Our goal is to ensure that patient care is not compromised because of lack of knowledge of a REMS associated drug. Patients should not be denied care because pharmacists or physicians may not be certified to prescribed a particular drug or unaware of the requirements to dispense a drug. By providing a central repository that is easy to navigate and offers the complete step process for all REMS, HCPs can easily access all the information they need on REMS that affect their practice.

A survey administered by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), demonstrated that:

• 31% of health care professionals (physicians, nurses and pharmacists) were not familiar with the REMS regulations and different components of REMS


• 30% were somewhat familiar


• 22% moderately familiar


• 17% were very familiar (n=746)

In addition, the NCCN Work Group affirmed that the impact of REMS on provider burden must be assessed and minimized. According to the survey:

• Nearly 30% of respondents spend one to four hours per week meeting REMS requirements


• A subset of respondents spend nearly eight hours a week managing REMS requirements


• 9 REMS become important, both from a safety perspective, and from an operational perspective.

HCPs must understand the purpose and components of REMS, so that they can attain any necessary certifications and to ensure that they are prepared to handle any REMS-related issues that may arise. In addition, HCPs in the hospital setting should be aware that REMS may affect hospital flow. For instance:

• Certain medications may only be prescribed or dispensed by certified physicians and pharmacists, and some drugs may require patient, physician, pharmacist, or facility-specific registration


• Medications governed by REMS may also require monitoring of patient-specific data such as laboratory values or adverse events, in order to determine if and when to start and stop therapy

If HCPs are not adequately educated about REMS criteria, access to life-saving medications may become restricted, which could be detrimental to optimal patient care.