NCPA installs independents from Mullins Pharmacy and CARE Pharmacy to president, 5th VP positions
NEW ORLEANS – The National Community Pharmacists Association late on Wednesday announced the installation of a new president and fifth VP and also adopted resolutions reaffirming the organization’s opposition to retroactive reimbursement cuts and in support of enhanced services networks of community pharmacies in the changing health care environment.
DeAnn Mullins, of Lynn Haven, Fla., started her term as president with a speech to the House of Delegates that addressed the movement toward a value-driven health care system as well as the challenges independent community pharmacies face. A certified diabetes educator, Mullins owns Mullins Pharmacy, WeCare Wellness and the WeCare Diabetes Education Program. She is a past member of the Florida Board of Pharmacy and graduated from Samford University's McWhorter School of Pharmacy.
“As pharmacists, we are deeply connected to our patients. Those deep connections and relationships and the satisfaction from knowing deep in our souls that we are doing good work that keeps us fighting this crazy fight and it’s a key to our continued success,” Mullins said. “Being a pharmacist is about taking care of people and relationships. It’s a core desire to help people be well. And we do that day in and day out. It’s our super power in a value-based system of care.”
“My primary goal this next year is to work on connections and relationships with everyone ... who believes in the higher purpose of fixing our broken health care system,” she added. “I believe in a world where prescribers, pharmacists, nurses and payers quit competing and start collaborating to design a value-based system of care that benefits everyone."
Michael Kim is NCPA’s new fifth VP and the owner of multiple independent community pharmacies in the District of Columbia and Maryland. Among them is Grubbs Care Pharmacy on Capitol Hill just steps from the U.S. Capitol. He is the curren VP of the Washington D.C. Pharmacy Association, the chairman of the CARE Pharmacies board of directors and received his Pharm.D. from Howard University.
In addition, NCPA delegates adopted two resolutions during the session.
The first resolution concerns direct and indirect remuneration (DIR) fees that threaten many independent community pharmacies. DIR fees may be levied in an uneven manner and make it difficult and sometimes impossible to assess what their effective reimbursement rate is. “NCPA opposes any retroactive reduction in payment directly or indirectly on clean claims submitted by pharmacies,” the resolution states.
The second resolution relates to the integration of community pharmacists into the nationwide movement toward value-based purchasing arrangements and alternative payment models. It commits NCPA to “encourage the development and operation of regional enhanced services networks of community pharmacies with defined core service sets and additional optional services to facilitate the integration of community pharmacy with other health care providers to prosper in the changing health care environment by improving the health and wellness of their patients and lowering the total cost of care.” It concludes with a resolve “that NCPA support its members interested in participating in enhanced services networks with programs, tools and resource for them to adapt their business and practice for the best opportunity for success.”