Friday, February 26, 2010

Welcome Resident Kelly

Hello everyone! This is Meghan Kelly, fourth year pharmacy student from the University of Minnesota. I’ll follow suit with Dan’s blog and give a brief introduction about myself. I’m originally from Guayaquil, Ecuador but I am now officially a Minnesota resident. I graduated from North Park University in Chicago with a B.S. in Biology. My rotations have been a great experience and I’ve been able to work at MN Department of Human Services, WestSide Clinic, and HCMC, to name a few sites. I plan to continue my education next year and will be pursuing a Ph.D in Social and Administrative Pharmacy through the University of Minnesota. Since I’ve only decided on my future till that point, I’m not sure what will happen next.

I have just completed my first week out of five with MPhA and I have to say I’m pretty giddy about this whole experience. I started out on Monday sitting in on a hearing regarding patient copay's for IV administered vs. orally administered chemotherapy. I didn’t get much from that meeting; I ended up sitting among a slew of lobbyists who chatted during the whole meeting. However, it was a great introduction to the inner-workings of the Capitol. This was necessary because I got caught up in following the ‘epilepsy bill,’ house file 1320 (senate file 1137) through two committees.

MPhA has issued a brief on HF 1320 detailing the issue; it is available in the advocacy section of the website titled ‘Generic Substitution.’ (http://www.mpha.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=23 ) The discussion has been around for a while and this is not the first time groups have tried to pursue legislative action on the subject. It becomes a battle of emotions vs. data, as the proponents have provided plenty of tearful testimonies while the opponents have come back with numbers, both financial and scientific. The debate has led the FDA to study the effects of switching brands and generics on breakthrough seizures with an answer to be provided at the end of this year. As a student pharmacist, I understand the concern. However, as a student pharmacist I also know the systems in place to help patients be in control of their health. I wish I could understand where those systems have failed to understand why legislation is needed to rule that substitutions can not be made without patient and provider consent.

Currently the bill is in the hands of the Health Care and Human Services Finance Committee. Meeting agenda’s are undetermined, but I expect to be sitting in on a few more hearings.

My observations on the week:
  1. It is incredibly easy to voice your opinion to your representative or senator. They are more than willing to listen and even give advice on how to move forward. I’m learning how necessary it is to speak up particularly because I keep seeing the same people at the Capitol. Makes me wonder who they are speaking for and if it’s what I would stand for. 
  2. The intricacies of committee organization are never ending. Thank goodness for people who understand the system and know how to strategize to determine the next move. 
  3. I enjoy being at the Capitol. 
  4. It’s all about $$$. I have a feeling when legislators don’t want to make a hard decision, they’ll just allow the financial implications to determine a bill’s fate.
So, a head’s up on what’s to come: We’re looking for you to call your Representative to tell them how you feel about HF 1320. Also, Medicaid reimbursement and Medical Education and Research Costs funding will be appearing on the legislative horizon. Keep an eye out.

Ask me again at the end of this rotation if I’m still excited by legislation. By that time I will have been more exposed to the maze that is the written and unwritten rules of the legislative process. In the meantime I will keep my hopes up that the work I am doing is moving pharmacy forward to the benefit of those who serve pharmacy and those who rely on pharmacy services.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Interested Candidates for MN BOP

The Minnesota Board of Pharmacy has one pharmacist opening. Pharmacists interested in being appointed to the Minnesota Board of Pharmacy who would like endorsement by MPhA and MSHP, need to submit the following information as soon as possible:
  • A brief statement of your interest and qualifications along with a request for support
  • A copy of your CV
  • The application for open appointments that is available on the Secretary of State's web site required for state appointments, and forward a copy of it to us. The link to the application is as follows: http://www.sos.state.mn.us/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=8637
Information may be faxed to (651) 697-1776, or emailed to Julie Johnson, MPhA, at julie@mpha.org.

The following are the state's requirements for membership on the Minnesota Board of Pharmacy:
  • Be actively engaged in the practice of pharmacy in Minnesota
  • Have had at least five consecutive years of practical experience as a pharmacist immediately preceding appointment.
Board members are appointed by the governor who, in making appointments, will attempt to select members to ensure the board composition reflects the geography of the state and reflect the broad mix of practice types of pharmacists practicing in Minnesota. Minnesota Pharmacists Association and the Minnesota Society of Health-System Pharmacists may jointly recommend to the governor five names for each pharmacist to be appointed. Please refer to the language from MN Pharmacy Law § 151.02-151.04 for further clarification.

MPhA and MSHP will review all requests for support, and make a recommendation to the Boards of Directors of the organizations. The final recommendation will be submitted to the Governor's office by March 15, 2010. If you have any questions, please contact Julie Johnson at the MPhA office.

Friday, February 12, 2010

At the Capitol

MPhA Legislative Day on Tuesday went great. As people came to the morning session we handed them a name badge, a card reminding them of their appointments and a folder with two sets of issue briefs to pass along to their legislators. Of the 50 or so meetings I set up only a handful needed to be changed. That morning the Senate called a floor session. This made it more difficult for some senators to meet although many did so outside the Senate chamber. In the State Office Building I spoke with attendees about their meetings. Many were pleased with the experience and were able to tie legislators’ experiences to some of the issues MPhA brought forth.

Meeting with my representative went great, I had the full 15 minute block and she was very receptive to both the pharmaceutical waste and Medicaid reimbursement issues. Although I only meet with my senator for 5 minutes outside the Senate chamber, she too gave me her full attention and was easy to talk with. All in all I estimate we had somewhere around 70-75 interactions with legislators that day. After coordinating those appointments I have a newfound respect for the time management juggle legislators must do. They are obviously busy people but enjoy meeting with constituents whenever possible.

Legislative Day

[February 5, 2010]

I spent half of Thursday and all of Friday on the phone setting up appointments for Legislative Day. Legislators are quite busy. They really want to meet with pharmacists but with session starting and committees going on there’s little time. I took what I could get from them.

The other of Thursday was spent reading over issue briefs. The pharmaceutical waste one is of greatest interest to me and one I provided information for. Also, Julie and I went to MPSA, the student group of MPhA at the U over lunch. We tried to make students feel more comfortable and enthused about Legislative Day.

Here’s hoping it all pays off next Tuesday.

Introducing MPhA Resident Dan Wahl

[February 1, 2010]

My name is Dan Wahl. I’m a PD4 student from the University of Minnesota on rotation at MPhA. I have a Chemistry degree from Minnesota State University, Mankato and will pursue an MBA part-time after completing my PharmD. I’m undecided as to what field of pharmacy I will enter come May but am looking at retail, hospital, managed care and nuclear pharmacy.

This week started off with a House committee meeting regarding House File (HF) 491, HF1640, and HF1641 regarding prohibition of marketing prescription information, academic detailing and gift ban respectively. Data mining occupied most of the discussion and both sides presented valid concerns. The Board of Pharmacy meeting that evening was my first look at how detailed the Prescription Monitoring Program is. In just three weeks of reporting over 318,000 prescriptions have been entered. Estimates were that somewhere near 5 million prescriptions will be entered every year. That’s about one prescription every 6.3 seconds.

I spent Wednesday morning reading a myriad of bills which will pass through both legislative bodies this session. Of these I’m tracking eight bills which I felt pertain to pharmacy. Friday marked the start of organizing meetings for Legislative Day on February 9th.