PHARMACIST STEVE

Safety   Exercise extreme caution when switching hydromorphone concentrations or interchanging to other injectable opioid products (eg, morphine). Equianalgesic dosing conversions are based on limited data and do not account for patient specific factors (eg, end organ function, pharmacogenomics) or incomplete cross-tolerance between opioids. No equianalgesic dosing conversion factors are universally accepted.[7-8]   https://www.ashp.org/drug-shortages/current-shortages/drug-shortage-detail.aspx?id=329&loginreturnUrl=SSOCheckOnly  

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Medicare to Cover Blockbuster Obesity Drugs https://www.medpagetoday.com/publichealthpolicy/medicare/118344 Monthly drug prices slashed by hundreds in deal with drugmakers Medicare will cover semaglutide (Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Zepbound) for their weight management indications for people with obesity, President Trump announced on Thursday. “Until now, neither of these two popular drugs have been covered by Medicare for weight loss, and […]

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CMS launches pilot to lower Medicaid drug costs: 8 things to know https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/pharmacy/cms-launches-pilot-to-lower-medicaid-drug-costs-8-things-to-know/ CMS is launching a pilot program aimed at lowering prescription drug costs in Medicaid by aligning prices with those paid in other developed countries. The program is set to begin in January. “CMS is making a historic commitment to driving down the […]

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Final Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Rule Displeases Doc Groups It “does not go far enough” to address the last two decades of payment cuts, they say https://www.medpagetoday.com/publichealthpolicy/medicare/118333 Physician groups were generally dissatisfied with the final 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule rule released late last week by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). “Decades […]

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https://www.whas11.com/article/news/local/louisville-plane-crash-near-muhammad-ali-international-airport/417-a0b0a715-b95e-40ea-864d-a729933e6c25 280,000 lbs of fuel, on board departing for Hawaii  LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Several agencies are responding to a report of a plane crash near Fern Valley Road and Grade Lane. A large plume of smoke could be seen on traffic cameras south of the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport (SDF) just before 5:30 p.m. […]

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Aren’t politicians suppose to work in the best interest of their constituents ? The Senate has basically shut the federal government down.  Apparently there is some 2-3 million federal works that are expected to work and not being paid. Of course the 535 members of Congress continue to get paid while the government is “shut […]

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The True Story of Morphine Milligram Equivalents (MME) https://www.acsh.org/news/2022/03/01/true-story-morphine-milligram-equivalents-mme-16154 By Chuck Dinerstein, MD, MBA — March 1, 2022 They are the foundation of the CDC’s 2016 opioid guidelines, resulting in legislation that limits opioid prescribing in 36 states. Morphine milligram equivalents, or MMEs, are used to set arbitrary prescribing limits for opioids by physicians, since many state […]

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