McKesson public policy forum encourages pharmacists to get involved
SAN DIEGO — California state Sen. Jeff Stone, a former independent pharmacist himself, had one message for independent pharmacists during the McKesson ideaShare 2015 Public Policy session in San Diego — don’t just vote, get involved.
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“We need more pharmacist leaders,” he said. “As the most respected profession in the country, you have a leg up, and I’m going to encourage you, today, to get involved in your local politics,” Stone said. “Pharmacy is the most respected profession in the country. You have no idea the powerful message that this sends when you’re running for office. It gives you immediate credibility. We need to have ambassadors at all levels of government so that we can enhance and advance our profession.”
Having a voice in those legislative halls is becoming more and more important as government becomes a bigger payer of healthcare services, noted Joe Ganley, McKesson VP government affairs. “The reality is that for all of our businesses, government politics touches us, so we have to be involved,” Ganley said. “If we can elevate our public policy advocacy beyond our narrow business interests, and frame it in a system-wide ‘what’s good for the healthcare system, what’s good for patients kind of way,’ we’ll all benefit tremendously. Pharmacists are some of the most well-trained and under-utilized providers in the healthcare system, and we should be putting them to work on the front lines helping patients to get and stay healthy.”
Some of the key political battles facing independent operators today included provider status, vaccination requirements and creating a fair marketplace when it comes to pharmacy benefit managers.
Health Mart owners Alex Obeid and Jeff Sherr joined Ganley and Stone on stage for a roundtable discussion on how best to champion the role pharmacy plays in healthcare delivery in the halls of legislators.
As the healthcare paradigm evolves from a volume-based system to a value-based system, that role is significant. “We really have an opportunity here to expose to the world what it is that we bring to the table,” Obeid said. “This is a healthcare dynamic that’s not going to go away. We’re going to be excluded if we don’t speak out.”
“The business of pharmacy is a changing paradigm,” Sherr said. “As pharmacists we have a choice. We can either make dust or we can eat dust. Through this whole McKesson ideaShare 2015, the whole discussion has been about patient outcomes and talking about med sync and adherence. So much of that is the way that we can prove to people the value that pharmacists and pharmacy actually have.”
The Forum speakers encouraged ideaShare participants to get involved by getting to know their elected representatives, engaging in their pharmacy associations and learning about the key public policy issues that face community pharmacy practice today.