The Shaeffer Consulting Group guides its clients to make strategic, intelligent decisions that will ultimately result in safe, clinically sound, and cost-effective solutions that are beneficial for their patients and organization.

In 2016, PRMC Home Scripts approached The Shaeffer Consulting Group about improving their ambulatory pharmacy operations. PRMC Home Scripts, part of the Peninsula Regional Medical Center (PRMC) in Salisbury, Maryland, is a first-fill pharmacy with two locations—onsite at the hospital and a retail location in Ocean Pines, a senior living facility. 

While the hospital-based PRMC Home Scripts pharmacy is designed for first fills only, PRMC Home Scripts Ocean Pines is a full-service community pharmacy. Patients who choose to stay with PRMC Home Scripts in the Ocean Pines, Berlin, Bishopville and lower Sussex County Delaware communities can continue to have their prescriptions filled there.

PRMC has 289 hospital beds and has been serving the healthcare needs of nearly 500,000 patients since 1897. It currently has about 3,300 physicians, staff and volunteers who provide safe, compassionate and affordable care.

PRMC Home Scripts has worked with Shaeffer Consulting previously on other projects and knew the results they could expect by working with them again. [Read more…]

By Geert Cauwenbergh, Dr.Med.Sc.

As the baby boom generation continues to get older, its members’ vision will likely decline. In May 2016, the National Eye Institute (NEI), a division of the National Institutes of Health, reported the results of a study published in JAMA Ophthalmology projecting that as the youngest baby boomers turn 65 by the year 2029, the population diagnosed with visual impairment or blindness is expected to rise—eventually doubling to more than eight million by 2050. Previous research by the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) pronounced this is “a looming health crisis” and noted that more than a third of boomers do not undergo annual eye exams.

Advanced wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), along with subretinal fibrosis, is likely to contribute to this state of affairs. Anti-VEGF therapy is the current primary drug therapy for AMD yet approximately one-half of AMD patients develop retinal scars within two years of initiating anti-VEGF treatment, according to research published in the journal Ophthalmology. One area of research is focused on the proteins that trigger the process in AMD that may cause this retinal scarring. The goal is to see if it is possible to regulate or block these proteins.

RNA interference (RNAi) can target and destroy specific RNAs before they serve as templates for the generation of hundreds to thousands of copies of the coded protein. This phenomenon, discovered by Dr. Craig C. Mello, served as the basis of the work for which he shared the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The theory behind the use of this approach as a therapy is: reduced scar proteins, reduced retinal scarring. [Read more…]

Influencers in genetics and genomics team up for new STTI book

Managing debilitating conditions like cancer, asthma, or depression can be challenging for patients and health care professionals, but new research shows that the pain of these conditions can be minimized through individualized drug therapy. Recent developments in a new study called pharmacogenomics could help identify the best strategy for a more individualized drug plan for certain health problems. According to the National Human Genome Research Institute, pharmacogenomics combines the science of how drugs work — pharmacology — with the science of the human genome — genomics.

Four of the top leaders in genetics, genomics, and pharmaceutical research — Dale Halsey Lea, MPPH, RN, CGC, FAAN; Dennis J. Cheek, PhD, RN, FAHA; Daniel Brazeau, PhD; and Gayle Brazeau, PhD — have put their minds and research together to create an informational guide to the inner workings of pharmacogenomics and how it could help prevent many diseases and relieve side effects of current treatments.

[Read more…]

The Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association (PPA) recently announced a record number of 29 posters were present at the PPA Mid-Year Conference, held January 24-26, 2014 in Bedford, Pa. Poster Presentations are coordinated by the PPA Educational Foundation and occur annually at the Mid-Year Conference. 

Students, residents and new practitioners from five schools of pharmacy in Pennsylvania participated by presenting posters at the conference. The schools that participated were: Duquesne University Mylan School of Pharmacy, Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine School of Pharmacy, Philadelphia College of Pharmacy at the University of the Sciences, University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy and Wilkes University Nesbitt College of Pharmacy.

The 2014 theme for the posters was: A New Generation of Pharmacy Practice in Pennsylvania: Exploring Emerging Issues and Innovative Pharmacy Practice. Conference attendees interacted with presenters during the main session on Saturday evening and discussed the posters in detail. Posters were on display for the remainder of the weekend.

Founded in 1878, the Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association is a professional membership organization of more than 2,000 pharmacists and pharmacy students across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, representing almost all facets of pharmacy practice.  As the leading voice of pharmacy in Pennsylvania, it promotes the profession through advocacy, education, and communication to enhance patient care and public health.

By John Chamberlin

Nearly 12 months ago, the Hometown Pharmacy chain began offering a revolutionary concept of customized packaging for patient prescriptions.  Hometown Pharmacy’s RXMap medication packaging systems allows for patients, who are receiving multiple daily doses and/or multiple medications per day to have their prescriptions packaged in the same bubble packaging and marked for the day and time of day the prescriptions are to be taken.  The MAP stands for “Medication Adherence Packaging”.

But RXMap hasn’t stopped at a single mission. The company is now intimately involved in helping personal care and long-term skill nursing facilities reduce costly re-admissions of their patients to local hospitals.  According to Shawn Nairn, RPh “The reason we developed RXMap is that, now, more than ever, patient’s compliance to medication is part of the healthcare paradigm.  To reduce re-admissions and, and subsequently healthcare costs, we need to help patients to be more compliant with their medications so that they stay healthier and stay out of the hospital.  We look at our RXMap system as a way of assisting long-term care providers with their tasks. Ultimately, it will improve patient outcomes which benefits the patients, there families and also the healthcare facility.”
[Read more…]

By John Chamberlin

It’s great to see corporate wellness increasingly becoming the “in thing!”  Employee participation in group weight loss contests, walks, 5K, half and full marathon running teams are certainly on the rise.

But is exercise the only component to corporate wellness?  What about daily medication compliance, education on dietary methods or identifying an employee’s risk for diabetes?  Does stress at home affect work output?  Should I get a flu shot or not?

And what about wellness education programs that make sense… education and testing targeted to your specific employees and their work conditions?

We spent some time with Kathy Fillip Wellness Coordinator at Hometown Pharmacy talking about this.  The Hometown Pharmacy group has been providing education and testing through its Worksite Wellness program for over nine years.  And while Kathy is happy that there is a trend upward in company’s wanting this education and testing, she sees a need for change to make the wellness make sense.

[Read more…]

By Carol Aichele

Gov. Tom Corbett is fighting to make Pennsylvania a state where small businesses can flourish, create jobs, and provide important products and services to our citizens.

The governor’s recent signing of Act 207 of 2012, the Access to Community Pharmacy Services Law, is a big step forward in this effort, as well as a win for Pennsylvania consumers.

Pennsylvania is home to nearly 3,400 pharmacies.  These local businesses keep our citizens healthy by dispensing prescription drugs and counseling customers to make sure they understand their medications, as well as making sure prescriptions can be taken safely in combination with other medications.

Pharmacists help make our state’s health care system work.

Containing health care costs is also an important public policy goal, but must be balanced with providing the best care possible. These two goals began to collide in recent years, as more and more health plans cut deals with large, mail-order pharmacy companies to provide prescriptions at reduced cost.

[Read more…]