CPhA Announces New President, Dr. Vinson Lee

The California Pharmacists Association (CPhA) announced that Vinson C. Lee, PharmD, MS, FCPhA, was installed as President of the association on February 26, 2017 at the CPhA Western Pharmacy Exchange educational conference and annual business meeting held in Palm Springs, California. Read more...

 

Notice of Board of Trustee Vacancy

With CPhA members recently electing Dr. Clifford Young into the office of Speaker-Elect, his seat as an at-large Trustee was vacated. In accordance with the CPhA bylaws, any active pharmacist member who is interested in being considered for appointment to the vacant Trustee position shall complete and submit a Desire to Serve form expressing an interest in the position. The form must be received by CPhA by April 16, 2017.

 

Lynn Carman, tireless and fierce defender of patient access to pharmacy care, passed away February 12th  in San Francisco at the age of 90. Mr. Carman is a well-known attorney who founded the Medicaid Defense Fund to assist a broad coalition of provider groups in a landmark lawsuit against the California Department of Health Care Services. That case ultimately was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2011. Lynn was a man of integrity, wisdom, tireless energy, and defender for the underserved. Read more about his amazing life here .

 

Fighting opioid addiction in California is the goal of a new state bill announced Wednesday. Democratic State Assemblymember Kevin McCarty of Sacramento says opioid addiction is an epidemic in California. Read more...

Kern and Fresno counties, in the Central Valley, have the highest rates of congenital syphilis. Health officials think the surge is due to lack of prenatal care, drug use, risky sex and lack of awareness. Read more...

 

California's public health department Wednesday fired the contractor responsible for enrolling patients in a state-run AIDS program, saying its poor performance threatened enrollees' access to life-saving medications. Read more...

 

Epinephrine, the active ingredient in EpiPens, expires after 18 months, and the auto-injector device can't be refilled or reused. Health professionals are looking for work-arounds they say could save the health system millions. Read more...

 

A fifth case of mumps has been diagnosed in a Chapman University law student, public health officials said Tuesday. Chapman issued a health advisory Friday after four students who attended a back-to-school event Jan. 27 at Rudy's Pub & Grill in Newport Beach became ill. Read more...

 

A state senator is again pushing for health warning labels on cans and bottles of soda, sports drinks and other sugary beverages sold in California. Read more...

 

As a growing number of states legalize marijuana use, a leading pediatricians' group is pushing for more education about pot's potential to harm young people's health. Read more...

 

Do you have artwork that you would like to share with your colleagues in pharmacy? The California Pharmacist Journal editors are seeking photographs, drawings, or paintings for inclusion in the Journal. The artwork should high-quality, in digital format, and contain no identifiable people. Please email your submission to Jill Pfund at [email protected]. If your submission is chosen for inclusion, the editors will contact you.

 

The California State Board of Pharmacy announced the formal adoption of an amendment to section 1744 of Article 5 of Division 17 of Title 16 of the California Code of Regulations (CCR), related to drug warnings. The amended regulation requires a pharmacist to include a written label on prescription drug containers indicating that the drug may impair a user's ability to operate a vehicle or vessel. In addition, the regulation requires a pharmacist to include a written label on prescription drug containers of drugs that pose a substantial risk to the person consuming the drug when taken in combination with alcohol. Read more...

 

The Department of Health Care Services' (DHCS) new online Medi-Cal Enrollment Portal, PAVE (Provider Application and Validation for Enrollment), is now available.  A full list of support available for PAVE users can be found on the PAVE website. The Provider Enrollment Division (PED) offers weekly Q&A webinars to answer your questions about Provider Application and Validation for Enrollment (PAVE). Register here...

To assist our members with understanding and complying with new  Board of Pharmacy compounding regulations, CPhA has developed a web-based Compounding Compliance Kit.  This resource is free for all CPhA members. The Compliance Kit has sections covering new BUD requirements, HD compounding requirements, and Board of Pharmacy waiver requests. Click here to view the kit.