At the Capitol

The highlight of this week was getting a nice tour of the capitol with Matt Lemke. It was nice because it gave Michelle and me the opportunity to learn things about the capitol and the chambers that you may not hear on the guided tour. I enjoyed a more personalized tour so we could ask general questions and also hear specific stories about issues related to pharmacy that have happened in the past.  We stopped in to the Legislative Committee on Health Care Access meeting and got a feel for what happens. Matt helped to explain what was going on and how some of the processes work behind the scenes and introduced us to members of the chambers. He also took the time to point out members who are supporters of pharmacy and who have helped to champion bills in the two chambers. One thing I found interesting in talk with Matt was when he spoke of the other lobbyists that he has good relationships with. I asked him if it is challenging for lobbyists to have good relationships when sometimes they may be trying to get different bills passed that may be opposing each other and he mentioned that most lobbyist have good relationships and will try to work together to provide the people of Minnesota with the best outcomes. I respect that about the lobbyists that we met yesterday.  The other great thing to hear was how much Matt enjoys lobbying for MPhA and the profession of pharmacy and he mentioned he can see that pharmacy is a great profession that does a lot of great things and there are people at the capitol that recognized it and are very supportive of us.

Thanks Matt for doing a great job at the capitol.  We in the profession of pharmacy appreciate it.

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.

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. 

A week in review

As I sit here on the airplane going to CA, I find it funny that there are so many pharmacists and pharmacy students on board and then I put two and two together and realized that we are all going to ASHP.  Oh, my.  Just kidding. 

This past week at MPhA was fun filled with learning opportunities, teaching times and lunch relaxation with a good bean dip that allowed Michelle and I to have a great question and answer time with Julie about random things we would not have known about MPhA. 

We were able to sit in on a committee that is looking at rewriting the pharmacy practice act.  I thought this meeting was very informative and a little inspirational because all the pharmacists around the table had great input and real life experiences to draw upon in order to help update the act. It shows you that pharmacists are passionate about their careers and want to keep moving the profession forward. 

We also sat in on meeting with the Community Pharmacy Business Colalition.  This meeting was great to sit in on and showed me a side of pharmacy that I had not seen before. I was really interested in the discussion that the group was having about the new rules on technicians doing med rec.

I think the greatest thing about this past week was when we got the chance to sit down with Matt Lemke and talk a little bit about his job and ask him questions about politics in general and some of the struggles he runs into at the capital and get his view point on some of the changes that are happening at the capital in the next couple of weeks. I could really see that he is great at his profession, knows a lot about lobbying and also can see that he cares about the profession of pharmacy and is really dedicated to helping us advance are profession.

Well, my battery is about to die on the plane here, I hope that you all have a great week and I will write more next week. 

Um, What’s a Practice Act?

Last week was a short week with the Thanksgiving holiday, but I wanted to talk about an interesting meeting we attended. It was the Pharmacy Practice Act Working Group comprised of pharmacists in various aspects of pharmacy (legislative, academic, clinical, rural, etc) who all get together to work on drafting a new pharmacy practice act. 

I have to admit I went into the meeting not even knowing what a practice act was, let alone that the profession has one (in each state), and that Minnesota is looking to make some major revisions. For those like me who have no clue what I’m talking about, the practice act was drafted about 80 years ago to spell out what a pharmacist is and what activities they do.  Someone at the meeting summed it up best when they said, “You know what you can do and what you can’t do.  You just have to figure out what’s possible in between.” 

I feel like pharmacy is really at a crossroads right now with healthcare reform. It’s possible that pharmacy will achieve solid integration into the healthcare team alongside nurses and doctors where they understand how we can complement what they do, without infringing on their territory. The other option is missing the bus on this opportunity that may never happen again.

So much has changed in the last 80 years that needs to be reflected in this new revision.  At that time, pharmacists never dealt with insurance issues, HIPAA, immunizations, or even have much of a grasp on disease states. Much of their job back then was as a listening post for town gossip with a little compounding and counting pills into a bottle. Unfortunately, that could be the future of pharmacy if we can’t figure out where we want to place the profession in the big picture.  If we plan to rely on an old document dictating what we can do, it will be fairly easy to let our jobs become extinct. However, it’s going to take more than just Minnesota reworking their practice act to reflect changes we have made to the profession. ALL states are going to need to take a look at their Practice Act to make sure we leave room for growth in the future so we don’t lock ourselves out of potential opportunity. 

 So if anyone else is interested in what the practice act is, you can access some of it (since I got the impression it was pretty long) at https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=152 and https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=151.