Today I came across a very well-written blog post that I’d like to share with you. It describes the value of pharmacists’ services.
Archive for the ‘What Tom is Reading’ Category
Describing the value of pharmacists’ services
Tuesday, February 21st, 2012Pharmacist petition on provider status
Monday, January 23rd, 2012As many of you are aware, El Rio pharmacist Sandra Leal, an APhA member and newly recognized APhA Fellow, is circulating a petition through the Change.org website advocating for recognition of pharmacists as health care providers.
To date, Leal has gathered more than 15,000 signatures from physicians, patients, pharmacists, and a senator from Kentucky. Her grassroots effort was profiled on January 15 in the Arizona Daily Star newspaper.
Leal works in a community health center that is a recognized medical home and has been having challenges integrating into the medical home model because the lack of provider status causes payment challenges in her work setting.
APhA has been in frequent contact with Leal to get updates from her, and we facilitated a conference call she had with a CMS representative. We have been supportive of her efforts to raise awareness about pharmacists and lack of provider status by promoting them in our electronic communication vehicles.
We’ll continue to update you as this initiative progresses.
Surgeon General supports USPHS report on pharmacists as providers
Saturday, January 21st, 2012The U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) recently released a landmark report identifying a “rationale and compelling discussion to support health reform through pharmacists delivering expanded patient care services.”
In an exciting development for the pharmacy profession, U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, MD, MBA, released a letter publicly supporting the report. It is notable that a high-ranking government official would get behind a report that advocates pharmacists as health care providers.
The USPHS report is already generating a buzz within the profession, and APhA will be using the report in our advocacy and practice development work. The report and the letter from the Surgeon General are available on pharmacist.com.
The report, “Improving Patient and Health System Outcomes through Advanced Pharmacy Practice: A Report to the Surgeon General 2011,” was coauthored by several USPHS pharmacists and led by U.S. Assistant Surgeon General Scott Giberson.
APhA Board of Trustees member and student pharmacist Sara McElroy is currently on rotation with RADM Giberson and was instrumental in developing communication strategies for the report and interfacing with APhA so that we were ready with a public statement and news article as soon as the report was made public.
APhA summer intern reflects on her experience
Friday, November 4th, 2011Recently, I received the following letter from Kelley Ratermann, a student pharmacist at the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy who spent the summer working with us as the 2011 Carl F. Emswiller Summer Intern. I have a feeling that she, and the other incredible interns and residents we see each year, are destined for greatness.
Anyway, I enjoyed reading her observations, which are sprinkled with wisdom and humor. I hope you enjoy her letter, too.
Dear Tom,
After spending some time reflecting, I can say with certainty that the Carl F. Emswiller Summer Internship in Association Management has been one of the greatest blessings in my life thus far. There are countless tangible reasons that have made my time in DC remarkable—both personally and professionally—but there are also many indescribable feelings that have made this a summer to remember. I will try my best to express that which I can, and where plain words cannot fully capture my experiences, I will simply have my memories to suffice.
I want to start with the things I know for certain after spending 10 short weeks at APhA headquarters.
Staff
- APhA staff are a unique group; every person I met greeted me with a smile and was genuinely interested in learning more about who I am
- The family-friendly atmosphere at work made APhA a very pleasant place to be every day
- If you are willing to learn, the professionals at APhA are more than willing to teach
- The value of each publication and resource that APhA provides for its members, as well as the different writing styles and amount of planning involved by dedicated APhA staff
Students
- The optimism and motivation of APhA–ASP student leaders are contagious and the future of the profession looks bright
- The Student Development staff work hard every day to ensure that student pharmacists have the tools available to mold themselves into the best possible future practitioners and leaders
- The student representation in APhA’s House of Delegates and on the Board of Trustees is extremely unique, meaningful, gratifying, and unmatched in the profession
Association/Operations
- The view from the Potomac Terrace at APhA headquarters is breathtaking
- Hill visits are an adrenaline rush and everyone should try it—if not for the betterment of our profession, then for your own personal experience
- Although working in association management did not provide direct patient interaction, the work being done here on the front end translates to direct patient care on the back end through the education and professional development resources we provide our members
- It takes time to learn the workflow of the office and it is important to be able to adapt quickly
- The history of this Association and building is something to be proud of
- The security guards are very helpful and nonjudgmental when your badge doesn’t work for weeks on end
- Whoever makes the coffee in the kitchen each morning is a saint
Future plans/Lessons learned
- I will be doing a residency of some kind upon graduation
- Being a leader for pharmacy involves so much more than what meets the eye
- The importance of networking cannot be expressed in words
- Attention to detail is imperative no matter how big or small the task may be
- I will be a member of APhA for life
Other
- Every person has a story to share and is unique in how they got to where they are today
- Do not be afraid to ask questions because some of the best opportunities arise out of simple curiosity
- Interprofessional collaboration on issues such as MTM [medication therapy management], HIT [health information technology], prescription drug monitoring, public/media relations and much, much more is essential for the progression of the profession
- It takes many experts and professionals besides pharmacists to successfully run an association
- The lobster food truck lived up to the hype
Some things that I am still unsure of …
- Where my career path will lead
- How my experiences here will influence choices I make in the future
- The impact of the pharmacy advocacy APhA is doing today and how it will shape the practice of pharmacy tomorrow
- The best way for our profession to continue to embrace technology and make the transition from an emphasis on dispensary services to more clinical services and patient interaction
- How to get more practitioners to push the envelope and be innovators/agents of change for pharmacy practice, as Carl Emswiller and Gene White were during their careers
- What pharmacy will look like 50 years from now, in 2061 (I will be 74!)
- If I will ever be half as good as Hazel Pipkin
Thank you to everyone who has helped to guide me along the way. No matter how big or small our interaction may have been, I am forever grateful and will always look back on my time here at APhA and smile. The work you do here affects pharmacists, student pharmacists, and so many other health care professionals in a positive way. Ultimately, what you do serves to better the quality of patient care across the nation. For that, I take my hat off to each of you, and ask that you please continue the great work you do in the name of pharmacy.
Pharmaceutically yours,
Kelley L. Ratermann
University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy
PharmD candidate 2013
Congratulations to Tom Temple
Thursday, October 27th, 2011APhA announced yesterday that we’ll be working with our colleagues at the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy to develop a program for community pharmacy accreditation. Leading that project is Tom Temple, who’s retiring from the Iowa Pharmacy Association. We’re fortunate to be working with him.
As I write this, I’m sitting at the airport, waiting for my flight to Iowa to participate in Tom’s farewell event. Along the way, I’ll be visiting several Iowa pharmacies and both the Drake and Iowa schools of pharmacy, thanks to our Board of Trustees member Matt Osterhaus and a host of his fellow Iowans.
Below is a speech given by Rep. Bruce Braley of Iowa on the House floor in honor of Tom and his many contributions to pharmacy in Iowa.
Mr. Speaker, today I’d like to congratulate my good friend Tom Temple on his upcoming retirement from the Iowa Pharmacy Association. Tom has served in his current role at the Iowa Pharmacy Association since 1980, and has become a friend and adviser to me.
Tom has dedicated his life to medicine, and has been a leader on pharmaceutical issues across the state of Iowa. He has served as CEO of the Iowa Pharmacy Foundation and the Collaborative Education Institute. He has assisted numerous professional organizations including the American Pharmacists Association, the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations, and the American Society of Association Executives.
Tom has also been active in the higher education community, advising universities on current issues affecting the pharmaceutical industry. He served on the Advisory Committees for Drake University, the University of Iowa, and the University of Illinois College of Pharmacy.
Tom has been a tremendous advocate for Iowa pharmacists. When I was traveling in Afghanistan earlier this year, and came across a tiny pharmacy in a village there, my first thought was, “wouldn’t Tom Temple get a kick out of this?”
Tom will be missed very much by his colleagues and peers in the coming years, but his influence and leadership will never be forgotten. I congratulate him on all of his success and wish him a rewarding and relaxing future.
Pharmacists are more than just medication dispensers
Tuesday, October 25th, 2011Recently, some high-profile, controversial comments were made regarding automated dispensing technology and the role of community pharmacists.
On the surface, it may seem that comparing an automated machine with a real, live human is just about efficiency. But these comments are just one piece of a much larger conversation about how we can increase accuracy and reduce medication errors through the adoption of empowering technology and thus allow pharmacists to do all the great things we can do to improve patient care.
The reality is that, as all pharmacists know, machines are only as efficient and accurate as the humans who program and use them. As our colleagues at the National Community Pharmacists Association point out, there are many things pharmacists can do, and are doing, that a machine simply cannot. While nearly all pharmacies in America use Certified Pharmacy Technicians to hand prescription medications to patients, others use mail carriers. All pharmacies use pharmacists—and only pharmacists—to provide patient counseling, and often to each others’ patients.
Community pharmacy plays an important role in patient care. Pharmacists are more than just medication dispensers, or as aptly put by a major chain CEO in Monday’s Wall Street Journal, we’re about more than pills in a bottle—we’re about improved patient outcomes:
- We counsel patients on drug interactions, side effects, safety, and efficacy of the medications they take.
- We advise patients on how to use OTC medications and supplements safely and effectively, often in conjunction with prescriptions.
- We hold conversations with patients on why they have to take a medication as directed and why the medication is important.
- We evaluate medication histories and catch potentially serious dosing and interaction problems.
- We counsel on managing chronic conditions.
- We immunize.
- We work with the patient’s physicians to clarify, adjust, and advise regarding therapy, and to help problem solve when patients can’t afford their medications.
Community pharmacies are handling dramatically increased volumes by adopting enhanced technology, employing and training highly qualified technicians, and adopting systems to identify opportunities for assisting prescribers in recognizing opportunities to optimize therapy. In short, there’s more than one pharmacy in America that is focused on accurate dispensing and making difficult calls to prescribers.
At APhA, we are here to work for you by doing the following:
- Developing business models for patient care that promote collaboration between payers who have an interest in improving care and lowering all costs, not just medication costs, and the pharmacists who can help achieve those goals
- Supporting community pharmacy residency sites that often serve as incubators for innovative practices
- Publishing the research and stories of innovative practitioners so others can learn and adopt new strategies for improved safety and outcomes
- Promoting the essential role of the pharmacist to the public, so that the cognitive and special services you provide are fully known to the patients who walk into your pharmacy
- Advocating for the pharmacist among regulatory and legislative bodies to make sure your work is recognized in health care bills and with regulatory bodies including CMS and FDA
- Providing you with continuing education opportunities, so that you may continue to provide new and innovative services to your patients as our industry changes
- Working with the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board to make sure that U.S. pharmacy technicians are highly trained and qualified
The conversation about how to decrease medication errors is an important one that must continue. Automation technology is an important tool that can increase accuracy and keep patients safer. However, it’s just an adjunct, not a substitute, for the judgment, training, and care of patients’ most accessible health care provider: their pharmacist.
Physician leader supports vaccinations in pharmacies
Friday, September 16th, 2011We have many friends in our continued efforts to raise public awareness and improve public health with higher immunization rates. Today, we read a blog post from Dr. Bill Schaffner, President of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases and a physician leader, which calls for collaboration among physicians and pharmacists to increase vaccination rates. Here’s a tip of the hat to Dr. Schaffner!
Dr. Schaffner’s blog post reminds us of the essential need to keep our patients’ needs as our focus. If we continue to do so, we will only see growth in this kind of support. Health information technology will assist in this growth by allowing the sharing of immunization information between pharmacists and physicians, thereby better coordinating patients’ care. This shouldn’t be a turf war when we have many individuals going around unprotected and vaccine sitting idly on shelves. At the local level, we encourage all pharmacists to continue the dialogue with physicians and other immunization stakeholders regarding the role that each of us can and does play in improving the public health of our communities.
Pharmacogenomics continues to emerge
Friday, September 2nd, 2011A recent article in the Wall Street Journal summarizes how Pfizer is targeting use of a new cancer drug to patients with a particular genetic anomaly. Are you listening, pharmacists? This is an opportunity for us! I’ve written about this before, as I believe we’re the ones who can help patients understand the implications for them, and we can, through developing systems, help find patients who will be candidates for certain drug therapies. In late November, APhA, together with several other pharmacy organizations, will be working with the National Institutes of Health on strategies for pharmacy education in genomics. The long-term implications for our profession are huge. I would welcome your thoughts on the topic.
The debt deal made simple
Thursday, August 11th, 2011The New York Times website has a flow chart and other charts that simplify and bring some semblance of understanding to the various plans that were considered and what the upcoming stages are in the budget discussions. What happens over the next few months is extremely important to pharmacy because of our efforts around medication therapy management and potential cuts to Medicare and Medicaid that are embedded in the fine print. Please continue to monitor our APhA Legislative and Regulatory Updates on pharmacist.com and stay in touch with your Members of Congress.
A garden of delights
Thursday, July 7th, 2011We’ve previously reported on the various awards that our APhA headquarters building has received in the past, but now the garden on the west side of the building has received some accolades of its own.
A botanist blogger named Kate was walking by our building and noticed the medicinal plants in our garden. She made the connection between pharmacists and these particular plants. If you have an interest in medicinal plants, I commend Kate’s great blog post to your reading. It just goes to show that you never know who is paying attention! Next time you’re in Washington, DC, check us out.