CPhA Board Takes Action on 10% Budget Cuts
This week, the Executive/Audit and Finance Committee and the full CPhA Board held two emergency conference calls to consider an urgent funding allocation to combat the 10 percent provider cuts. The Committee voted to recommend, and the board approved, significant funding for a seven pronged effort to protect pharmacy patients, both Medi-Cal and others, who would be seriously impacted if these cuts were to go through on July 1, 2008. These cuts will be devastating and may cause closures and cut backs at many pharmacies. The Board is very concerned that this will cause disruption in medication supplies for patients, potential destabilization for patients, longer lines, and could potentially contribute to more medication errors. They felt it was imperative that CPhA undertake a major effort to stop these cuts and help Californians avoid these problems. As we begin implementing our plans, we will provide you with more information.
CPhA Legislative Committee Meeting
Today, members of the CPhA Legislative Committee met to discuss bills for 2008. This committee is made up of officers from the CPhA Board and a representative from each of the eight CPhA academies. It was a successful meeting that will lead to a very efficient and effective legislative effort this year. A number of items were discussed, including the 10 percent budget cuts, AMP, e-Pedigree, technician legislation, compounding regulations, epilepsy carve out bill, and many others. Look for more information going forward in this message and in our regular legislative updates each Monday. These legislative updates only go out to members, so if you are not a member join today!
Alliance for Patient Care Meeting
Kathy Lynch attended the Alliance for Patient Care meeting on Thursday. Many members of the Alliance will be attending the Assembly Budget Subcommittee hearing on Monday at 4:00 p.m., which has been scheduled to discuss the Legislative Analysts Office alternative budget proposal. CPhA will be testifying at the hearing along with three of our independent owners, Paul Lofholm, John Tilley and Brian Komoto. The Alliance is moving forward with establishing a comprehensive plan to fight the 10% cut to providers, which is scheduled to be implemented on July 1, 2008. Stay tuned for further details from CPhA.
Jackie Speier, Champion of Campaign to Reduce Medication Errors, Running for Congress
Kathy Lynch and I attended a luncheon for Jackie Speier on Wednesday and had a chance to hear about her plan to run for Congress and her interest in continuing the medication errors campaign at the federal level. Many people in the know believe that Jackie stands an excellent chance of being elected. We wish her well and appreciate our long standing relationship with her.
TAR Office Back-Log
The back-log in the TAR offices is going to continue a while longer. We were informed by the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) that in early October of 2007, the TAR office experienced an IT outage, followed by the fires in southern California where many of the staff could not get to work, creating additional delays. Further, chronic freezing of the computers, along with all of the state holidays, contributed to the back-up in the turn around of TARs. DHCS has said that they are working to catch up and they asked that you please not send duplicate TARs as that simply fuels the delays. DHCS acknowledged, however, that there are patients who require an emergency drug, so for those TARs they suggest that providers contact the pharmacy office to explain the urgency of the TAR and the TAR will be moved forward. We were not given a time frame for when the TAR office will be back on track with a "next business day" turn around.
APhA Annual Meeting Begins Next Week in San Diego
California is the host State for this year's APhA Annual Meeting. On Wednesday, President Paul Lofholm and some colleagues from the Marin County area taped video footage regarding pharmacy issues and activities taking place in California. This video will play during APhA's Opening Session as part of the welcome to California and to the meeting itself. Paul said it went extremely well and that additional footage was gathered that can be used for other purposes such as helping the public understand the value of pharmacy services. Cathi Lord, Director of Communications, did a great job of coordinating this effort. For everyone attending the meeting, please be sure to attend the California reception on Sunday evening. We look forward to a great meeting.
Sacramento Valley Pharmacists Association Crab Feed
This is a reminder for all Sacramento area pharmacists that this Saturday the Sacramento Valley Pharmacists Association (SVPhA) will hold their annual crab feed. The SVPhA board met at CPhA on Wednesday for their final meeting leading up to this exciting event. They expect well over 400 people to attend and will have great raffle and auction prizes as well as lots of music and fun. We wish them well and know they will have, as always, an outstanding fundraising event.
Attention Student Pharmacists and New Practitioners!
The 3rd Annual Student Pharmacist and New Practitioner's Summit is back by popular demand. This fun and educational event designed by students for students is taking place April 25 - 27, 2008 at the Westin Hotel in downtown San Diego, CA. All students from the seven schools of pharmacy and new practitioners (five years or less from graduation) are welcome. This should be an outstanding program. The Summit will begin on the evening of April 25th with a brief reception and then a fun, on your own evening. The programming will take place on Saturday the 26th, ending with an educational wine tasting session - with more fun to follow. New this year, Sunday will have additional programming and time for networking. To register for this great event, click here.
The Script
The Pharmacy Foundation of California recently informed the California State Board of Pharmacy that they will no longer be mailing the hard copy of The Script to all licensed pharmacists in the state. Since the Board now posts this publication on their website, it is readily available to all pharmacists by clicking here. It has become increasingly difficult to find funding for this process and the Foundation is evolving in their new direction of helping educate the public about their role in medication errors. The Board was very complimentary regarding PFC's involvement with The Script over the past several years and understands this new change.
CPhA Bookstore
CPhA will be phasing out our bookstore over the next month. We will be redirecting folks interested in purchasing pharmacy books to APhA. We are currently in the process of working with APhA to partner in this endeavor and streamline the process. This also means that CPhA will no longer be selling the California Pharmacy Law book. You can purchase this book through the State Board of Pharmacy website at http://www.pharmacy.ca.gov/publications/publications.shtml.
CAPSLEAD Dinner
Last Saturday night, Paul Lofholm, CPhA President and Jerry Mazzucca, CPhA Immediate Past President, attended the annual CAPSLEAD dinner held in Sacramento. Paul addressed the students and faculty in attendance about the importance of maintaining their involvement in professional associations and staying on top of legislative issues that will affect their careers. Conrad Bio and Michele Belsey from the Rite Aid Corporation, who are the principal sponsors of the event, also addressed the group and commended the students for stepping up to leadership roles. View the photo gallery from the CAPSLEAD conference here.
California CE Options
The following information is being supplied in response to member requests for CE programs available throughout California in live, online and hard-copy formats. CPhA has already begun providing CE communications on the first Wednesday of each month and will evolve as we receive more feedback from you. Please contact Cathi Lord at clord@cpha.com with your questions, thoughts and additional needs.
Later this year, our website will include a CE bank for CPhA Local Associations. This will allow Locals to choose from complete CE programs that can be held in their area. Additionally, we will be looking into adding an online CE tracking function, which will provide our members with the ability to track all of their CE credits earned during the year. This should be extremely useful in preparation for biannual re-licensing requirements.
In the News
FDA Medwatch
FDA informed healthcare professionals and consumers of the correct way to use Spiriva and Foradil inhalation powder capsules. FDA and the National Poison Control Center have received many reports of patients swallowing Spiriva and Foradil capsules rather than placing the capsules in the inhalation devices. Both products are to be used in the HandiHaler (Spiriva) and Aerolizer (Foradil) devices to deliver the medicine to the lungs to improve breathing in patients with asthma, and in individuals affected by chronic obstructive lung disease and bronchitis. Both products will not treat a patient's breathing condition if the contents of a capsule are swallowed rather than inhaled. Healthcare professionals should discuss with patients how to correctly use the Spiriva HandiHaler or Foradil Aerolizer. See the Public Health Advisory for important information on the correct use of both products.
Read the complete 2008 MedWatch Safety Summary, including a link to the FDA's Public Health Advisory regarding this issue by clicking here.
Question of the Week
Hi Lynn,
The implementation of the Tamper resistant prescriptions for all federally paid claims was delayed until April 2008. That date is now approaching, what is DHS intending to require and when? Is that to go into effect on April 1, 2008 for Medi-Cal prescriptions? Are faxed, electronic and phoned prescriptions still exempt?
Brian Komoto
Past President
Answer
Dear Brian,
Thanks for the question. The answer to this week's question comes from DCHS' Kevin Gorospe:
"Our current recommendation is for providers to use the already established California tamper resistant prescriptions. If the provider doesn't want to use the established forms for non-controlled substances, we encourage prescribers to obtain pads that have all three features April 1st, instead of waiting until October.
We have adopted the classification of the 3 features provided by NCPDP in their letter to state Medicaids. This letter is also posted on the HotNews website. As for Brian's other question, the answer is Yes, electronic, fax and telephone prescriptions are exempt from the requirement."
CPhA member pharmacists may want to get in touch with high prescribers of Medi-Cal prescriptions to remind them to be ready for the implementation date of April 1, 2008 to help avoid delays for patients and extra work for pharmacies.
As a reminder, Medi-Cal will not reimburse pharmacists for prescriptions not written on tamper resistant pads after April 1, 2008. So, pharmacists would be subject to reversal of claims from audits after this date.
If you have any additional questions, please let me know.