HDA Blog

With a new year in full swing, HDA President and CEO John M. Gray looked ahead to the organization’s 2019 priorities (along with other industry association executives) as part of the Chain Drug Review “Pharmacy Outlook” feature.

The Verification Router Service (VRS) started off as an idea in 2015. In 2016, it was identified as a preferred option for compliance with the 2019 saleable returns requirement (along with sending data via EPCIS). Since 2017, HDA has been convening industry stakeholders to write business requirements for the VRS, later pulling in solution providers to help with the technical details and then facilitating the group that developed the documentation that exists today.

A new report by Avalere Health, "Trends in Opioid Use: History, Background, and Origins of the Epidemic," comes at a critical point in the broader discussion about opioid abuse and misuse, and provides important context around the clinical, regulatory and policy milestones that contributed to the public health epidemic and impacted the national response to the crisis.

Few people understand exactly what role wholesale distributors play in the pharmaceutical supply chain, often confusing them with manufacturers, pharmacy benefit managers or even pharmacists. Just like the wholesale distributor who helps keep your grocery store shelves stocked with many different food brands, pharmaceutical distributors work with large numbers of suppliers (in this case pharmaceutical manufacturers) to ensure that their products (medicines) are safely, securely and reliably delivered to their ultimate destination — such as a state and federally licensed pharmacy, hospital or long-term care facility.

For the past several months, HDA has been collaborating with our pharmacy partners at Allied Against Opioid Abuse (AAOA), the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) and the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations (NASPA), to develop a suite of resources specific to the pharmacy community. We are pleased that last week, those resources were mailed to thousands of pharmacists across the country and released online at www.AgainstOpioidAbuse.org/PharmacyToolkit.