Thank You

I have finished my rotation with MPhA. I am sad to leave the organization since I have learned so much and had a great time here. I didn’t know what to expect when starting this rotation and was blown away by the variety of experiences I gained. Throughout my experience, I was able to meet a wide array of people who all shared an impressive background and a passion for their profession. I believe that it is this passion that has propelled our profession forward, allowing us to become involved in immunizations and medication therapy management.

This week, I was involved with a variety of things. I finished documenting my experience with the DEA take-back event, including entering all take-back data into an excel spreadsheet and sending it to the U of M for further analysis.  I was able to attend the weekly MPSA meeting to hear what was happening at the college level. At the meeting, they debated policies, determining which ones they supported and should bring to the MRM conference. I was also able to meet with representatives from a drug company and learn more about their positions.

On Wednesday, Julie and I traveled to Rochester, MN. There, we met with several people to discuss the AWARxE campaign. The AWARxE campaign was founded by MPF to provide individuals with the information they need to enable them to make the right decisions about prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) medications. We met with MarkIt,AWARxE’s marketing company, to go over the accomplishments of AWARxE and future goals. There are several middle schools that would like to have AWARxE presentations in their classes. We also met with members from the Sheriff’s Association to share the AWARxE campaign and discuss ways to collaborate and reach our common goal. All of the meetings were exciting and left me optimistic about the future of AWARxE. I believe that people are starting to notice the campaign and want to become involved with its success.

I was also able to attend a community pharmacy business committee meeting this week. A hot topic for debate was methods of Medicaid reimbursement. Since Medicaid is looking to change their reimbursement policy, it is necessary to become educated about alternate policies in order to having meaningful conversations with them. It became clear that there is no current plan that outshines the rest. Also discussed were auditing policies from different insurance companies. Some fear that the companies are overstepping their bounds and trying to secure money for prescriptions that were dispensed in good faith.

This rotation was a fantastic experience and I feel lucky that I was placed here. This rotation exposes you to things that cannot be learned in a text book. I am now more informed about political issues and have been moved to become more involved in the profession of pharmacy.My advice to other students is to try to become involved with as many things as possible. It is not often that you will have an opportunity to experience as many things as you can here. I’d like to say thank you to MPhA and everyone I met through this experience. This was a tremendous experience that wouldn’t have been possible without you.