News and Press Releases

1/26/2023 News

What Does the End of the Public Health Emergency Mean for Pharmacy?

On Jan. 11, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra extended the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) for another 90 days until April. This is the 12th, and likely final, extension of the PHE. HHS has indicated that it will provide 60 days' notice before ending t

1/23/2023 News

Nahata Named 2023 Recipient of Harvey A.K. Whitney Lecture Award

ASHP is pleased to announce that Milap C. Nahata, PharmD, MS, FASHP, FCCP, FAPhA, FPPA, is the recipient of the 2023 Harvey A.K. Whitney Lecture Award, health-system pharmacy’s highest honor. Nahata is professor emeritus of pharmacy, pediatrics, and internal medicine at The Ohio State University (OS

1/13/2023 News

DEA and SAMHSA Eliminate X-Waiver Requirements

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) announced the elimination of requirements related to the X-waiver. According to the DEA and SAMHSA announcements, effective immediately: Prescriptions for buprenorphine do not require an

12/22/2022 News

Senate Passes ASHP-Supported Opioids Bill; Adopts ASHP Recommendation on Strategic National Stockpile

Today, the United States Senate passed an end-of-year legislative package that included two ASHP advocacy priorities. The package included the Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment (MAT) Act, which removes a federal barrier on pharmacists prescribing buprenorphine, known as the X-waiver. To prescribe me

12/16/2022 News

Federal Employee Insurance Program to Reimburse Pharmacists as Providers for Patient Assessment and Prescribing of COVID-19 Therapy

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the federal agency that administers employer-sponsored health insurance for all civilian federal employees, announced that insurance carriers that provide coverage to federal employees through the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program must reimburse

12/5/2022 Press Release

Pharmacists Can Now Prescribe Hormonal Birth Control in 20 States

Pharmacists are taking a more active role in prescribing hormonal contraceptives — a trend applauded by women who welcome easier access to birth control and sanctioned by a growing number of states, according to two separate studies scheduled for presentation at the ASHP (American Society for Health

12/5/2022 Press Release

Growth in Artificial Intelligence Offers Opportunity for Health-System Pharmacy

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) will expand in coming years throughout health systems and their pharmacy enterprises, providing numerous opportunities to improve care and care delivery with algorithms supporting many routine tasks and freeing pharmacists to focus on more complex challenges l

11/30/2022 Press Release

Rural Caregivers Prefer 'Bad Reaction' to 'Overdose' When Explanining Opioid Antidote

Rural caregivers for patients taking prescription opioids are most comfortable using the term “bad reaction” instead of the potentially stigmatizing term “overdose,” and they favor “EpiPen” as the best comparison for describing emergency use of naloxone to reverse effects of opioids, according to a