Vizient, Inc. announced it will participate in an educational session on medication costs and drug shortages as well as host a series of informal question-and-answer sessions with pharmacy experts at the American Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists (ASHP) 2019 Midyear Clinical Meeting and Exhibition Dec. 8-12 in Las Vegas.
With its focus on improving medication safety and patient care, the ASHP event is expected to be attended by more than 25,000 pharmacy professionals from around the world.
“It is exciting to participate at ASHP’s midyear event and to help fellow pharmacy practitioners advance their understanding of critical issues such as drug shortages, high-cost therapies and new regulations,” said Steven Lucio, Pharm.D., B.C.P.S., vice president of pharmacy solutions at Vizient. “It is also a great environment in which to feature the unique perspectives and innovative work by Vizient member organizations.”
Lucio will serve as moderator for the session, Ethical Prescribing in the Era of Expensive Medications and Drug Shortages on Dec. 10. The session will focus on the characteristics of high-cost drugs, the infrastructure necessary to make ethically appropriate treatment decisions for these drugs and the allocation of limited medications during shortages.
The panel will include:
· Yoram Unguru, M.D., M.S., M.A., attending physician and assistant professor, The Herman & Walter Samuelson Children’s Hospital at Sinai and Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics.
· Andrew Shuman, M.D., F.A.C.S., assistant professor, University of Michigan.
· Holly Meadows, Pharm.D., B.C.P.S., clinical pharmacy coordinator, Medical University of South Carolina.
Vizient will also host six informal Q&A sessions featuring pharmacy experts from member hospitals. Vizient will also have experts on hand to discuss biosimilars, Vizient’s new biosimilar savings calculator, requirements for U.S. Pharmacopeia general chapters 797, 800 and 825, specialty pharmacies, resources for drug shortage information and other common challenges for hospital pharmacists.
