News & Features

January, 2007

Happy New Year! This is our first newsletter of 2007. We hope that you find it interesting and timely.

If you have enrolled in CCRX as your Medicare Part D provider, you are entitled to a free Medication Review.

You either have, or will receive with your CCRX benefits card a card to be mailed back to CCRX which will entitle you to receive a free MTM (Medication Therapy Management) consultation with your pharmacist. The goal of this program is for patients to use the right drugs appropriately, to avoid adverse effects and improve outcomes. CCRX realizes that these cognitive services and disease management saves them a great deal of money, which translates to savings and increased formulary options for the patients. Several other insurance companies are also getting involved in MTM, but not all pharmacies have expressed willingness to participate. We can assure you that M.D. Pharmacy will be a full participant in the program.

Qualaquin is the only Quinine which is FDA approved, but not for leg cramps.

Now that Qualaquin brand of quinine sulfate has been approved, look for all the other generic quinine products to be withdrawn from the market. We all remember when quinine capsules were available very cheaply because of the competitive market, but now that Qualaquin has the market all to itself, the price per capsule will probably be in excess of $5.00. The makers of Qualaquin are suggesting that all other quinine products will be considered illegal to dispense, and insurance companies will not reimburse for them. Also of interest is the fact that Qualaquin is approved only for malaria, not for leg cramps, which is one of the more popular uses for quinine. In fact, the package insert specifically says NOT to use it for leg cramps. The FDA says quinine is not proven to work for leg cramps, and the risks outweigh the benefits. It can cause blood disorders, hearing loss, visual disturbances, cardiac arrhythmias, and even death. Other prescription products are available to treat leg cramps, such as diltiazem, muscle relaxants, gabapentin and magnesium, to name a few; but unfortunately, there's not a lot of evidence that they help either. For chronic leg cramps try stretching the calf muscles and using a heating pad before bedtime.

Adverse drug events in elderly patients.

Adverse drug events send elderly patients to the emergency department about as often as car accidents. One-third of these events are due to allergies, and another third due to unintentional overdoses. Almost one-third of adverse drug events in the elderly are caused by just THREE drugs…warfarin (Coumadin), insulin, and digoxin (Lanoxin). Patients should stay on the look-out for significant drug interactions. Make sure you are not "doubling up", by continuing a similar drug that should have been discontinued, or replaced with a generic equivalent.

New Congress, new health care priorities

Congressional leaders have indicated that one of their top priorities is the reform of America's health care system, which is currently a disgrace. America spends more on health care per person than any other country, but we have one of the lowest life expectancies of any other wealthy nation, because a good part of the money spent on health care is funneled through the insurance companies, who retain a large percentage for "administrative costs" and obscene profits. The new Congress has indicated that they will remove the ban placed on Medicare's ability to bargain with the drug manufacturers on behalf of seniors. A Medicare-run system for everyone, paid for by a special tax, would be less expensive than most people already pay in insurance premiums. It would cover the uninsured and greatly reduce the administrative costs we now pay the private insurance companies, resulting in a more efficient use of healthcare dollars. Many people are wary of anything run by the government, but a system run by Medicare will be far better than what we now have, a system run by the insurance industry for profits for them and higher prices for us. We can expect a strong reaction from the insurance industry's lobby, whose deep pockets are mainly responsible for the current mess. Let's hope this Congress is not for sale.

We would really like to hear from you!

Please take a moment to call or write us, and let us know your opinion of this newsletter, and if you would like us to continue it.

The pharmacists and staff at M.D. Pharmacy, your neighborhood pharmacy.

« Back to News & Features