2007 - Alabama Department of Public Health

ureau of professional and support services
serving government-based health care facilities. This
alliance allowed the State of Alabama to purchase
medications and clinic supplies at substantially reduced
prices. In addition, the Pharmacy Division coordinated
accessing 340 B pricing, a federal pricing program for
covered entities within the department.
A prescription drug monitoring database to monitor
schedule II, III, IV, and V drugs in Alabama was developed
and tested. The database became operational in April
2006. As of September 30, 2007, approximately 17 million
prescriptions had been reported into the database.
The division continued to consult with all public health
units, including county health departments and other
agencies, on medication-related and pharmacy-related
activities. The consultations included distribution issues,
clinical information, drug scheduling, purchasing, and
legal issues. The division also consulted in the areas
of osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, bioterrorism,
diabetes, arthritis, and home health. Assistance was also
provided in the rescheduling of drugs and the Controlled
Substances List.
In addition, the division continued to provide internship
experiences to pharmacy students, hosting approximately
eight students annually from both pharmacy schools in
the state, Auburn University and Samford University.
The Public Health Pharmacy Division also participated
on the department’s emergency preparedness task force
and continued to coordinate development of Alabama’s
procedures for ordering and processing the Strategic
National Stockpile (SNS), a special stockpile of drugs
and supplies which would be shipped by the federal
government to the state if requested following a terrorism
event. As of the end of 2007 over 2,000 pharmacists,
nurses, and social workers had been trained to deploy
the stockpile. The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention gave Alabama an excellent rating for a fullscale
exercise held in May in southwest Alabama.
Office of Primary Care and Rural
Health Development
Primary Care Section
The section collected and analyzed data to designate
health professional shortage areas in those communities
satisfying federal criteria. This designation qualifies
the community for several grants and programs to
increase health care access. Designation assessments
were performed on shortages of primary care physicians,
dentists, and mental health workers. Sixty-two of
Alabama’s counties or sub-counties are now designated
as primary care physician shortage areas. An additional 180
physicians strategically placed in Alabama communities
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