New Experiences

It has been another busy week with MPhA! On Monday, the MPhA board held their board retreat meeting which was at Upsher-Smith Laboratories in Maple Grove. I had never been to Upsher-Smith before and was impressed with their facility. We were offered a tour of the building, giving us the chance to see their labs, shipping facility, conference rooms and offices. They also gave us an update on the future of their company. While their vision of providing affordable, high quality products remains the same, they are evolving the types of medications that they produce to reflect the shift in the economic climate. I was also able to meet members of the MPhA board while I was there. Each member shared what they would like from the board, indicating that they are all driven to advance the profession of pharmacy.

This week I was also able to attend my first Board of Pharmacy meeting. There were many interesting topics that were brought up while I was there. There was a long debate about pharmacy automation for vending-machine like pharmacies with audio-visual connections for pharmacist consult. The board expressed interest in limiting the locations where these machines could be used. The machines have a great potential to help deliver medications to patients in rural areas who do not have a nearby pharmacy. However, there was concern that allowing these machines in urban settings could discourage patients from visiting traditional pharmacies, which were argued to be safer and have more opportunity for quality counseling. This argument was countered by the fact that mail-order prescriptions do not have any counseling involved. This issue was unresolved at the meeting as people needed more time to work on fair rules for everyone involved. There were many other items of debate during the meeting, including variances for individual pharmacies and a new technology called Zipnosis. I would encourage everyone to go to a Board of Pharmacy meeting to learn more about what the board does and current issues in pharmacy.

I also attended a few policy meetings this week. I attended a hearing at the senate office building to discuss the proposed legislative changes to complaint, investigation and hearing procedures for licensed health professionals. This meeting looked at a balance between controlling board costs and protecting health professional through due process of law. The legislation is aiming to create more unification among the various health professional boards. I was also able to attend the public affairs meeting at the MPhA office. Members were able to discuss many areas of concern, including prescription reimbursement and PBM audits.

I have spent the rest of my week working on the DEA Take-Back Event that is happening on September 25th. I have been contacting volunteers to help and have been happy with the responses I have gotten. Everyone I have spoken with is excited that we are getting this opportunity to help the community. We are still looking for more volunteers and could use your help. If you would like to volunteer, please call the MPhA office at 651-697-1771 for more information.