Preparation Times and Estimated Costs for Vancomycin Formulations: Does the Difference Matter?

Infections from methicillin-resistant are increasingly treated in longterm care facilities, but long-term care pharmacies face high costs in the provision of sterile vancomycin for intravenous administration. This study compares pharmaceutical costs of outsourced, compounded, and room temperature premixed vancomycin formulations in a long-term care pharmacy. This retrospective observational study reviewed 124 orders of vancomycin.

Role of Pimavanserin Treatment-Continuity on Discharge From Long-term Care: Assessing the Quality of Antipsychotic Medication Review.

To investigate the role of (1) antipsychotic medication review (AP-MR) documentation quality of Minimum Data Set 3.0 (MDS) surveys, and (2) treatment-continuity on discharge-to-community and clinical outcomes among long-term care (LTC) residents treated with pimavanserin. A retrospective cohort analysis of Parts A, B, and D claims from Medicare 100% sample merged with MDS data from June 2016 through December 2018 was conducted.

Practical Insight Into Anticoagulation for an Aging Population.

Anticoagulation is almost always required as a part of treatment for atrial fibrillation, but it is also one of the most potentially dangerous pharmacologic strategies. Recently, a number of guidance documents have been released with respect to anticoagulation. Some elements of the guidelines potentially create conflicting considerations for clinicians charged with selecting the safest and most effective anticoagulation protocol, especially for patients older than 75 years of age.

Expanding Opportunities in the Postacute Long-Term Care Setting: Bringing Medication Safety to the Next Level.

Skilled nursing facilities and nursing homes are care settings that offer increasing opportunities for pharmacists to take the lead when addressing the new updated Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) requirements coupled with enhanced quality measures reporting. In addition, the complexity of the medication-related needs and comorbidities of the patients served in long-term care facilities promotes pharmacists practicing to the top of their license. Medication stewardship needs to be an interdisciplinary team activity led by the pharmacist.

Vaccines for Older Adults.

Several vaccine-preventable diseases-influenza, pneumonia, herpes zoster, and pertussis-threaten the health of older adults in the United States. Both the costs associated with treating these diseases and the potential to increase morbidity and mortality are high for this patient population. Pharmacists and other health care professionals play a significant role in ensuring the elderly patient receives the recommended vaccines at the recommended intervals.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Post-acute/Long-term Care Settings: Seizing Opportunities to Individualize Treatment and Device Selection.

Introduction: The burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in post-acute/long-term care (PA/LTC) settings is high, and many patients do not receive guideline-recommended care.

Methods: An interprofessional expert panel of PA/LTC professionals convened to discuss the unmet medical needs in patients with COPD in PA/LTC settings, and to make recommendations for the assessment of COPD patients to individualize the selection of maintenance treatment.

Results: Unmet needs observed in patients with COPD are described in addition to new tools for assessing individual patient abilities and appropriate device selection for maintenance treatment.

The Utility of Continuous Temperature Monitoring of Refrigerators in a Long-Term Care Facility.

Background: It is the current practice in most long-term care facilities to use manual logs when documenting refrigerator temperatures. This process is commonly associated with poor or fabricated compliance, little oversight, and documentation errors, both because of overt omissions and unsubstantiated values. It is also well-established that medication storage requirements are mandated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Treating dyslipidemic patients with lipid-modifying and combination therapies.

Updated guidelines from the National Cholesterol Education Program give greater emphasis to lipoproteins other than low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) than previous guidelines. Although statins remain first-line therapy for most patients to lower LDL, combination therapy is the next logical step in achieving goals in patients with mixed dyslipidemia or elevated LDL despite statin therapy. As the prevalence of diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and atherogenic dyslipidemia rises, the importance of treating the total lipid profile becomes even more crucial.