The Health Enhancement Research Organization (HERO), in collaboration with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), is introducing the HERO Worker Well-Being Clearinghouse database – powered by the NIOSH Worker Well-Being Questionnaire (NIOSH WellBQ). The open-source database stores anonymized data from the English and Spanish versions of […]

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The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has released a final rule to penalize health care providers for information blocking, aligning with the 21st Century Cures Act. The rule establishes disincentives for providers who knowingly interfere with the access, exchange, or use of electronic health information, except when justified by law or […]

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The Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence (FEND) Off Fentanyl Act has been signed into law. This bill is a sanctions and anti-money laundering bill that is intended to strengthen United States government agencies to disrupt illicit opioid supply chains and punish those facilitating fentanyl trafficking. Specifically, the FEND Off Fentanyl Act would declare international trafficking […]

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More than 670,000 pounds (335 tons) of unneeded and expired medications were collected during Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA’s) biannual National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. Since 2010, about 18.6 million pounds of unneeded medications have been collected nationwide for proper and safe disposal as part of DEA’s Drug Take Back Days.  In addition to disposing […]

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From January 1, 2020, through March 28, 2024, there were 338 confirmed measles cases, 29% of which occurred during the first quarter of 2024, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) recent report. Researchers note that almost all cases reported in 2024 occurred in people who were unvaccinated or whose vaccination status was […]

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Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) will run five months of ads to create more awareness of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline for select audiences. SAMHSA aims to reach communities that are disproportionately affected by suicide. The ads will appear on media sites like Hulu and YouTube and social media sites like […]

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Pharmacists are ranked as the third most trusted medical professionals among various occupations in Gallup’s 2023 Annual Rating of Honesty and Ethics survey. From November 9 to December 2, 2022, 58% of Americans ranked pharmacists as having high honest and ethical standards, which is slightly lower than their 2021 and 2020 ratings. In 2022, medical […]

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Pharmacist intervention was associated with lowering patients’ HbA1C levels by 1% after recommending that primary care providers switch medication treatments for their patients, according to research presented at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists’ midyear meeting. Using information in patients’ electronic health records, pharmacists provided 180 recommendations for 102 patients with diabetes and cardiovascular disease […]

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Between December 1, 2023, and January 23, 2024, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recorded 23 confirmed cases of measles, with seven linked to international travel and two outbreaks exceeding five cases each. Unvaccinated children and adolescents were most affected. CDC is advising pharmacists and other health care providers to be […]

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The National Association of State Controlled Substances Authorities (NASCSA) has partnered with Talem Health to create a one-hour, on-demand continuing education (CE) activity for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to improve prescription monitoring program (PMP) data. The Data Quality in Prescription Monitoring Programs course will provide insight into how pharmacy staff data entry processes affect PMP […]

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