I read in USA Today this week that California is going to follow Massachusetts in an attempt to provide health insurance for all its citizens. What is disconcerting about the proposed plan is that one of the revenue sources requires healthcare practitioners and facilities to financially support the plan by a "levy" that will be imposed. This levy would be placed on healthcare practitioners, hospitals, etc. and could be in the range of 2% to 4%.

Let's think about this from a pharmacy perspective, if we are included in that plan. If you have a prescription that has a cost of $50 and you receive, for example, $3.50 for dispensing it; you are levied 4% to support this initiative then you have your $3.50 dispensing fee less $2 (4% of $50 = $2), so you would make $1.50 on that prescription. When this is added to the other dispensing and counseling time involved, etc., money is lost and more pharmacies may be going out of business because of state politics and similar programs at the national level (Medicare Part D).

This appears to be another example of politicians trying to accomplish their agendas at the cost of potentially ruining the healthcare system. How much can we continue to give back before more pharmacies are closed and the only source of drugs is direct from the government, centralized mail-order pharmacies, or from the manufacturers?

One thing is for sure—the situation is not going to improve if pharmacists don't get involved and start doing something. Support the national organizations that support you and the practice of pharmacy today; don't waste time and money on those that are not actively supporting today's practice of pharmacy.


Loyd V. Allen, Jr., Ph.D., R.Ph
Editor-in-Chief

CompoundToday.com now consists of a Basic Module, SOPs and Formulations Module and Trissel's 2 Clinical Pharmaceutics Database Module.

The Basic Module (entry required for all subscribers; $200) contains:

• Physicochemical Database (thousands of entries for hundreds of drugs)- NEW
• Discontinued Medications (approximately 8,000 drugs listed)
• Compounding Article Search
• Compliance (USP, FDA, DEA, NIOSH)
• Bacterial Endotoxin Levels
• Base-Salt-Ester Weight conversions
• Chemotherapy Vial Reconstitution and Stability
• Disinfectants
• Filter Membrane Compatibility
• Flavorings (Human and Veterinary)
• Sodium Chloride Equivalent Values
• Tonicity Adjustment
• Oleaginous Vehicles
• Oral Liquid Vehicles (pH, Alcohol Content, etc.)
• Patient Advisory Leaflets
• pH Adjustment and Buffers
• Preservatives and Antioxidants
• Veterinary Transdermals
• Book Reviews
• Literature Reviews
• Course-Symposium Continuing Education Listings
• White Papers
• Interactive Claim Form

The SOP and Formulations Module ($295) contains over 300 standard operating procedures and over 1,000 formulations, which will be constantly growing.

Trissel's 2 Clinical Pharmaceutics Database Module ($500) consists of stability and compatibility databases for both sterile and nonsterile compounding. Thousands of combinations of drugs can be checked.

Subscribe to the most complete one-stop compounding database available in the world today. Annual subscriptions are as follows:

Subscribe online, by fax or by phone.
Online: www.CompoundingToday.com
Phone: 800-757-4572; 405-330-0094; 888-260-5415; 409-753-2540

The National Board of Medical Examiners is conducting a study on areas in which physicians may need support in order to provide high quality patient care and improve working relations with other health professionals, like pharmacists. Participation in the survey is voluntary and any associated risk is minimal. All responses are anonymous and confidential. The survey can be accessed at http://survey.nbme.org/pharmacist.

A copy of a matrix, or table, detailing which IJPC Standard Operating Procedures can be considered for use with the Pharmacy Compounding Accreditation Board (PCAB) application is available for FREE downloading at both the www.ijpc.com and www.CompoundingToday.com web sites.

CompoundingToday.com's literature search database this week looks at 59 citations about miscellaneous agents used in dermatology and a couple of miscellaneous articles that have been mentioned on the Compounders' Network List (CNL). Here is a sampling of them:

Off-label dermatologic uses of anti-TNF-α therapies.
Alexis AF, Strober BE. J Cutan Med Surg 2006; 9(6): 296-302.

The use of topical calcineurin inhibitors in dermatology: Safety concerns. Report of the American Academy of Dermatology Association Task Force.
Berger TG, Duvic M, Van Voorhees AS et al. J Am Acad Dermatol 2006; 54(5): 818-823.

Corticosteroids: Options in the era of steroid-sparing therapy.
Del Rosso J, Friedlander SF. J Am Acad Dermatol 2005; 53(1 Suppl 1): S50-S58.

The mechanisms of action of nicotinamide and zinc in inflammatory skin disease.
Fivenson DP. Cutis 2006; 77(1 Suppl): 5-10.

Estriol: Safety and efficacy.
Head KA. Altern Med Rev 1998; 3(2): 101-113.

Compounded medications and their dosage forms for veterinary patients are as patient specific as they are for certain human patients, if not more so. The appropriate dosages for each veterinary patient require specific calculations depending on the animal species, the size of the animal, allergies, etc. Each of IJPC's issues contains an article of calculations to assist in a pharmacist's compounding efforts. On page 449 of our November/December 2006 issue, the calculations article is specific for compounding medications for small and large animals. If you are not a subscriber you can purchase and download this article at http://www.ijpc.com/backissues/ArticleDescription.cfm?ABS=2496

Sign up today at www.IJPC.com and start your journal print and electronic subscriptions. You can download what you are currently subscribed to and purchase electronic access to our complete set of back issues.

IJPC apologizes for the late delivery of the January/February issue of the journal. The last three months has seen a series of unfortunate events in the IJPC family that has resulted in a delay.

• Several staff members have experienced death or illness in their families.
• LaVonn Williams (production manager for IJPC) broke her right arm (and she is right-handed) and had to have surgery.
• Oklahoma had a week of heavy ice and snow that limited travel and productivity.
• There is an increase of 10% in the number of pages starting with this issue so more effort is required for production.

We appreciate your patience and expect to be back on track with the March/April issue.

Accreditation Assistance
Need help getting ready for PCAB accreditation? Visit www.ijpc.com or www.CompoundingToday.com and print off the FREE "matrix" listing the Standard Operating Procedures available on CompoundingToday.com that relate to the PCAB standards. This makes the process much easier to accomplish!