Comments for APhA CEO Blog

Comment on Pharmacist petition on provider status by Nikia Bennette-Carter

Nikia Bennette-Carter — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:09:48 +0000

Thank you APhA for shedding a continued light on this very important subject. Pharmacist need to be recognized in this manner, about time!!!!

Comment on Pharmacist petition on provider status by Kelly Green Boesen, PharmD, BCPS

Kelly Green Boesen, PharmD, BCPS — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:47:30 +0000

Yes! Thank you APhA. Your coverage and sharing of the progress have been amazing!

Comment on Pharmacist petition on provider status by Sandra Leal, PharmD, CDE

Sandra Leal, PharmD, CDE — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:19:42 +0000

Thank you APhA for all of your tremendous support!

Comment on Surgeon General supports USPHS report on pharmacists as providers by Sandra Leal, PharmD, CDE

Sandra Leal, PharmD, CDE — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:14:41 +0000

Thank you RADM Giberson and Dr. Benjarmin for supporting!

Comment on 2012: A time to unite and prove our mettle by ken

ken — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 13:22:12 +0000

I am glad to hear the US Surgeon General has given her support for recognizing pharmacists as bonafide health care providers. However, there is still work to be done. All pharmacists must pull together and fight to make sure this is realized. Through the leadership of APhA, I expect and hope we should start organizing ways to meet our legislators and make our case. Although, Washington is broken, at this time, but this is an issue that I am sure they will all unite under. It is not a partisan issue, it is an issue of commonsense. I am confident if we all flood the email boxes of our lawmakers, jam up their phones, we will realize this dream sooner than we think. The time is now.

Comment on At Thanksgiving, rough seas and a nearing shore by ken

ken — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 16:48:33 +0000

John, I really feel your pain. I can relate to your situation and unfortunately, thousands of pharmacists do too. I urge you to absolutely pursue the BPS certification because your situation in these script factories will never get better even if one in every three scripts end in death of a patient, only money matters to these companies. Like you, I was trained differently in school but the reality is so different. For years I was depressed and sad that I even chose to be a pharmacist, I contemplated doing something else even if it meant a low pay. There is just no use relying on the pharmacy organizations anymore, because even if they want to fight the status quo, they will be crushed by the unlimited money of these corporations. Look for an independent pharmacy, a hospital and think outside the box before you lose your sanity.

Comment on At Thanksgiving, rough seas and a nearing shore by John

John — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 05:13:29 +0000

I agree with Ken’s observations. Pharmacists tend to let everyone run over them. I think there are many reasons for this. Many of us are employees for companies that say all the right “buzzwords” to make it seem like they are interested in patient care and helping pharmacists take care of patients but they are only interested in pushing out the most scripts with the least amount of staff. We are treated little better than fast food line cooks. Those of us in retail are familiar with no breaks, phones ringing off the hook, timers, timers,timers. They monitor every metric and every keystroke. Flu shots, adherence calls, drug seekers, MTM calls etc, etc…all with half the tech help I had 5 years ago. I made a mistake recently. I gave an elderly lady the wrong blood pressure med. I was trying to multitask by checking scripts while I was trying to finish my required number of MTM/adherence consultations. Pharmacy practice in retail is now UNSAFE! They keep cuttings tech hours and adding tasks. I agree it’s time to stand up for ourselves…..where do I sign up! I’m tired of risking my license and my patient’s safety. But how do I stand up? Do I follow the law and counsel very patient? Then I don’t have time for another task….or god forbid my wait times go above 15 minutes. It’s like it was in school….everybody is “talking” and saying the buzzwords but reality is so different. How do we stand up for ourselves as professionals when we are treated so unprofessionally by the retail giants whom we work for? Do we need a union? I am a member of APhA and I’m am studying for BPS certification, but I’m seriously considering something totally different. I don’t thing I can do this much longer.

Comment on At Thanksgiving, rough seas and a nearing shore by ken

ken — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 20:13:53 +0000

I was glad to see that a fellow pharmacist by the name Sandra Leal, PharmD started a petition for the recognition of pharmacists as providers on change.org but my only problem was that she has only managed to obtain around eight thousand signatures in a profession that is over two hundred thousand. There is such despair in the faces of fellow pharmacists but also a lack of enthusiasm to fight for the profession. These pharmacist are content making money and caring only little for the profession. That is sad!! My first APhA participation was also in New Orleans as a student. I came out of that conference ready to take on the world until my first job and seeing fellow pharmacists very complacent being mediocre. There and then I knew it would be a rough ride. I watch CMS’s blatant disrespect of our profession, AMA blatant disrespect of our profession and I got thinking why this is so. After much thought and observation of fellow pharmacists I came to the conclusion that our biggest problem is LOW SELF ESTEEM. I have never seen a profession so willing to lower its own expectations, downplay its academic achievements, scorn its degree or belittle itself but the pharmacy profession. We ought to do better. We must fight to be recognized as indepedent providers. Fight to be taken seriously by lawmakers and fight to be taken seriously by other healthcare professionals. But we won’t succeed if we don’t take ourselves seriously first. Our only real chance of succeeding is by being independent. Nothing else will work .
Happy holidays

Comment on Pharmacy is at the table by ken

ken — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 19:39:25 +0000

I do think we must not rely on other professions to help us fight the good fight to be recognized as providers. Every provider group sees the pie shrinking and they are ready to go to war just to protect their slice. I have no doubt we will find well-meaning providers who would like to see cooperation amongst the different professions but the larger group don’t. I was on the ACCP website a few days ago and read a speech given by a physician speaker in one of the conferences lamenting and warning pharmacists to get in the game, take charge and fight for relevance or else we risk being an extinct profession. Physicians like that are friends to pharmacy and we must work with them to achieve our goals. But when I see CMS’s continuous disregard for the pharmacy profession I get really worried. Every pharmacist should sign the petition on change.org by Sandra Leal, PharmD urging the president to recognize pharmacists as providers because this is the real fight. If pharmacists can’t practice independently, we are bound to meet failure in all our endeavors. This petition has the potential of bringing apathetic and discouraged pharmacists together for a truly common purpose. APhA, I think could be the greatest beneficiary of this if they play their cards right.

Comment on Petition seeks recognition of pharmacists as providers under Medicare by jollanar

jollanar — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 12:13:58 +0000

with all respect to see this >>>>>>especially to see this all over the world bec the pharmacist really is the standpoint for every thing in medical life >>>>>>>>>>>from phrmacists in ARAB WORLD ((((((PALESTINE)))))