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2018 GEORGIA PHARMACY CONVENTION • JUNE 21-24 • NASHVILLE February/March 2018 GOT CE? OUR 2018 EDUCATION CATALOG (P. 14) POWER UP ADVOCATE FOR YOUR PROFESSION STAND UP FOR YOUR PATIENTS C M Y CM MY CY CMY K contents 14 EDUCATION 2018 It’s a license-renewal year, and GPhA has a long list of seminars, courses, classes, and even printable CE material to help you meet your requirements — and improve your practice. A FEW TWEAKS You might notice some changes with this issue. We’ve added a lighthearted back page called, obviously, “The Back Page.” We’ve also introduced “Shout Outs” (page 6) where we’ll recognize some noteworthy members. And there are a handful of other nips and tucks — we hope you enjoy! 8 22 4 shout outs contact us New GPhA members, plus Who does what at GPhA — who’s made it into the 100% and how to reach us Club and President’s Circle 3 23 prescript 10 postscript It’s time pharmacy school Front and center CEO Bob Coleman on why every update GPhA President Liza Chapman 24 pharmacist in the state needs to What’s happening at Georgia’s on how sharing your stories participate, fight back, and prepare. pharmacy schools with the right people is the 12 best way to spread our legal injection 4 message. quick hits When and how to handle your disputes with PBMs What’s happening in the 24 Georgia pharmacy world the back page 18 Co-pay twists, women and ADHD The lighter side of PharmPAC drugs, Georgia’s healthcare pharmacy and healthcare Investors in the future of taskforce, and more 7 news pharmacy in Georgia SUBSCRIPTIONS Georgia Pharmacy is distributed as a regular membership service, paid for with membership Georgia Pharmacy magazine Chief Executive Officer Director of Communication dues. Non-members can subscribe for $50 per year domestic or $65 per year international. Single issues is the official publication of the Bob Coleman Andrew Kantor are $10 per issue domestic and $20 international. Georgia Pharmacy Association. [email protected] President and Chair of the Board Practicing Georgia pharmacists who are not Liza Chapman Art Director members of GPhA are not eligible for subscriptions. Unless otherwise noted, the entire Carole Erger-Fass contents of this publication is licensed President-Elect POSTAL under a Creative Commons Attribution- Tim Short Georgia Pharmacy (ISSN 1075-6965) is published NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International bi-monthly by GPhA, 6065 Barfield Road NE, Suite Immediate Past President ADVERTISING license. Direct any questions to the editor at 100 Sandy Springs, GA, 30328. Periodicals postage Lance Boles All advertising inquiries should be directed to [email protected]. Denis Mucha at [email protected] or paid at Atlanta, GA and at additional mailing offices. (404) 419-8120. Media kit and rates available POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Georgia upon request. Pharmacy magazine, 6065 Barfield Road NE, Suite 100 Sandy Springs, GA 30328. February/March 2018 Georgia Pharmacy 1 MARK YOUR CALENDARS June 21-24, 2018 2018 GEORGIA PHARMACY CONVENTION Nashville Join hundreds of pharmacists, technicians, students, and other The Georgia Pharmacy Convention professionals for three days in is in the Omni Nashville hotel — glorious Nashville! a hop, skip, or jump from all the city has to offer. It’s the perfect mix of networking, education, and the country’s most vibrant music and Check out entertainment scene. GPhAconvention.com for more details! From Music Row and the Grand Ole Opry, to the Country Music Hall of Fame, to the acclaimed Nashville Zoo and historic mansions and plantations, Nashville is an amazing city to visit (at night and in between 2018 sessions, of course). PRESCRIPT From the CEO It’s time After nine months, maybe it’s It’s time every practicing pharmacist in the time to stop calling me the new state, regardless of his or her practice setting, guy. It’s been a steep learn- becomes a member of GPhA. It’s really true ing curve and one that I’m that numbers count. The more members we sure will continue for many have, the louder our voice with our elected months, if not years to come. officials and regulators. (I’ve always been taught to It’s time to participate. You are either the never stop learning.) hunter or the hunted. The good news is you get BOB COLEMAN From time to time, I’ve been to choose which one you are. Call, write, text, or asked if I thought coming into e-mail your state and federal legislators. When the position without a background in pharmacy GPhA asks you for examples to use when we was a positive or negative. My answer is that it’s speak to your representatives, take the time been both, but generally I feel it’s been positive. to provide the information to us. It makes a Just keeping up with the acronyms is a chal- difference. lenge, much less understanding the politics of It’s time to fight back. Yes, I know it feels like a situation. On the other hand, I approach the David versus Goliath, but remember who won! industry with a clean slate and no preconceived When dealing with PBMs in particular, follow biases — much like the patients you serve every the steps to appeal unfair reimbursements and day. In fact, nine months ago, I was that patient, fees. With our victories in 2015 and 2017, after with no knowledge of terms like “clawbacks,” following the proper procedures, you can now “DIR fees,” or “reimbursement rates.” My inter- appeal to the Georgia Insurance Commission action with my pharmacist was simply 1) drop for help on issues including audits, reimburse- off the prescription, 2) pay whatever they said ments, copay clawbacks, and retaliation. And, I owed, and 3) hope that whatever it was I was don’t forget to call GPhA as well. We’re here to taking made me feel better. help you, and you might be surprised at the What I’ve learned about how that process number of inquiries we’ve been able to get works was shocking. As an MBA, I can’t imag- reversed in our member’s favor. ine investing in a business where your cost of It’s time to prepare. We continue to hear that goods changes rapidly, and where someone the traditional pharmacy model must change outside of your business decides what you to survive; dispensing is no longer enough. are going to be paid … and six months later MTM, DSME, smoking cessation, and weight someone else might decide to take back a good control — along with what I’m sure to be a portion of what they paid you. (Heck, according myriad of future services — are being touted as to Representative Buddy Carter it might be five possible solutions. The jury may be out on that, years later.) but if those services, combined with dispens- So, with little control on your part as a busi- ing, result in profitable business models, you ness owner, you might be selling product at a should prepare now to offer them. profit or a loss depending on the day of the week, Rest assured we’re fighting for the profes- Georgia Pharmacy and your banner year could turn into a loss sion and your placeASSOCIATION in it. Thank you for your overnight. Sound familiar? Well, in my opinion it continued support. It’s appreciated more than BLACK & WHITE OPEN shouldn’t. It’s not right and it’s not fair. we can express.GLOSS/GRADIENT FLAT COLOR So, what do we do about it? Fortunately there 1 are several things that we can and should be Bob Coleman is chief executive officer of the doing. Georgia Pharmacy Association. February/March 2018 Georgia Pharmacy 3 QUICK HITS MEDICAID EXPANSION SAVING RURAL HOSPITALS In states that expanded Medicaid under the ACA, fewer rural hospitals were forced to close — 84 percent less likely, in fact, according to a study published in Health Affairs from the University of Colorado. New twist coming “We found,” the authors concluded, “that the ACA’s Medicaid expansion was as- sociated with improved hospi- to co-pays tal financial performance and substantially lower likelihoods A change in the way insurers pay That assistance is between the of closure, especially in rural for drugs is gaining traction, and it patient and the drug maker, so pa- markets and counties with will likely cost your patients more tients still count their full co-pays large numbers of uninsured — while making the whole pay- against their deductibles. (It’s as if adults.” ment/insurance process even more a friendly relative helped pay for complicated. their meds.) If you have patients who are But that, says Drug Channels’s confused about deductibles and Adam Fein, is starting to change. NOT GOOD co-pays, wait’ll you get a load of Health plans are beginning to say, TO BE A KID “Co-pay accumulator” programs. “If the drugmaker gives you a cou- In a nutshell: pon, it doesn’t count against your The U.S. has the worst Many people have a separate deductible.” childhood mortality rate in prescription deductible as part of And that will be a shock for a lot the developed world, and a their health insurance., and pre- of patients, who suddenly have to new study finds that we’re scription co-pays come out of this bear a much larger share of their also improving the slowest. deductible. annual prescription costs because The culprits: premature birth When those co-pays are expen- these coupons effectively count and SIDS for the youngest; sive (e.g., if the medication is in the against them.