Chair Message July 2018

July 2018

Dear Colleagues,

I am always amazed at how fast time passes these days, and this was certainly the case for me this past year, serving as the Chair of the Section of Pharmacy Practice Managers. We set out at the beginning of the year to address urgent and emerging professional issues that arise, while also leveraging the talent on our Advisory Groups and Committees to meet the needs of our members. Reflecting back, the year has yielded a lot of successes and I recommend section participation to all my colleagues because it is such a rewarding experience.

ASHP and the Section had an incredible year 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. It has been quite impressive observing the support and advice our Section members have been providing to help shape ASHP’s advocacy and overall efforts to support our members!!

Throughout the year our Advisory Groups and Committees achieved a number of goals and to list them all would not be possible. But I wanted to take the opportunity to list a few to demonstrate the depth and breadth of their efforts. The collective work is just so impressive and really sets ASHP and the Section apart as a home for pharmacy leaders. Outcomes have included:

1. Multiple members presenting and leading networking sessions at MCM and SM
2. National Trends in Prescription Drug Expenditures and Projections for 2018 -recorded webinar with CE
3. Improving Opioid Prescribing Outcomes through Inter-Professional Teams -recorded webinar with CE
4. Success with Succession Planning -recorded webinar with CE
5. Advancing the Value of Pharmacy Through Population Health -recorded webinar with CE
6. Impact to Site of Care Trends - An Introduction and Strategy to Identify the Issues & Check List
7. New Opioid Management Resource Center with Case Studies
8. Updated Controlled Substances Management Resource Center
9. AJHP Multi-hospital Health Systems Themed edition

Recognitions

One of the activities as Chair I really enjoy is being part of the special recognitions we do of Section members that have made significant accomplishments for the profession. This past year we recognized Jim Jorgenson as the 2017 John W. Webb Lecture Awardee and Ross Thompson as the Section’s 2017 Distinguished Service Awardee . Additionally, Patricia C. Kienle was selected as the 2018 John W. Webb Awardee and she will be presenting her lecture at the 2018 Conference for Pharmacy Leaders and Northeastern University College of Pharmacy this fall.

Advocacy – A Call to Action

As I close out my year as Chair I’d like to make a final ‘call to action’. As mentioned the past year has been incredibly active with advocacy on behalf of our profession. ASHP’s government relations and many members have been busy at work continuing the push on 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.

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 )

1. 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.
2. Routinely scan Health Affairs and AHA advocacy reports to build knowledge of other key issues facing GR peers.
3. Schedule routine meetings with your GR to cover medication related issues as well as discuss pharmacy practice advocacy issues.
4. Have a clear “ask” for each meeting.
5. Approach meetings with goal to set yourself up for the next meeting.
6. 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 of Pharmacy Practice Managers (SPPM). I have enjoyed every minute of the last year and serving as the Chair for the Section. I want to extend my sincere appreciation to my fellow SPPM Executive Committee members and to David Chen, thank you for making this a great year and for being so committed to the work of our Section.

Sincerely,

Jen Tryon