Licensing

WASHINGTON — The Federal Trade Commission is holding a public workshop in March to examine U.S. healthcare competition issues as healthcare spending swallows up a significant part of federal and state budgets. Among the topics up for discussion, according to reports, are retail clinics and telemedicine.

According to reports, the two-day workshop will be held March 20 and 21 in Washington, D.C. and will be webcast on the FTC’s site.

AUSTIN, Texas — The American Association of Nurse Practitioners, a national professional membership organization for nurse practitioners of all specialties, is calling on state lawmakers to consider the consequences of undue restrictions on APRNs, or nurse practitioners, as recommended by the Federal Trade Commission.

WASHINGTON — The administration is seeking $4.7 billion for the Food and Drug Administration, representing a 6.8% increase, according to a report published Tuesday by the Washington Post. 

According to the report, the budget includes $25 million to register and inspect large-scale compounding pharmacies.

WASHINGTON — In what could turn into a significant change of how retail pharmacy supplies hydrocodone combination products, the Drug Enforcement Administration last week published in the Federal Register a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to move HCPs from Schedule III to Schedule II, as recommended by the assistant secretary for Health of the department of Health and Human Services and as supported by the DEA’s evaluation of relevant data.  

LONDON — Concurrent opioid prescribing by multiple providers is common in Medicare patients and is associated with higher rates of hospital admission related to opioid use, according to a study published last week in BMJ. 

ORLANDO, Fla. — Food and Drug Administration Office of Generic Drugs' acting director Kathleen Uhl on Thursday highlighted the industry and FDA’s shared commitment to Generic Drug User Fee Act milestones and approaching metrics in her keynote address at the GPhA Annual Meeting taking place here.

COLUMBIA, Md. — FLAVORx, a supplier of custom flavoring systems, announced that it will partner with more than 150 pharmacy schools and pharmacy technician programs to bring flavoring to classrooms and labs.

Faculty members that are currently using FLAVORx systems are pleased with the results, the company said.

WASHINGTON — The results of the 2013 BPS specialty certification and recertification exams were announced Tuesday by the Board of Pharmacy Specialties, the post-licensure certification organization serving the pharmacy profession.