First Experiences with Over-the-Counter Hearing Aids for Mild-to-Moderate Hearing Loss: A Case Report.

This patient case report describes a first experience in late 2022 and early 2023 with over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids for a 71-year-old male with self-perceived, age-related hearing loss. The patient reported no "red flag" medical conditions that would preclude him from safely using an OTC hearing aid device. After also meeting inclusionary criteria required to be printed on the device label, the patient was offered FDA registered OTC hearing aids.

Role of independent versus chain pharmacies in providing pharmacy access: a nationwide, individual-level geographic information systems analysis.

Pharmacy accessibility is critical for equity in medication access and is jeopardized by pharmacy closures, which disproportionately affect independent pharmacies. We conducted a geographic information systems analysis to quantify how many individuals across the US do not have optimal pharmacy access or solely rely on independent pharmacies for access. We generated service areas of pharmacies using OpenStreetMap data.

Facilitators and Barriers to Interacting With Clinical Decision Support in the ICU: A Mixed-Methods Approach.

Objectives: Clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) are used in various aspects of healthcare to improve clinical decision-making, including in the ICU. However, there is growing evidence that CDSS are not used to their full potential, often resulting in alert fatigue which has been associated with patient harm. Clinicians in the ICU may be more vulnerable to desensitization of alerts than clinicians in less urgent parts of the hospital.

Advancing Pharmacogenomics-Based Care Through Interprofessional Education.

As genomic medicine becomes increasingly complex, pharmacists need to work collaboratively with other healthcare professionals to provide genomics-based care. The core pharmacist competencies in genomics were recently updated and mapped to the entrustable professional activities (EPAs). The new competency that is mapped to the "Interprofessional Team Member" EPA domain emphasizes the role of pharmacists as the pharmacogenomics experts in an interprofessional healthcare team.

Racial disparities in access to health care infrastructure across US counties: A geographic information systems analysis.

Infrastructure system in the U.S. have been shown to be linked to social and health inequities.

National Survey of Pharmacist Awareness, Interest, and Readiness for Over-the-Counter Hearing Aids.

Hearing loss is a major public health concern, affecting over 30 million Americans. Few adults who could benefit from hearing aids use them. Hearing aids are now available over-the-counter (OTC) for persons with perceived mild-to-moderate hearing loss.

Association of Research and Development Investments With Treatment Costs for New Drugs Approved From 2009 to 2018.

Importance: Drug companies frequently claim that high prices are needed to recoup spending on research and development. If high research and development costs justified high drug prices, then an association between these 2 measures would be expected.

Objective: To examine the association between treatment costs and research and development investments for new therapeutic agents approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from 2009 to 2018.

OTC hearing aids: An opportunity for collaborative working relationships between pharmacists and audiologists.

In 2017, the United States Food and Drug Administration Reauthorization Act created a new category of hearing aids to be sold over the counter (OTC), disrupting how nearly 30 million persons with hearing loss will seek and purchase hearing aids. Laws and regulations do not require a medical evaluation or an appointment with an audiologist prior to purchasing OTC hearing aids. However, it is likely that patients will approach pharmacists with questions about OTC hearing aids when considering these devices available at the community pharmacy.

Impact of pharmacist motivational interviewing on hepatitis B vaccination in adults with diabetes.

Background: In 2011, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended hepatitis B (HepB) vaccination for previously unvaccinated adults (aged 19-59 years) with diabetes. Despite these recommendations, vaccination coverage for HepB vaccination for persons with diabetes remains low.

Objectives: The primary objective was to determine the impact of a community pharmacist-led motivational interviewing (MI) intervention on HepB vaccination initiation among adults with diabetes who were previously unvaccinated against HepB.

Disparities in distribution of COVID-19 vaccines across US counties: A geographic information system-based cross-sectional study.

Background: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has repeatedly called for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine equity. The objective our study was to measure equity in the early distribution of COVID-19 vaccines to healthcare facilities across the US. Specifically, we tested whether the likelihood of a healthcare facility administering COVID-19 vaccines in May 2021 differed by county-level racial composition and degree of urbanicity.

Income disparities in driving distance to health care infrastructure in the United States: a geographic information systems analysis.

Objective: Inequities in access to health care contribute to persisting disparities in health care outcomes. We constructed a geographic information systems analysis to test the association between income and access to the existing health care infrastructure in a nationally representative sample of US residents. Using income and household size data, we calculated the odds ratio of having a distance > 10 miles in nonmetropolitan counties or > 1 mile in metropolitan counties to the closest facility for low-income residents (i.

Documenting Pharmacogenomic Test Results in Electronic Health Records: Practical Considerations for Primary Care Teams.

With increasing patient interest in and access to pharmacogenomic testing, clinicians practicing in primary care are more likely than ever to encounter a patient seeking or presenting with pharmacogenomic test results. Gene-based prescribing recommendations are available to healthcare providers through Food and Drug Administration-approved drug labeling and Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium guidelines. Given the lifelong utility of pharmacogenomic test results to optimize pharmacotherapy for commonly prescribed medications, appropriate documentation of these results in a patient's electronic health record (EHR) is essential.