Doctors Rethink Use of Custom Pharmacies

By JENNIFER CORBETT DOOREN and TIMOTHY W. MARTIN

The outbreak of a rare form of meningitis is prompting some doctors to rethink their use of a specialized type of pharmacy that created steroid injections tied to 119 illnesses and 12 deaths.
MedStar Health, a health-care provider that includes Georgetown University and Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C., said it is reconsidering its currently limited use of compounding pharmacies, which create alternative versions of medicines, such as liquid forms of pills. "I think the whole [health-care] industry is going to undergo some serious internal rethinking," said Bonnie Levin, assistant vice president for pharmacy services at MedStar To read the rest of the WSJ article click here.