Finishing up my time at MPhA: Week 5

It’s been a full final week here at MPhA to get all my projects wrapped up.  I spent the majority of my week finishing up the issue briefs for the upcoming Legislative Day on February 1 (sorry, quick plug for attendance).  I’ve never attended the event in the past, but I’m looking forward to going this year, especially since I’ve spent so much time in the preparations and might get to see some of the work first hand!  It’s pretty exciting that after calling many of the senators and representatives, we’ve had four RSVP yes already! 

The issue briefs I’ve been working on are another story.  You might look at it and think it’s just one piece of paper with a quick update on standardizing third party audits or the prescription monitoring program, but there’s a whole lot of time that went into each of those briefs.   It’s not as easy as I thought it would be to take 20 page documents and condense them into a basic one page summary that you can quickly skim over to get the idea of what’s going on, what’s MPhA’s position on the issue, and why you should care about it.   If I learned anything from the experience, it’s that I don’t have a strong desire to go into politics. 

Zach and I spent a morning over at the State Capitol with Matt, the lobbyist for MPhA.  It was pretty interesting to get an insider’s perspective on what actually goes on.  Do people play by the rules or how do you go about getting your bills supported?  My favorite part of the visit was getting the dirt on everyone, but unfortunately, that can’t be published!  Matt has a very hectic job as a lobbyist and I never actually realized how hard that would be.  We sat in on a meeting for health care access, which gives an update on what progress has been made on various issues.  I won’t lie; it was not the most entertaining event I’ve ever attended and I’m not sure everyone in the audience was awake.  

Just being around the capitol was a great way to end my time on this rotation.  I haven’t been there since my fourth grade fieldtrip during the Minnesota history unit and I remember the highlight being lunch at McDonalds, so it was different coming back as an adult.    We caught a little bit of the official tour (I think I will go back to hear the rest about construction and moving the capitol), but Matt did a great job showing us around and introducing us to people who work there.  Some of those people have been there 30-40 years and I bet they have some crazy stories of what they’ve seen or heard! 

As I look back on my five weeks here, I’m surprised at how much pharmacy knowledge I have acquired.  I feel so much more informed about the current issues pharmacy is facing and where pharmacy will always be fighting for their spot.  I have a better understanding of the financial side of how pharmacy is impacted with MA reimbursement and the new practice of constant audits.  I’ve really enjoyed my time on this rotation working with Julie and getting things together for legislative session and seeing how association management works.  I have a lot more respect for the organization and I’m glad I had the opportunity to see the value of staying involved.