February 3, 2025
Are Eye Vitamins Safe to Stop in Hospice Patients?
Generally speaking, the use of vitamins at end of life is not beneficial. Still, hospice patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) might be reluctant to stop taking their eye vitamins out of fear of going blind during their final months of life. AMD is a degenerative disease that damages the macula (the central portion of […]
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January 30, 2025
OnePoint Patient Care Expands Services to PACE Programs
Experienced pharmacy provider now bringing expert dispensing and personalized support to PACE participants Morton Grove, IL – January 30, 2025 – OnePoint Patient Care, a leading provider of community based pharmacy services, is proud to announce the launch of OnePoint PACE, a new business line that will bring the company’s medication dispensing expertise and high […]
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October 30, 2024
Considerations for Phenazopyridine Use in Hospice Patients
Phenazopyridine (Pyridium) is a urinary analgesic that’s been around for over 100 years.1-3 In fact, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considers it a “grandfathered” drug, so safety and efficacy data from clinical trials is limited and its therapeutic role is based primarily on clinical observations.1,2 It’s solely a urinary analgesic (through an unknown mechanism) […]
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September 10, 2024
Guidance on Converting from Divalproex Sodium (Depakote) to Valproic Acid
As hospices operate with limited funds, minimizing drug costs is important. Therapeutic substitution, where one drug is replaced with a less expensive drug, is one tool to help with this. One substitution we’re occasionally asked about is using valproic acid (VPA) (Depakene) in place of divalproex sodium (Depakote). VPA costs about half as much as […]
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August 21, 2024
OnePoint Patient Care Vice President – Client Services Kenny Judd interviewed in Hospice News
Originally published on HospiceNews.com, OnePoint Vice President – Client Services Kenny Judd sat down with Hospice News to discuss discuss the state of hospice pharmacy service nationally, the challenges local providers face in caring for this unique patient population and the role which OnePoint plays in ensuring providers have a reliable, sustainable community-based and hospice-dedicated […]
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July 8, 2024
Rectal Drug Administration at End of Life
The oral route is by far the most popular and convenient means of drug administration, even in the hospice setting. However, for various reasons (e.g., dysphagia, nausea / vomiting, bowel obstruction, obtundation) as many as 70% of hospice patients will need their medications to be administered by non-oral routes.a-c Rectal drug administration is probably done […]
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April 10, 2024
Best Practices for Drug Administration via Enteral Tubes
Occasionally, hospice clinicians may encounter patients with enteral feeding tubes (FTs). These tubes are used to provide enteral nutrition (EN) in individuals with a functioning GI tract who are otherwise unable to be fed orally.1 There are numerous types of tubes out there which are generally classified by insertion site and where in the body […]
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February 6, 2024
Handling Drug-induced QTc Interval Prolongation in Hospice
If you’ve ever used software that checks for drug interactions, you’ve come across alerts regarding QT interval prolongation. But you work in hospice…are these still significant and what can you do about them? Let’s start with some basics1 -6: QT interval – a measure of ventricular repolarization in the heart QTc interval – QT interval […]
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August 1, 2023
SGLT2 Inhibitors: More than Diabetes Drugs
Known for their role in managing diabetes, sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors like Farxiga (dapagliflozin) and Jardiance (empagliflozin) also improve symptoms, function, and quality of life in patients with heart failure (HF).1 So it’s no surprise that they were added to the latest HF guidelines, even for patients without diabetes.1 The 2022 American Heart Association […]
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June 27, 2023
A Review of Loop Diuretics: Considerations for Drug Selection
Loop diuretics are essential medications for managing fluid overload and edema caused by conditions like heart failure, liver disease, or chronic kidney disease.1-4 They work by decreasing renal sodium and chloride reabsorption with the end result being water excretion through urination (diuresis).1-3 You can learn more about loop diuretic pharmacology here. By far, furosemide is […]
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