On a gram-for-gram basis, many drugs are now more expensive than gold. That fact is not lost on the criminals among us, as reflected in a pharmacist.com news story detailing several recent heists of medications and nutritional products. But remember one thing: These thieves wouldn’t have risked doing this if there weren’t a brisk black market in the United States for the sale of diverted or stolen pharmaceuticals.

I believe pharmacists in this country take supply-chain integrity for granted. I say this with the perspective of someone who spent almost 8 years doing supply-chain audits and chasing diverted drugs all over the world. My opinion doesn’t come just from my own experiences (which focused largely on the mainstream distribution system in the United States, where major improvements in security have occurred) but also from conversations and meetings with many industry security professionals who are faced with protecting their companies’ products. These folks are challenged every day in this country and around the world. 

These recent high-profile thefts should serve as a reminder to all pharmacists to pay attention to where you purchase your pharmaceuticals. Know your distributor and ask questions about their practices. Do not respond to faxes offering deals you know are too good to be true. These thieves will find someone to buy their take—make sure it isn’t one of your patients who ends up with these diverted drugs! If you are not careful, this could happen to you.

In addition, be sure to warn your patients about the dangers of buying drugs from the Internet. Most diverted drugs will find their way to consumers through this channel. The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy tries to warn Internet consumers they should use only known sites that are verified through NABP’s VIPPS program. But with all the noise consumers hear, it is a difficult message to convey. Be sure your patients hear it!

By 8:30 this Friday morning, one inch of the APhA Annual Meeting was complete! I sat in the staff office at the convention center in Washington, DC, and thinned out the binder that contains schedules, scripts and “continuities,” contact information, presentations, and background information. Hundreds of functions occur in what to an outsider may look like a cacophony of activity, but in reality is a well-choreographed set of events whose planning started years ago.

For me, the first on-site meetings began on Wednesday. By this morning, I was able to take an inch of paper out of my binder, which serves as my “bible” through the roughly 7 days of meetings.

Our Board of Trustees meeting is complete, and our work with state associations is well under way. It is so energizing to associate with so many motivated and innovative pharmacists. While we’re beating last year’s attendance numbers, I wish we could get every pharmacist in America to attend. We could cross-pollinate best practices so much faster if more pharmacists congregated, engaged, and networked in forums like this one.

For APhA2010, the train has left the station. All the planning is done, and now we execute! In what will seem like a blur, the meeting will be over. We will review everything that happened so that APhA2011 can be our best Annual Meeting ever!

If you are reading this, and you are not here in Washington, make your plans now to be in Seattle on March 25–28, 2011. And make sure you attend your state association meeting this year! The wealth of information and networking opportunities available at pharmacy meetings are a great way to recharge your professional batteries and stay current in your practice. I’ll see you at many state association meetings this year and APhA2011 next March!

PS You can follow all the action at APhA2010 on Twitter and Facebook. Follow our Twitter feed or find us on Facebook.

I received a call yesterday from Chris Worral and Jeff Kelman of CMS, one relating news that affects the provision of Part D prescription drugs to more than 123,000 Medicare beneficiaries. Pharmacists, as front-line practitioners, will be instrumental in helping patients understand the situation and what is happening to their medicines.

CMS terminated its contract with a prescription drug plan (PDP), Fox Insurance Company, which was providing Part D benefits to patients in 21 states. The action took effect immediately. All patients enrolled with Fox will temporarily receive their medications through LI Net/Humana, a program run by Medicare and administered by Humana. More details about this action are available in a news article posted last night on pharmacist.com.

Dr. Kelman stressed to me that all drugs will be reimbursed and that patients should not walk out of pharmacies empty handed. Implicit in that statement is that CMS will back the pharmacies if questions arose.

I encourage all pharmacists who encounter patients affected by this action to take a moment to explain to them that medicines are being covered and that patients have the option of choosing a new PDP between now and May 1. If beneficiaries do not choose a new PDP, one will be assigned for them by CMS, so it is important they proactively choose a plan that will best meet their needs.