McKesson Canada sent out faxes to community pharmacies (outside Toronto) with instructions on how to pre-order online. 

Out of 11 steps to follow during a blood pressure check, medical students correctly completed about 4 of those steps in a simulated patient encounter....but I'm sure other health care professionals would miss some steps too!

If you are a pharmacist in these cities, you may start seeing them again.

​I highly recommend a subscription to Pharmacist's Letter. It summarizes the newest info very well.

Not really "new" information, but now we know who bought those 27 Rexall pharmacies...
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Government recently announced the following:
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Ontario College of Pharmacists comments about a complaint. 

Very interesting announcement, and totally a surprise to me. Cost is approx $465 million per year. It makes me wonder if the Ontario gov't might introduce more drug cost reform to pay for it??? ​

"Ontario was the last jurisdiction in North America to grant Nurse Practitioners the authority to prescribe controlled drugs and substances."

He will be focused on helping the Association achieve the aggressive goals set out in its most recent strategic plan, including further expanding pharmacists’ scope of practice to better meet the needs of Ontarians.

http://us5.campaign-archive1.com/?u=52d9e9dfa66c8bca909aa4569&id=54e33b726c&e=9baff9d7eb​
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​​Public Education Programming and Surveillance for Legalized Cannabis

Now that the paperless drug card initiative has been underway for a few months, the Ministry of Community and Social Services is looking to pharmacies for feedback on the implementation process in order to help guide any future initiatives and changes:

​https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KHDLPFK

Back in Januaray 2017, the Ontario government dedicated an additional $5 million to help smokers quit: news.ontario.ca/mohltc/en/2017/01/new-supports-to-help-people-in-ontario-quit-smoking.html

$2.5 million is dedicated towards "Quit Cards" which reimburse pharmacies up to $450 in nicotine replacement therapies. 

These quit cards are currently being distributed via in-patient hospitals and cancer centres. Patients bring their quit card to their local pharmacy to obtain free NRT. 

Adjudication details can be found at: ottawamodel.ottawaheart.ca/quitcard

[If you have any questions or difficulties processing, contact STI Customer Support at 1-877-790-1991 (7:30am-5pm EST). Process the claim using the QUIT CARD set as PRIMARY PAYER. Use “99999” in the PRESCRIBER ID field and “QUIT CARD” in the PRESCRIBER NAME field.]

After the pilot, the cards *may* be distributed via family physicians and pharmacists as well. 

Blexten (BLEKS-ten, bilastine) and Rupall (ROO-pal, rupatadine) are two new antihistamines on prescription. 

"BLEXTEN (bilastine 20 mg oral tablet) is a second generation antihistamine drug for the treatment of Seasonal Allergic Rhinitis (SAR) and Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria (CSU).  BLEXTEN exerts its effect as a selective histamine H1 receptor antagonist, and has an effectiveness comparable to cetirizine, fexofenadine and desloratadine."

"Rupatadine is a new second-generation antihistamine and platelet-activating factor (PAF) antagonist."

Blexten DIN is 2454130 
Rupall DIN is ​2456451 

You can also read more on Canadian Pharmacist's Letter; February 2017; Vol: 33

"Staff from the Ontario Pharmacists Association met with senior representatives from the Ontario Medical Association (OMA) this week to discuss various areas in which pharmacists and physicians are increasingly working together to provide care to their mutual patients....

The OMA also provided some suggestions for pharmacies, based on physician feedback, to help their members better navigate the MedsCheck program, with the ultimate goal of helping patients and physicians get the most out of the program.  These suggestions include:

• If there are recommendations for the physician to respond to, as a part of the MedsCheck documentation, pharmacists should highlight them (for example, using bolded and/or large text) on the Healthcare Notification Form which will help draw the physician’s attention to them.
• Physicians have asked that pharmacy staff NOT fax more pages than are required – the Healthcare Notification Fax Cover Page and the Personal Medication Record in almost all cases are sufficient.  Additional information, such as the Pharmacist Worksheet, should only be provided upon request by a physician.
  
• Pharmacists should anticipate that physician responses may take a few days, as when the faxes are received at the office, the physician may be seeing patients and may not able to review transmission right away.  Additionally, the physician may require further information to make a clinical decision that requires follow-up with the patient, thus further delaying any response."
  

 

More Info Here: 
http://us5.campaign-archive1.com/?u=52d9e9dfa66c8bca909aa4569&id=7c73332722

Right now, Canada has a patchwork of public and private drug coverage, leaving gaps that some individuals needing prescription drugs struggle to fill.

More info at:
globalnews.ca/news/3109134/what-you-need-to-know-about-a-universal-prescription-drug-plan/

#healthcare #prescription #drugs #canada #pharmacist #medication

By the end of September, nearly 100,000 Canadians had obtained prescriptions and registered to buy cannabis with one of the growers licensed by Health Canada, such as the Tweed company in Smiths Falls. That’s a dramatic leap from the 30,537 people registered in September 2015. 

More at: 
ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/number-of-canadians-buying-legal-medical-marijuana-triples-in-just-one-year
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