Week 4: Behind the Scenes at MPhA

It’s already week 4 at MPhA, which means I only have 1 short week left!  It’s been a slower week with Zach gone to ASHP in California, but we’ve had some interesting meetings.  On Wednesday, we had the December Board of Directors meeting where we spent much of the meeting talking about the intricacies of transitioning from the MPhA team to just Julie using Ewald consulting.  I never thought of MPhA as running like a small business and the difficulties of providing health insurance when you have very few employees.  I’ve seen my father struggle through some of the same issues as a small business owner and it is frustrating to want to provide for the well being of your employees, but the cost of providing insurance is way out of line! 

It was interesting to see the board work through the projected budget for 2011.  Normally, financials put me to sleep and I can’t even sit through balancing my own checkbook, but this meeting was actually engaging.  It’s easy to throw the membership form in the trash or leave the magazine to be read later, but I feel a stronger sense of responsibility now that I’ve actually seen the numbers to know how expensive it is to put together a publication or membership drive.  I’d never given much thought to pharmacist membership in MPhA and just assumed almost every pharmacist was a member, but now I really can’t understand why more pharmacists aren’t involved.  I feel like I’m still in school and should have a better grasp on current issues in pharmacy, but I’m learning new issues every day. 

The other big meeting for the week was the Public Affairs meeting on Friday.  Julie had asked me to look into finding a list of certified Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) in the state.  (FYI: there aren’t any “certified” ones, so that’s why I couldn’t find the list) After two hours on Google and being transferred all over the Department of Health and Human Services phone lines, I stumbled upon some information from the Minnesota Hospital Association.  I chatted with Matt Anderson for almost a half hour about ACOs and healthcare homes.   He was so informative that when I typed up a summary for Julie, she asked if he could attend the meeting on Friday to talk to the entire committee!  He was able to come in to give an even better idea of how pharmacists and pharmacies may fit into this new model.  It was a different perspective coming from a non-pharmacist who recognizes the profession, but it became clear how important it is to make the value of pharmacy services known during this time of policy formation. 

Other students and preceptors have been asking what I could possibly be learning on this rotation since I’m not dispensing or making therapy recommendations.   However, I feel like I’ve been learning more about the pharmacy profession than I learned in all my years at the College of Pharmacy.  We just don’t get exposed to some of the current issues and the history behind the issue.  I’ve been meeting practitioners from all different arenas and have the opportunity to see how these changes affect them differently.   I might not have perfected warfarin dosing here at MPhA, but I feel I’m learning a lot more about pharmacy than some of my colleagues.