The Pharmaceutical Industry And The New Era Of Health Reform

U.S. based companies hold rights to most of the world’s rights on new medicines and holds thousands of new products currently being developed. As of 2012, the industry helps support almost 3.4 million jobs in the U.S. economy. It is also one of the most heavily R&D based industries in the world. In the United States, the environment for pharmaceuticals is much friendlier than other countries around the world in terms of pricing ability and regulations. Both the Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology industries have experienced significant growth in the past year with year-over-year increases of 13.02% and 34.69% respectively. It is an even more striking when looking at the past five years considering both have beat out the S&P 500 with pharmaceuticals increasing an additional 31.44% and the biotechnology sector besting an astonishing 269.3% more return than the

When doctors prescribe medication for their patients, a local retail pharmacy is most likely to be utilized to fill the order. However, there is a growing population of older Americans that are no longer able to live independently and must reside in nursing homes or assisted living facilities. In order for this vulnerable population to receive their medications, a different kind of pharmacy is needed, these are known as LTC, long term care pharmacies. Within these specialized pharmacies there are highly trained employees called CPhTs, certified pharmacy technicians who are overseen by state licensed

The contribution of pharmacists in a clinical setting and community pharmacy is significant that the workforce benefit from. When the workforce understands their medications and complies with the prescribed treatment plans the work center becomes healthy and the potential of increased productivity becomes a realistic and profitable proposition for the organization. When the workforce takes advantage of the healthcare services the pharmacists provide in a community and clinical pharmacies productivity and profit are at high potential reality.

In the video Escape Fire, I was so flabbergasted by the numbers and health outcomes we as a society have let our nation become. One of the most heart-wrenching evidence is, even though our health care industry is so expensive our health outcomes are the worse. 75% of disabilities and dead’s are preventable, according to the film.

The demand for the medical services offered by pharmacists increases every year as the elderly population grows and the number of prescriptions increases to meet their needs. The United States Census Bureau recently found that 1 in 5 Americans will meet the age criteria necessary to be considered elderly. The National Association of Chain Drug Stores projects the growth of filled prescriptions in the United States from 4.1 billion in 2015 to 4.7 billion by 2021. Pharmacists perform a variety of tasks beyond just filling prescriptions, such as researching new drugs, working in hospitals, and writing patents. The high demand for pharmacists provides a wide array of career choices in both the private and public sectors.

The costs of prescription drugs in the United States: pharmacists’ voice must be heard is an article released by the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy on April 16, 2016. The article addresses the rising cost prescription drugs in today’s society and how healthcare spending affects millions of citizens. The article stated that the reason why healthcare expenditure is rising is due to the aging population and the increasing prevalence of noncommunicable diseases. Without counting severe conditions, chronic conditions are highest in the older population ages 65 and above.

With opening a new pharmacy, you would first have to staff the pharmacy with an experienced and appropriate staff such as pharmacy techs "these techs can actually perform many of the duties that are performed by a licensed pharmacist." (Pew, 2008, unit 5 attend section). as well as you must have a chief pharmacist that is well trained and licensed so that they are able to lead there team accordingly. "A chief pharmacist is the main person that is in the position to secure the support of senior clinicians and managers which is essential for a successful outcome in a new pharmacy. They will also be able to to engage with CCG senior pharmacists who can influence their own primary care stakeholders." (Badawski, 2015, p.49).

The dependency of profits to promote sales to please shareholders and research and development of new products seem to be the mindset of the pharmaceutical industry. It is without question that the pharmaceutical companies only care about making a profit more than they do to help the people of the United States. Pharmaceutical companies and doctors that represent them are only acting in their own best interest; patients are the ones who are suffering the most. With that, new information being produced it is not always being fully disclosed in the fine print, or the other option to the drugs they take, this just only helps fuel business’s.

"The boundaries between academic medicine — medical schools, teaching hospitals, and their faculty — and the pharmaceutical industry have been dissolving since the 1980s, and the important differences between their missions are becoming blurred. Medical research, education, and clinical practice have suffered as a result"

The pharmaceutical industry continues to be a major driver of trend. While demand for medicine rapidly increases in emerging economies, a growing number of consumers are also analyzing the economic performance of different medicines. These events will heighten the challenges the

such as licensed prescribers and licensed pharmacies. The patients must be under direct care of a

•"Completes a training program approved by the supervising pharmacist-manager that includes: pharmacy terminology, pharmacy calculations, dispensing systems and labeling requirements, pharmacy laws and regulations, record keeping and documentation, and the proper handling and storage of medications". (Rev, 2014)

A substantial piece of the U.S market in the health sector is run by the prescription drugs and, therefore, making the U.S the global largest market of pharmaceuticals accounting for more than a third of the world’s expenditure on drugs. It is estimated that in 2014 slightly over $300 billion were spent on prescription drugs which accounts for roughly 10 cents of every dollar in the U.S healthcare market. The U.S expenditure on prescription drugs has been growing at an annual rate of 11% for the last 27 years between 1980 and 2007. But the expenditure has slowed between 2008 and 2013 to about 2% annual average which has been occasioned by several reasons including the 2008 financial quagmire which was also responsible for the reduction in the overall U.S health care costs, the application of controls towards insurer drug utilization and also the production of a less amount of new blockbuster drugs within that period (Institute for Healthcare Informatics, 2014)..

Set up and workflow of my pharmacy is easy and pretty fast. When a patient comes in with a prescription or for a refill, it takes about twenty minutes to fill up the prescription. If a patient comes in with new prescription, it is inputted and check then directly goes into the filling. In my pharmacy, there is an automatic calling system which gives the patient a call or a text message when their prescription is ready if they are being added to the system. If there is a refill, then pharmacist can check on their profile whether they have refills or not. If no refills are left pharmacist calls the physician and give all the information about the patient, and authorize the refill on the patient’s behalf. Once the refill is being authorized, pharmacist can fill the prescription. Technician fills up the prescription by grabbing the right bottle from the shelves. The medicine bottles are kept alphabetically, which makes the technician work easy. In summation to that there is a different shelf where the fast mover medications are kept. After filling the medication, pharmacist checks the medication name, quantity dispensed, NDC of the

Since pharmacies are responsible for dispensing prescription medications, medical devices and other supplies, their shelving requirements are unique in comparison to other types of businesses. Precision is key for pharmacy shelving in order for the proper organisation of pharmaceutical medicines and supplies. For this reason, pharmacies need to search out shelves need to offer the following benefits: