications, whether a person is refilling prescriptions as directed and whether a different medication might be more appropriate. People also will have access to a 24-hour hotline for questions about prescription and over-the-counter drugs.

PBMs Express Scripts and CVS Caremark have similar programs for people with complex conditions, and WellPoint said it is starting a program that will cover 14 conditions. Anne Burns, a vice president at the American Pharmacists Association, on Monday said the growing movement by chain drugstores, hospitals and mail-order pharmacies that offer such evaluation services is "a significant trend across practice settings" (Johnson, AP/Long Island Newsday, 10/15).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.




Personalized Homepage Weekly Newsletters Daily News Alerts
Hemophilia Opioid Induced Constipation Pneumococcal Disease ADHD Anxiety Asthma Atrial Fibrillation Autism Cancer Diabetes Lung Cancer Lupus Medicare / Medicaid Obesity and BMI Pancreatic Cancer Stem Cells All 'What Is...' Articles

Ophthalmology Urology
About Us News Licensing Free Website Feeds Free Tools & Content Tell a Friend Accessibility Help / FAQ Article Submission Links Contact Us

add medical news today to your facebook
medical news gadget

Please fill in our survey

Swine Flu Image

Swine Flu Updates

- Latest Swine Flu News
- What is Swine Flu?
- Map Of H1N1 Outbreaks
- Swine Flu - Top 20 FAQ
- Daily Email News Alerts
Stick with Medical News Today for the latest news updates on swine flu.


These are the most read articles from this news category for the last 6 months:
Top Article Star
What Is Amoxicillin? What Does Amoxicillin Treat?
22 Jul 2009
Amoxicillin - better known by brand names such as Amoxil, Dispermox, Trimox, and Alphamox - is an antibiotic drug in the penicillin group that fights bacteria and bacterial infections...


Healthy Eyes On The Computer
Healthy Eyes On The Computer

Long hours in front of the computer can lead to eyestrain and headaches. But taking breaks, keeping your eyes hydrated, and making sure your computer is positioned properly can make a big difference.

more videos are available in our health videos section.