January 2018
Dear Colleagues,
Happy New Year!
ASHP and the Section had an incredible 2017 with many successful events and meetings. It has also been a tremendously busy advocacy period for our profession with everything ranging from drug shortages to DIR fees. Layered on top of all of this is the speed of market changes with continued mergers and acquisitions among hospitals and health systems and with our external competitors and partners. The Section is working hard to provide education and resources to support our pharmacy leaders in meeting these challenges!
We had great Section member support and leadership at the MCM 2017 where there was awesome programming on critical management topics. Additionally, the Section hosted five networking sessions covering Revenue Cycle Management, Opioid Use Reduction and Naloxone Discharge Dispensing, Shared Service in Multi-Hospital Organizations, Innovating in Pharmacy Practice, and Change Management.
Prior to the MCM we held the Conference for Pharmacy Leaders and in the spirit of mixing things up we had a “ted-talk” style session on two topics critical to all pharmacy leaders: health of our workforce and strategic environmental scanning. Kathy Pawlicki, M.S., FASHP addressed important issues about leadership and the need to address workforce resilience and burn out while also reminding ourselves as leaders to be mindful of the fact “You can’t pour from an empty cup…take care of yourself”. Kathy also reminded us of the important work ASHP is undertaking in this realm and the vision ASHP President Paul Bush has placed before us about the urgency for healthcare to address workforce resilience.
Michael Sanborn, M.S., R.Ph spoke from a hospital CEO’s perspective on the urgency and tactics to consider in order to become a more effective strategic thinker. He shared his perspectives on the small things that add up to big impact in leadership and his mantra of “Work the plan – Monitor the weather”.
The slides for their talks can be viewed here. There were so many great programs at this year’s Conference and the details can be found at the meeting website, including the slides from many programs.
Recognition:
One of the activities as Chair I really enjoy is being part of the special recognition we do of Section members that have made significant accomplishments for the profession. During these past meetings we recognized Jim Jorgenson as the 2017 John W. Webb Lecture Awardee and Ross Thompson as the Section’s 2017 Distinguished Service Awardee. Please join me in congratulating Jim and Ross!!
Advocacy – A Call to Action:
As I mentioned, the past few months have been incredibly active with advocacy on behalf of our profession. ASHP’s government relations and many members have been busy at work continuing the advocacy for drug shortages, provider status, drug pricing, DIR fees, compounding, and 340B. If you haven’t already please visit ASHP’s Advocacy page and review ASHP’s Issue Briefs and Comment letters. It’s so important for pharmacy leaders to keep up to date on these issues, especially as drug related issue awareness has risen considerably over the past couple of years, including rising to more frequent advocacy from the AHA in collaboration with ASHP.
Consider the below tips if you don’t have regular meetings with your organization’s government relations staff. We are in fast paced times that require very proactive advocacy! And… ASHP’s Government Relations staff is always available to help us both locally and with our Washington D.C. representatives (e-mail GAD@ashp.org)
- Seek to establish a regular contact with your Government Relations (GR) office in order to develop understanding of pharmacy issues, similar to how health care advocates work with Capitol Hill health aides and experts.
- Routinely scan Health Affairs and AHA advocacy reports to build knowledge of other key issues facing GR peers.
- Schedule routine meetings with your GR to cover medication related issues as well as discuss pharmacy practice advocacy issues.
- Have a clear “ask” for each meeting.
- Approach meetings with goal to set yourself up for the next meeting.
- Offer to be a resource including ability to facilitate communication with ASHP Government Relations on issues of mutual concern.
Thanks again for your continued support of ASHP and the Section!!
Sincerely,
Jennifer Tryon, Pharm.D, M.S., FASHP
Chair, Section of Pharmacy Practice Managers (2017-2018)
Associate Vice President and Chief Pharmacy Officer, Wake Forest Baptist Health
sections@ashp.org