Pharmacy Technology

NEW YORK — The Food and Drug Administration has released a new video that warns consumers against buying drugs from rogue-internet pharmacies, part of the ongoing effort by the agency to keep fake and contaminated drugs out of the U.S. supply chain.

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Insource Healthcare Solutions is adding wall-mounted and cart-mounted video systems at the hospitals it operates in upstate New York and Pennsylvania in order to allow for telehealth services and cut costs.

Polycom said Insource would install its HDX 8000 video systems, which stream video to remote physicians who have corresponding software on their computers and tablets, enabling them to observe, interact with and diagnose patients.

PARSIPPANY, N.J. — The "vast majority" of available mobile apps focused on health and wellness have limited functionality or evidence of value in advancing healthcare provision and outcomes, according to a new report by IMS Health.

ARMONK, N.Y. — The University of Arizona College of Pharmacy is switching from a MacOS-based platform to an IBM system running Linux to manage growth of big data.

IBM said Wednesday that the Tucson, Ariz., college was using an IBM zEnterprise mainframe running the IBM DB2 database software on Linux to analyze and process 3 million medical claims per week. A business partner of IBM, Sirius Computer Solutions, helped the college move to the new system, which reduces the time it takes to process medical claims by 60%.

LOS ANGELES — Albertsons has placed an order for what is being called the "first true food bar" for dogs.

All American Pet Co. said Friday it received an order from the grocer for NutraBars, which are designed to be high in protein and low in fat, and are made in the United States.

The company said it also was expecting an order for Chewies Dog Treats, which are all-natural and made with peanuts, cheese and bacon. Albertsons, based in Boise, Idaho, operates 1,119 stores under 12 banners in 29 states.

CINCINNATI — A mobile app described as the specialty pharmacy industry's first for patients with hemophilia has become available.

NEW YORK — The growing use of electronic prescribing is driving the growth of cloud computing in health care, according to a new report.

ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. — Drug maker Hospira is investing more than $200,000 at a plant in Rocky Mount, N.C., that will evaluate and test more than 450 products, the company said Wednesday.

Hospira had a ribbon-cutting ceremony to announce the opening of its new quality and analytics testing laboratory, attended by North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory and other political leaders from the state.