R.J. Hedges Podcast

Learn what a registrant is, why you should have certificant or coordinator, the 2 types of power of attorneys your pharmacy should have, and what forms you’ll need to complete to get these items in place from this recent podcast

"Partnership Series" and try a few times each year to help spotlight one of these businesses.  In the past we've done live webinars that people sign up for, then on-demand webinars

Whether you’ve worked your whole career building your business, inherited or purchased from family, or more recently acquired the business, at some point, all owners start to think about the next chapters of their life and selling their business.  The world of pharmacy isn’t much different from other businesses in this sense, and it can be hard for an entrepreneur, visionary, and owner to start forecasting life without the business they’ve given so much of their time, energy, focus, and money.

There was a lot of movement going into the implementation date, and folks were trying to figure out exactly how <800> would impact their specific facility.

Today's Pharmacy Compliance Guide is the second part of our series on preparing for USP <800> Hazardous Drugs (HD). In our last podcast, titled: “How will USP <800> Impact My Retail and LTC Pharmacy?” we addressed what each pharmacy must do to prepare for implementation of these guidelines. We covered these topics:

USP-800 was designed to address the proper handling of hazardous drugs (HDs) in a pharmacy setting. Its guidelines are plainly aimed at promoting patient and worker safety in and around non-sterile and sterile compounding. The first section clearly covers compounding in its purest form.

However, when you move into section two, you quickly realize the dispensing of pills, capsules, liquids and manufactured packaged items are also covered by USP-800 Different types of terms are being used to describe types of hazardous drugs, such as antineoplastic, non-antineoplastic, reproductive risk only; dosage form, risk of exposure, packaging, and manipulation. This may sound like a whole lot of mumbo jumbo, but it is the new language of hazardous drugs.

The R.J. Hedges Team delivers another "heads up" discussion on the Suspension of Competitive Bid and what this means to your pharmacy business.  Listen to Becky & Jeff on the latest

We know that no employer likes to terminate an employee; from the business standpoint- there’s an open position that we must re-hire and re-train, it can be taxing on the rest of the staff and difficult for managers to try to work in interviews and screening processes into their already jam packed schedules.  And then there’s the additional emotional tie as well- these folks maybe leaving unexpectedly or under strained situations, and there’s personal friendships have been forged and they’re now kind of dicey, so it can be very difficult.

With so many regulations, PHI, and privacy concerns how in the world do you prepare for an employee termination way before it even becomes a necessary discussion?  What should the Employee Handbook include?  What documents do parting employees need to complete?  Are there entities that need notified when employees leave?

In order to stay competitive, many businesses are turning to offshore companies as a way to cut costs while still providing tech support, customer service, billing processes, and more. Consider your contracted companies with which you have signed a business associate agreement (BAA); could any of them be utilizing offshore workforces?

In the case of any breaches, the United States government won't have any legal recourse.  Plus NCPDP and many PBM's are already asking for attestations stating your BAA's are not using an offshore workforce.

We'll help you understand the concern so you can prepare before issues arise.  For example; Draft a document that mirrors the contract PBMs ask your pharmacy to sign and have any business associates complete, sign and send back. Once this is completed, your pharmacy can adequately answer any questions from the NCPDP and PBMs pertaining to your BAA's offshore practices.

This podcast episode discusses the impacts offshore businesses will have and helps pharmacies take action as soon as possible.

Remember that business associate agreements are contracts; if you are signing a vendor's BAA, make sure you read it, understand it, and agree with it, because once it’s signed you are stuck with it.

Draft a document that mirrors the contract PBMs, ask your pharmacy to sign and have any business associates check one of the two boxes prior to returning it. Once this is completed, your pharmacy can adequately answer any questions from the NCPDP and PBMs

A lot of people ask me about Medicare. There is a lot of confusion about who needs what number.

Immunizations

Medicare Number –This division (NSC) takes about 3 months to issue a number. This application requires you to carry a surety bond and have a certificate of liability with NSC as the certificate holder as well as your AO (if you have one).

New applications, as well as re-validations, will require owners and authorized officials to be fingerprinted.

Two ways to complete

o   Benefits

o   Benefits

o   Accreditation

o   Exemption

o   Revalidation

Revalidation happens every 3 – 5 years

What that means

You  “update” your Medicare application and pay Medicare $$. Every year they change the Medicare application fee. For 2018 it is $569 per application.