2015 12 georgia pharmacy magazine

December 2015/January 2016

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Coverage You Need.Service You Deserve.A Price You Can Afford.

Introducing the AIP CriticalKey High Performance Network

Georgia Pharmacy 1December 2015/January 2016

3 prescriptLearning by doingScott Brunner considers the importance of a New Year’s resolutions, and taking those first few steps... sometimes more than once.

4 newsWhat’s happening in the Georgia pharmacy worldGPhA’s new group health plans for pharmacies, an important track and trace extension, Georgia pharmacy awards, MTM tips, and much more.

8legal injectionOur association counsel answers questions about Georgia pharmacy law

A prescription drug monitoring program. Pharmacists’ role in cannabis oil treatments. Provider status. Technician supervision.

Between the laws we’re hoping to change or enact and the regulations we want to clarify, GPhA has an ambitious and important policy agenda for 2016.

Here are the issues we’ll be focusing on and what they mean for pharmacists and their patients.

10 cover story: Public Policy

contents

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18LeadershipGPhAMeet the newest class of future Georgia pharmacy leaders

21PharmPACInvestors in the future of the pharmacy profession in Georgia

23contact usWho does what at GPhA, and how to reach us

24postscript A note from President Tommy WhitworthIt’s a beautiful day in the neighbor-hood, but are we doing the best we can to keep it that way?

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Correction: In the October/November issue, we incorrectly referred to the “DAN” in Project DAN as “Deaths by Naloxone.” It stands for “Deaths Avoided by Naloxone.” We regret the error.

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I’m always amazed at the lengths to which a new year will drive some folks.

In early January a cou-ple of years ago I saw on the news where scores of people showed up at a local fairgrounds for a very public weighing-in, part of a YMCA-sponsored com-

munity weight-loss program. None of the weigh-ees seemed to mind the extra 10 pounds those TV news cameras added to their already hefty physiques. “I’ve eaten my way through my last Christmas,” vowed one interviewee. “My new year’s resolution is to take some of this weight off.”

Well, good luck, honey, I wanted to say. You’re gonna need it.

Then I remembered my own record on new year resolutions, from my perennial promise to “talk less, listen more” — which I first made somewhere around 1990, and had I adhered to it, would by all rights be totally mute by now — to my well-inten-tioned vow to start writing that novel I’ve been contemplating for a decade. And even now, I am preparing once again for my annual attempt to read through the Bible — or rather, through the Pentateuch, the first part of the Bible, for in most years that’s about as far as I get.

That’s the thing about resolutions. They sound so good, seem so absolutely attainable in the hopeful warmth of a new year’s glow. Who among us hasn’t, on a crisp January 1, resolved to exercise

more, be nicer to our neighbor, learn to play golf, dust the baseboards or...whatever. Even read the Bible through in a year.

Yet how few of us actually manage to stick with it when the going gets tough, when our resolve sours into inconvenience, when other things entice and suddenly it’s February and we’re bogged down in Leviticus.

Let him who is without sin cast the first stone, I say.

January is hopeful, a month of fresh starts, clean slates. It’s cold outside, but that new begin-ning fills and warms us with hope. Then February comes with an icy one-two punch and knocks it right out of us. February is cruel, for it makes us face up to our inconsistencies, forces us to decide if new commitments are really worth relinquishing old habits for.

Maybe that’s why Plato called the beginning the most important part of a work. Matters not if your new work is eating less or earning a certification, working out or ramping up your MTM capacity, cleaning the attic or running for the legislature. You have to start, every day.

As for me, well, I’ve decided to put nose-to-Pen-tateuch and once more begin reading — and to root for folks like those who weighed-in down at the fairgrounds.

If we all can make it through February, we’ll be halfway home.

R. Scott Brunner, CAE, is GPhA’s chief executive officer.

prescript

Georgia Pharmacy magazine is the official publication of the Georgia Pharmacy Association.

Unless otherwise noted, the entire contents of this publication is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. Direct any questions to the editor at [email protected].

President and Chair of the Board Tommy Whitworth

President-Elect Lance Boles

First Vice President Liza Chapman

Second Vice President Tim Short

Chief Executive Officer Scott Brunner, CAE [email protected]

Vice President of Communication and Engagement Phillip Ratliff [email protected]

Director of Communication & Editor Andrew Kantor [email protected]

Art Director Carole Erger-Fass

ADVERTISING All advertising inquiries should be directed to Denis Mucha at [email protected] or (770) 252-1284. Media kit and rates available upon request.

SUBSCRIPTIONS Georgia Pharmacy is distributed as a regular membership service, paid for with membership dues. Non-members can subscribe for $50 per year domestic or $65 per year international. Single issues are $10 issue domestic and $20 international. Practicing Georgia pharmacists who are not members of GPhA are not eligible for subscriptions.

POSTALGeorgia Pharmacy (ISSN 1075-6965) is published bi-monthly by the GPhA, 50 Lenox Pointe NE, Atlanta, GA 30324. Periodicals postage paid at Atlanta, GA and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Georgia Pharmacy magazine, 50 Lenox Pointe NE, Atlanta, GA 30324.

the thing about resolutions

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Georgia PharmacyA S S O C I A T I O N

sCott brunner

Georgia Pharmacy 4 December 2015/January 2016

Starting in 2016, GPhA will be part-nering with Georgia-based StaffMe-trix HR and J. Smith Lanier & Co. to offer pharmacist owners a new, less expensive group health and employ-ee benefits program.

It includes not only health insur-ance for owners and employees, but is part of a broader package of insur-ance and human resource services — known as a professional employer organization or PEO.

Pharmacy owners who already get their group health coverage through GPhA will have the PEO replace the current Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia coverage with a selection of plans from Humana including an HMO and four POS plans to choose from. You’ll be getting more benefits, more options, lower premiums, plus a range of other human resources services.

(If you don’t get your health coverage through GPhA, you need to look at what we’re offering. You’ll be impressed. We did our research.)

Pharmacies — “dispensers” to the FDA — were going to have to comply with the require-ments of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (commonly known as “track and trace”) starting November 1. But the

FDA has announced that it is extending that compliance date to March 1, 2016.

GPhA has already offered a live webinar to help you get your ducks in a row (you can still watch it, just not live, at GPhA.org/trackandtrace). And you can bet we’ll be offering more help with compliance before that new deadline. For now, enjoy the bit of breathing room.

FDA EXTENDS iTS TRACK & TRACE ComPliANCE DATE To mARCh 2016

news

read more @gphabuzz.com

GPhA DEbuTS NEw GRouP hEAlTh PlAN — AT GREAT RATES

We wanted to offer members the best available health coverage, and to grow our employee benefits program by offering the kinds of services small businesses need, taking advan-tage of GPhA’s size to provide better rates than individual businesses could get on their own.

The new PEO provides not only health coverage, but also voluntary dental, vision, short- and long-term disability, and term life insurance, all with low premiums because you’ll be part of the GPhA pool.

Then it goes beyond, providing a soup-to-nuts HR department: com-plete administration of all the insur-ance and financial services plans, payroll administration (including handling all taxes and deductions), background checks, W2 and 1099 pro-cessing and filing, and a lot more.

You’ll find all the details on our website at GPhA.org/peo, or drop a note to GPhA’s Denis Mucha at [email protected]. He’ll answer all your questions.


Each year the Georgia Pharmacy Association presents four awards acknowledging pharmacists who are among the best of their profession.

If you know someone deserving of one of these awards, now’s the time to tell us.

The Bowl of Hygeia is recognized as the most prestigious award in pharmacy, and is presented annually by each state pharmacy association to a pharmacist in each state with an outstanding record of service to the profession and the community.

The Distinguished Young Pharmacist Award recognizes the achievements of young pharma-cists in the profession who has already demon-strated a dedication to Georgia pharmacists and patients.

The Excellence in Innovation Award acknowl-edges a pharmacy that has found new and better

ways to improve the care of its pa-tients — innovative and impressive solutions, techniques, or business practices that all pharmacies should consider.

The Generation Rx Champions Award honors a pharmacist who has demonstrated a committed effort to reduce prescription drug abuse through notable programs, outreach, education, and other community efforts.

The how-to:• To nominate someone for one of these

awards — or for detailed criteria — visit GPhA.org/2016awards.

• Winners will be honored at the 2016 Geor-gia Pharmacy Convention at the Hilton Head Marriott Resort in June.

• Deadline for submissions is March 4, 2016.

Nominate a Georgia pharmacist for one of GPhA’s prestigious awards

Keeping pharmacist voters informedThe 2016 elections are less than a year away, and you can be sure that whomever’s elect-ed is going to have an impact on pharmacy’s future.

To keep you informed, GPhA is partnering with the NACDS’s RxImpact grassroots program. It’ll make it easy to keep up with the latest on state and federal races.

RxImpact doesn’t sup-port candidates, but it does provide resources to see how each of them stands on issues affecting the pharmacy profession

You can get more info about RxImpact and sign up for alerts at rximpact.org.


news

A year-long study by the National Community Pharmacists Association and our counterparts in Arkansas found that yes, med sync programs work.

Patients enrolled in a medication synchronization program were about two-and-a-half times more likely to stick to their regimen than those whose refills were all over the calendar.

By the way, a shameless plug: Research like this — that shows the value of community pharmacies — is something the Georgia Pharmacy Foundation is going to start conducting. Just thought we’d mention that.

You can find more info in the October 26, 2015 article in the NCPA’s newsroom at ncpanet.org.

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Meet your CQI requirements

You probably already know that Georgia pharmacies have to have a continuous quality improvement (CQI) program to adhere to key third-party contract and Medicare Part D requirements.

Guess what? GPhA mem-bers have access to just such a program, and at a discounted rate to boot. It’s called Phar-macy Quality Commitment or PQC and you can check it out over at pqc.net.

And if you sign up before the end of the year, enter the code GPHA2015 to get $25 off the initial cost of the program.

W00t!


GPhA is committed to meeting and exceeding the expectations of our members. To help us do that, we need you to let us know how we’re doing. No complex process here: Simply e-mail us at [email protected] and share your thoughts

and experiences.If you’ve got a complaint or a

concern, you’ll hear from one our VPs within one business day. We’ll address your concerns and dis-cuss how we can better meet your needs.

Tell us how we’re doiNG

Not everyone jumps at the chance to receive medication therapy management services, so Miraxa offers a few simple tips to turn “No thanks” into “Sign me up”:

Introduce the service when the customer is in the store on other business. When custom-ers come in to fill a prescrip-tions, let them know that there may be an opportunity for you to review their drug regimen with them, at no additional cost, as part of the patient’s existing insurance benefits and if so, you will be in contact with them soon to schedule a meeting.

If a patient doesn’t have time to receive the service propose two or three specific alternative

times for them to receive the service; don’t just ask “When is good?” or suggest they call back.

If patients still decline, remind them that not only is it good for their health, the service is included as an insurance ben-efit — it’s already been paid for.

If you receive the case through a program such as US Script, don’t decline it immedi-ately, even if the patient refus-es. Wait until the case is closer to its expiration date — often patients change their minds.

Increasing MTM acceptance rates is good for everyone: It offers better health for patients and higher service levels for you, something program sponsors keep an eye on.

Tips for increasing MTM service acceptance rates

who IsGPhA?

individual pharmacists,

including

43 married couples(404 of them

own a pharmacy)

114

760student pharmacists

1,178

retired pharmacists

35pharmacy technicians

3affiliates

total membersOctober 2012:

1,307October 2015:

1,976


Are there any specific functions that pharmacy technicians are prohibited from performing?Yes, pharmacy technicians are prohibited from performing or conducting duties or functions that require professional judgment. What are those? Here’s the list:• Accepting telephoned or other oral prescriptions;• Transferring prescription drug orders from

another pharmacy or transfers of a prescription drug order to another pharmacy;

• Patient counseling;• Receiving information or providing information

about a prescription drug order;• Making the determination as to whether to refill

the prescription drug order;• Certifying a filled and finished prescription drug

order;• Weighing or measuring active ingredients with-

out a mechanism of verification;• Compounding of medication without a

mechanism of verification;• Giving a completed prescription to a patient

without the label being verified by a pharmacist;• Reconstituting of prefabricated medication

without a mechanism of verification;• Verification of the constituents of final IV

admixtures for accuracy, efficacy, and patient utilization;

• Entering an order on patient medication profiles without verification by a pharmacist;

• Providing drug information that has not been prepared or approved by the pharmacist; and

• Reviewing the patient record for therapeutic appropriateness.

For those of you who like reading the law, see Georgia code 480-15-.01 through 480-15-.05.

I read on GPhA Buzz that the Department of Public Health was giving drive-by flu shots in several areas of north Georgia. How is it that DPH can give immunizations to people in their cars, but I can’t?

The restriction you’re thinking of, on administer-ing vaccines while patients remain in their vehi-cles, is specific to pharmacists and nurses who are administering vaccines pursuant to a vaccine protocol agreement.

Simply put, that restriction, as well as the other requirements of the new law, don’t apply to many other healthcare workers. It’s not applicable to hospitals, physicians offices, nursing homes, or other health care facilities designated by DPH.

While I am unsure who was administering those drive-by flu shots on behalf of DPH — whether it was physicians, pharmacists, nurses, or interns — they likely fall under the second catego-ry and weren’t subject to the same restrictions as pharmacists.

Also, while a bit of a digression, it’s worth point-ing out that the drive-by restriction and the pri-vacy requirement in the new law (see more about that in the cover story on page 10) do not apply to mass immunizations in the event of a public health emergency or for purposes of training — when vaccinations are administered to large groups of people at one or more locations in a short interval of time, such as a zombie outbreak.

legal injection

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In which Greg Reybold, GPhA ‘s vice president of public policy and association counsel, answers questions about Georgia pharmacy law.

(Greg can’t actually give legal advice to members, but he’s happy to offer his interpretation of the law here. You know the drill: If you have a legal issue, consult your own attorney.)

Use of this article, or the information it contains, does not con-stitute any legal advice, does NOT establish any attorney-client relationship, and does NOT create any legal duty on the part of the author or the Georgia Pharmacy Association. When making a decision that may have legal consequences, readers should consult with qualified legal counsel.

Do you have an issue you’D like to see aDDresseD in this column? let us know — submit it to GreG at [email protected].

GreG reybold

Q&A: Who can do what?

Pharmacy education is built from the ground uP

4 provides professional education and development

4 supports students with education and scholarships

4 trains future pharmacy leaders

4 informs consumers about the value of community pharmacy

4 invests in profession-related research

4 extends a helping hand to pharmacists struggling with substance abuse

You can join Operation Firm Foundation by investing as little as $10 a month. One-time gift options are also available. Go to www.gpha.org/foundation to keep foundation programs alive and strong.

With your continued support, the Georgia Pharmacy Foundation is changing the way we think about pharmacy.

FOUNDAT I O N

read more at gPha.org/foundation, and helP us do more for georgia’s Pharmacists.

Operation Firm Foundation gives the Georgia Pharmacy Foundation a solid base of reliable funding.

Through sustained giving, your foundation:


publicpolicy

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Cannabis OilTECH SUPERVISION

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cover story

By phillip ratliff


hrough its yearly call for

issues, GPhA talks with

members across geograph-

ic regions and practice

settings — independent owners, chain pharmacists,

health system pharmacists, students, technicians,

and more. It’s goal: to find out what our members

feel are the most important policy matters facing the

entire pharmacy profession in Georgia.

The GPhA Board of Directors uses this feedback to

determine the year’s policy plan. The Board considers

strategy and politically viability. A determination has

to be made if a legislative fix is in fact the smartest

avenue. Can the change we want be effected at the

regulatory level, instead? After all, “policy” is about

more than changing or enacting laws.

After careful deliberation, the board identified

three legislative policy issues — changes to the pre-

scription drug monitoring program, clarifying phar-

macists’ role for patients taking cannabis oil (should

its sale be legalized in Georgia), and defining “direct

supervision” of pharmacy technicians — as those most

important to the practice of pharmacy in Georgia. In

the 2016 legislative session, GPhA will keep these

issues before members, legislators, and our allies.

Not every issue before Georgia pharmacists

requires such an approach. We’re also seeking reg-

ulatory fixes, to clarify how laws are interpreted or

enforced. Such issues carry with them their own set

of challenges, requiring us to work with other boards

or regulatory agencies to achieve clarity and the most

practical, safe interpretation of current policies. It’s

sometimes a matter of changing a word or two, but

that can be more arduous than one might think.

As a whole, the issues our policy agenda addresses

are extraordinarily diverse and complicated. But we’ve

made getting a handle on the issues — and GPhA’s po-

sition — as easy and intuitive as possible. Read on to

see how the voice for pharmacy in Georgia will speak

for pharmacists and their patients in 2016.

GeorGia’s pDMpGeorgia’s prescription drug monitoring program needs some critical upgrades.

When Governor Deal signed the Patient Safety Act into law in 2011, Georgia became one of the last states in the nation to implement a prescrip-tion drug monitoring program. Despite the late start, the law is working in many respects. Lortab, oxycodone, and hydrocodone abuse have plum-meted, thanks in part to the law’s impact. And, as expected, heroin use has shot up — a reliable if somewhat perverse indicator that narcotics ad-dicts are feeding their habits somewhere besides the pharmacy counter.

With close to half a decade of PDMP practice under their belts, physicians, pharmacists, and regulators are wondering whether the system is as effective as it should be. Georgia’s program is burdensome, they say. Patient information is spotty, and communication channels — within Georgia’s healthcare system and across state lines — are subject to breakdowns. The perennial scramble for funding further undermines the

Tpublicprogram, reducing the perceptions of stability and taxing the program’s small staff.

Until these holes in PDMP are patched, some patients with prescription drug addiction will con-tinue to escape notice. Here’s a rundown of how Georgia’s PDMP got to where it is, and how we can make the system even better.

Funding woes

After the Patient Safety Act was signed into law, the legislature authorized the Georgia Drugs and Narcotics Agency to run the state’s PDMP pro-gram. Initial costs were considerable, but thanks to a $400,000 grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Georgians didn’t have to foot the bill.

GDNA Director Rick Allen made the money go a long way. “We were able to stretch it out because we only used the money to pay for computer programs, a little travel to PDMP programs,” Allen says. Actual costs, he says, turned out to be about $13,000 to $14,000 a month. Administrative costs, including space, some staffing, and equipment, were absorbed by other areas of GDNA. Thanks to small staff and a lean operation, GDNA stretched BJA grant funding through September 2015.


To keep the PDMP up and running, GDNA had to request an additional $250,000 last March. The legislature granted the request and for the short-run, PDMP will continue its job of protecting Georgia patients. But eventually, that funding, too, will run out.

A permanent and stable source of PDMP fund-ing reassures healthcare professionals that taking the time to input and search patient information is purposeful, that the system is here to stay. There are a couple of options for making this happen. The state of Georgia could continue to fund PDMP for about $200,000 to $250,000 annually. This is the likely course. In the grand scheme of things, that’s a cheap price to pay.

But it’s not as cheap as having the BJA pay for everything, which continues to be a live option, Allen suggests, although federal funding comes loaded with a host of reporting requirements and stipulations. It’s a lot of hoop for an agency with-out a lot of jump.

Limited access

Under current law, pharmacists are required to enter Schedule II prescriptions into PDMP, but for physicians, accessing the system is voluntary. If you’re a physician seeing 10 to 15 patients a day, logging in to the PDMP to check each and every narcotics prescription isn’t realistic. And when physicians aren’t using PDMP, patients can fall through the cracks.

How to seal up those cracks? Delegation, for starters. As currently interpreted, state law doesn’t allow physicians or pharmacists to delegate PDMP access to support staff. This has had the unin-tended effect of discouraging physician PDMP use — and it’s burdensome to the pharmacists who must use the system. Allowing physicians to bring their support staff into the process would make it infinitely easier to integrate PDMP data into the healthcare process — while remaining entirely compliant with HIPAA. Pharmacy technicians, nurses, and PAs already access the same sorts of data elsewhere. Locking them out of the PDMP defies common sense.

Open communications

PDMP programs are built on the idea that the best way to stop drug-seeking behavior is

through communication: pharmacist-to-pharma-cist, doctor-to-doctor, and pharmacist-to-doctor. Under Georgia law, physicians and pharmacists are prevented from any such communication unless they’re armed with a court order.

This particular weakness has been present in Georgia’s PDMP since its beginning. When the Patient Safety Act was passed in 2011, there were real concerns with patient privacy, according to Medical Association of Georgia CEO Donald Palmi-sano. The idea of a PDMP was new to Georgia, and how the issue of privacy would play out was a big unknown.

“Four years into it,” Palmisano said, “we see that the privacy concerns just aren’t coming to frui-tion.”

Even more frustrating, information about Geor-gia patients’ narcotic use is trapped within the borders of the state.

Doctors and pharmacists in neighboring states have access to prescription drug records across state lines, which makes sense. Pill mill sales and doctor shopping aren’t stopped by a border. In fact, those pill mills and patients made their way to Georgia in part because the Peach State, unlike our neighbor to the south, doesn’t share its patients’ data. So when Florida stopped being friendly territory, they followed the path of least resistance straight up I-75.

There’s a principle here: When a neighboring state clamps down on prescription drug abuse, Georgia feels the squeeze. And the fact is, Al-abama, Tennessee, Florida, and the Carolinas are doing a better job of putting the squeeze on prescription drug abuse by sharing their data across state lines. Georgia’s prescription painkiller purchases don’t show up on other states’ records. Georgia healthcare workers can technically check records from neighboring states, but only if they have registered with those states for access to their PDMPs.

A simple fix is for Georgia to build interoper-ability into its PDMP. A pharmacist in McCays-ville should be able to access Tennessee’s PDMP to be sure a Chattanooga patient isn’t trying to fill too many hydrocodone scripts — ditto for a pharmacist in Chattanooga with a McCaysville patient. When Georgia decides to extend pharma-cist-to-pharmacist communication across state lines, Georgia will stop looking like a giant bulls-eye to out-of-state doctor shoppers.

cover story


CannaBis oilIf Georgians are going to be using it for their health, Georgia pharmacists should be involved.

Cannabis oil is a tricky issue. It’s now legal in Geor-gia for some people to possess it, but it’s still illegal under federal law — although the Obama admin-istration has said it won’t interfere with states’ decisions on the issue.

That means Georgia’s pharmacists are more likely to encounter patients who are taking canna-bis oil. How can they ensure those patients enjoy the same level of care as patients on prescription drugs, in a way that doesn’t place the pharmacist in jeopardy under federal law?

GPhA’s position is clear: “If the sale of cannabis oil for medical purposes is going to be legal in Georgia, we firmly believe there ought to be phar-macist involvement,” says GPhA Vice President of Public Policy Greg Reybold.

In October, Athens pharmacist Kevin Florence made precisely this case before the governor’s commission on cannabis oil. Like Reybold, Flor-ence wants to ensure pharmacists help shape how Georgia’s healthcare system considers this relative-ly new medication therapy.

“You get patients who read about cannabis oil on the Internet, then self diagnose and get off their other meds. They go rogue, and don’t consider in-teractions or stop taking other medications. They may even be buying the product online, taking their child off all other medicines, not understand-ing what they’re doing,” Florence says.

Helping patients fit cannabis oil fits into overall treatment is the job of pharmacists, Florence says. Pharmacists can monitor patient progress and collect data to that will inform future cannabis oil therapy. Cannabis oil’s newcomer status makes such efforts that much more important.

How Georgia treats cannabis oil as a legitimate medication therapy could go in any number of directions. When cannabis oil started making the news in 2013, the GPhA Board of Directors knew it had to bring the voice of pharmacy into the conversation. It convened a task force in June 2014 to study how other states were handling cannabis oil’s complicated legalities.

The task force learned that some states allow for the sale of cannabis oil for medical purposes with

what you can do noW

Your voice matters, and with the legislative session set to begin in early January, you can help GPhA achieve its goals in a few simple but powerful ways.

First, reach out to your legislator — your state senator and representative — via phone, mail (on paper!) or e-mail. Explain that you’re a pharmacist in his or her district, and that you hope he or she will be supportive of our issues when the legislative session starts. (Feel free to be more specific, of course, and mention, say, improving the PDMP or streamlining the prior authorizations process.)

That kind of contact lets legislators know about our priorities, and prepares them to listen to use during the session.

Join a GPhA pharmacy advocacy team. When the legislature is in session starting in January, GPhA will bring groups of pharmacists to sit down with lawmakers to discuss our issues face to face — and we need more faces. Give a call or drop a note to Greg Reybold ([email protected] or 404-419-8118) and he’ll help you pick a date to join us under the Gold Dome.

Finally, of course, invest in PharmPAC now so we have the money we need to support pharma-cy-friendly candidates. Go to GPhA.org/pharmpac and help ensure that we’ve always got a seat at the table, and that our voice will always be heard.

no pharmacist involvement or oversight, a policy the task force felt was too risky for patients.

Other states have found ways to ensure phar-macist involvement while shielding pharmacies from potential exposure to liability under federal law. In Minnesota, for example, only licensed phar-macists can distribute cannabis oil, although it’s done at special, independently owned dispensa-ries, staffed by pharmacists who work in consulta-tive roles.

If Georgia moves forward with legalization,


cover story

GPhA will argue for pharmacist — but not phar-macy — involvement. Under such a plan, anyone selling cannabis oil would have to employ a phar-macist — who could then consult on cannabis oil use, looking at the patient’s medication profile, advising on contraindications and side effects, and monitoring therapy effectiveness.

But pharmacies would not sell or dispense cannabis oil. That may seem like a fine line, and a somewhat squiggly one — but it’s the only way to keep patients under the care of pharmacists and pharmacies from running afoul of federal law. That could mean loss of DEA numbers and payor agree-ments, and that wouldn’t be good for anybody.

teChniCian supervisionThorough supervision, yes... but common sense, too.

Laws are not computer code. They are, to a reasonable degree, statements that have to be interpreted to achieve an intended outcome.

On the one hand, you’re required by Georgia law to be responsible for all activities of pharmacy technicians in the preparation of drugs for delivery to patients. You must be present and personally su-pervising the activities of technicians at all times. You have to be physically present in the prescrip-tion area and actually observing the technicians.

But a strict interpretation of those current rules (all paraphrases of sections of Georgia code) would make it difficult to perform even some basic tasks, from consulting on chronic care med-ication therapies to fitting a diabetic patient with footwear to showing a kid with asthma how to properly use her inhaler.

The newly passed immunization law further highlights this matter. It is clear that patient privacy must be maintained —behind a privacy screen or in another room if there is one — but not in the view of other patients.

See the conflict? If pharmacists are subject to a more extreme interpretation of supervision laws, a single pharmacist may not be able to balance pa-tient privacy with supervisory responsibilities.

“Strictly construed, the whole behind-the-count-er staff is taken out of commission when the phar-

macist leaves the counter area,” Reybold said. In short, a rigid interpretation means a phar-

macist effectively can’t be a pharmacist. Surely supervision can’t require X-ray vision.

Fortunately, there are common sense interpre-tations of supervision laws. (Common sense tells us those interpretations are probably already being applied.) GPhA is working closely with the Board of Pharmacy and GDNA to ensure that pharmacists provide a level of supervision to tech-nicians that is consistent with both state privacy requirements and patient safety.

According to Greg Reybold, that requires work-ing toward consistent language and a clear and sensible definition of the law’s squishier terms.

“While additional analysis will be needed in order to determine how to reasonably define supervision requirements with minimal legisla-tive effort, this is an issue that should enjoy broad support amongst pharmacy organizations,” Rey-bold said. “As it stands, current laws, rules and in-terpretations may be compromising pharmacists’ ability to perform core functions of their jobs.”

also on our radarBeyond the three major legislative priorities on our agenda, there are three others we’re working on this year — and beyond.

proviDer statusGeorgia pharmacists can do much more when they’re recognized as full healthcare providers.

Provider Status is an incremental process, requiring dozens of small steps toward the goal of having government (and other) health plans reimburse pharmacists for delivering more of the services they are trained to provide. And progress toward that goal, at least on a federal level, may be taking a giant leap forward thanks to recently introduced federal legislation.

In January 2015, the Pharmacy and Medically Underserved Areas Enhancement Act went before both the U.S. House and Senate. The bill amends the Medicare Part B section of the Social Security Act to recognize pharmacists as providers, with


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the goal of raising the quality and cost effec-tiveness of healthcare delivery in areas where patients most need help.

The bill has gained considerable bipartisan support.

Since Rep. Brett Guthrie of Kentucky intro-duced it to the House, a whopping 242 cosponsors — including seven Georgia congressmen — have come on board. Senate support is just as strong, with currently 36 cosponsors evenly divided across party lines.

If and when the Pharmacy and Medically Un-derserved Areas Enhancement Act is signed into law, expect all eyes shift to the states. According to NASPA Director of Policy and State Relations Krystalyn Weaver, there are three steps Georgia will need to take for us to reach our goal.

First, the state will have to actually designate pharmacists as healthcare providers. Federal law allows it to do just that, but because Medicare pro-

grams are administered by states, Georgia will have to revise its laws to effect this recognition, which means getting the details right across an array of laws, some pertaining to scope of practice, others to Medicare or insurance code, is important.

Second will be defining scope of practice. Designating pharmacists as providers in Georgia means determining precisely what treatments or procedures they’ll be paid to consult on. The goal may be obvious to pharmacists: Align what they can “provide” with what they’ve been trained to do. But legislators aren’t always aware just how much that actually is. Advocacy will be key.

Finally, Georgia law will have to consider reim-bursements, specifically with Medicaid. Simply re-defining pharmacists as providers doesn’t always mean they’ll get paid. The laws affecting phar-macists and those covering insurance companies overlap but aren’t in sync. Georgia will have to look closely at reimbursements; other states will


cover story

surely provide models. Provider status has great potential to deliver

healthcare to patients who are currently being overlooked. According to Lindsey Welch of the University of Georgia School of Pharmacy, 143 of Georgia’s 159 counties are designated as medically underserved. It’s a number mostly made up of rural counties, but there are some urban commu-nities in that mix as well.

Medically underserved simply means that access to physicians is limited. But it doesn’t mean access to a healthcare provider needs to be — many un-derserved patients drive by a pharmacy every day, whether it’s tucked inside a larger retailer, a stand-alone chain store, or an independent pharmacy. Who owns the pharmacy or how big it is doesn’t matter. Accessibility does.

Patients could access a host of healthcare services there: immunizations, diabetes and pain management, counseling to keep them on their medication regimens. These can be life-changing for Medicare and Medicaid patients who have trouble finding or going to a doctor. Pharmacies’ typical hours and their intentional location along well-beaten paths often make pharmacists the most accessible providers in the healthcare team.

And what do you get for accessibility? Perhaps the biggest benefit is medication therapy com-pliance. The more pharmacists are involved in counseling patients, the better those patients are at taking their medicine. When a diabetes patient has talked through the challenges of taking her medication, she is much less likely to later face he-roic and costly interventions, which could include years of surgery and costly rehabilitation.

Improving patient care while reducing health-care costs: this is precisely why GPhA President Tommy Whitworth appointed a workgroup, which Welch will chair, to look at this complicated issue over the course of the year. Whitworth tasked the workgroup with designing a legislative plan that’s workable, well-timed, and politically sound. This isn’t an easy task: provider status impacts large and diverse swaths of Georgia law and regulatory policy and it can be difficult to explain.

But it’s a worthy task. Allowing pharmacists to practice to the full extent of their license and training will fundamentally improve the lives of thousands of Georgia patients. Bringing the prac-tice of pharmacy to the people who need it most

makes Provider Status arguably one of the most important items on our policy agenda.

“We’re the most accessible healthcare provid-ers,” Welch said. “There’s a pharmacy on every corner. Currently most Georgia residents on Medi-care don’t have access to medication counseling, chronic disease management. Provider status will increase the services they have access to.”

prior authorizationsBureaucracy is a necessary evil, but it shouldn’t interfere with patient care.

You’re a pharmacist and a Medicaid patient ap-proaches the counter with a new prescription. You send it to the insurance company for adjudication and you get a red flag. The insurance company is requiring prior authorization.

For pharmacists and physicians alike, prior authorizations are an administrative annoyance at best and a costly encroachment on the quality of patient care at worst.

Healthcare professionals probably know what’s behind the practice: controlling healthcare costs. A medical review board hard-wires into its system a step therapy approach, meaning that have to try a medication from a particular class that’s less ex-pensive before moving on to more expensive ones.

Pharmacists generally agree with this ap-proach. But if you’ve landed on a medication that’s working and then — through a change of insur-ance coverage or health system — you’re pushed through a different prior authorization process, healthcare can be disrupted.

Medicaid patients often face the biggest chal-lenges. Georgia Medicaid is actually four separate health systems, each with its own formulary and prior-authorization requirements. Some Medicaid entities use the CMO model, others, a fee-for-ser-vice one. Family status, type of disability, and the patient’s legal status determine which Medicaid system the patient goes through.

Children are often the ones hit hardest. Kids in foster care or the juvenile justice system change health systems often, making them especially sus-ceptible to disruptions in treatment. An inhaler that was working beautifully or an ADHD medica-tion that was helping the patient stay on track in school disappears. Patients, doctors, and pharma-


cists begin the lengthy process of documenting why this particularly medicine should be covered or finding a new medicine that is. If it’s a Schedule II drug, the doctor has to write a new prescription. Patients can be left waiting.

This sort of bureaucratic snarl is not serving patients the way Medicaid intended. Fortunately, the snarl can be unraveled.

Real time prior authorization systems — includ-ing mobile platforms — are already out there. Inde-pendent pharmacist Sharon Sherrer of Atlanta will be chairing a GPhA workgroup dedicated to looking at this and other methods of streamlining the prior authorizations process in the state of Georgia.

Sherrer says that having consistent formularies across the four different Medicaid entities is an-other enhancement that would prevent interrup-tions to medication therapies. This would stream-line paperwork and reduce costly inefficiencies in pharmacy inventories. But most importantly, it would not let vulnerable young Medicaid patients go without their medications.

CollaBorative praCtiCe aGreeMentsSome clarification of the language would ease pharmacists’ minds.

When immunization expansion was signed into law last spring, the Composite Medical Board was charged to set and enforce the related rules. GPhA has been paying close attention to how the rules are being written, and generally we’ve been pleased with the Composite Medical Board’s ap-proach. But when wording that may have unin-tentionally exposed pharmacists to liability crept into the new rules, GPhA was able to propose alternatives more consistent with the Immuniza-tion Expansion law.

The Composite Medical Board has proposed rules addressing some of GPhA’s concerns, and it will likely revise the wording with some phar-macy-friendly tweaks. Georgia pharmacists can breathe easy that GPhA has their backs.

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advocate and share their stories about the quality care they provide to their patients with their legislators.”

Laura Greene, Sandy SpringsCherokee Custom Script PharmacyShe would like to “eliminate the ‘my pharmacy practice setting is better than yours’ mentality that plagues our profession. We should all be united with one voice if we

want to see positive changes happen within our legislature.”

Johnathan hamrick, atlantaMercer University College of Pharmacy“With the various practice types of pharmacists, there seems to be discord between entities or a lack of a unified identity as pharma-

cists.” His suggestion: “The more exposure and understanding each type of pharmacist has about other types of pharmacy the more likely they will be willing to work together.”

caSSandra hayeS, athensJennings Mill Drug Company“I think it is imperative to continu-ally emphasize the importance of political involvement. If we will not promote our profession, who will? We need to show our worth.”

andrew hoLt, douglasThe Medicine CabinetThe challenges he sees: “Defending our right as pharmacists to provide clinical services to patients. Fight-ing insurance companies to keep reimbursements fair and balanced.

Keeping up with the fast-changing world of phar-macy and its legislation.”

SyLvia adamS, riverdaleWalMartShe hopes to see “opioid drug abuse deterrent programs where phar-macists and law enforcement work together to stop physicians who are over prescribing narcotics.”

moLLie aLLen, atlantaCVS PharmacyShe’s hoping to see more engage-ment of Millennial pharmacists: “If a Millennial pharmacist is not engaged or developed, she or he will seek career opportunities

elsewhere. If this trend continues, our profession could lose out on skilled talent as pharmacists choose to leave the profession altogether.”

amber brackett, decaturKroger“If pharmacists were considered healthcare providers by Medi-care, our profession could finally get paid for the services we are already providing. In order to

be recognized as providers, pharmacists have to

leadershipGPhA

We’re proud to introduce the 2016 class of LeadershipGPhA: the Georgia Pharmacy Association’s program for up-and-coming pharmacist leaders in the state.

Through the program, 16 hand-picked Georgia pharmacists — men and women who have demonstrated a desire or knack for leadership — will develop and polish those leadership skills. Over the next nine months, the participants will take part in a training curriculum that combines leadership training and project experience.

They’ll take part in team-building exercises, learn how to identify their own and others’ strengths and weaknesses, work on ethical decision making, and improving their communication skills.

At the end, they’ll be equipped to help shape the future of the pharmacy profession in Georgia, to help mentor other professionals, and to advance their own careers.

introducing the class of 2016


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LeiGh howeLL, duluthChildren’s Healthcare of Atlanta“I feel the lack of personnel and time for true individual patient consideration and compassion is a tragedy in the current practice model; in many facilities, pharma-

cists are rushed to approve orders without truly servicing both a patient’s medical and emotional needs.”

monica JoLLey, madisonPharmD on Demand“The number of pharmacists is low compared to other healthcare pro-viders, so we aren’t as easily heard by policy makers. The importance of participation in organizations

like GPhA needs to be reinforced to students and practitioners.”

aShLey London, evanSBarney’s Pharmacy“Pharmacists do not have support from the DEA or Medical Board on how to handle physicians that over prescribe pain medications and other controlled substances.

Pharmacists are held responsible for filling these medications when little is done to the physicians.” And: “Insurance companies have too much control on what pharmacists can and cannot do. PBM’s decide where patients can get their medications, which medications the patient can actually take for their conditions, and how much the pharmacy gets reimbursed for prescriptions.”

kaLen manaSco, augustaUniversity of Georgia College of Pharmacy“We need to unite as a profession and have one voice as we move forward in our advocacy efforts to obtain provider status. Corporate

chains, health systems, colleges of pharmacy, state and national organizations, etc., need to be able to provide one clear message to our other health-care professional colleagues about the value and importance of pharmacists.”

Lori mcGinLey, athensPharmD on Demand“I have a passion for competitive pharmacy services in smaller facil-ities. I think that we can improve the culture of hospital pharmacy (especially small hospital pharma-

cy) by creating a productive environment that is also efficient and serves the physicians, nurses, and patients with the pharmacy-led programs that large hospitals experience.”

danieLLe navaLta, newnanRite Aid“I believe there are still too many people who do not fully under-stand the skill set and abilities of pharmacists, such as patients who believe that only doctors can give

vaccines and review their medication regimen or doctors who underestimate the value of having a pharmacist on the medical team.”

corey Swymer, bishopNorthridge Medical Center“Pharmacy services … continue to mostly remain a hidden part of the healthcare field to the general population. If the general public is unaware of what pharmacists

are capable of doing, it’ll be more challenging to further advance the profession.”

anGeLa wampLer, midwayWalgreens“The three most significant chal-lenges facing our profession today are getting reimbursed from all the different PBMs, getting recognition from insurance companies and

other healthcare professionals and/or fields as val-id providers (provider status), and being treated/acknowledged as professional and knowledgeable healthcare providers with all the hard work and schooling that we endure.”

Get Ready foR change

Your profession is changing. And Georgia’s premiere convention for pharmacists is ready.

THURSDAY JUNE 16 Pharmacy in the Age of Uber AlliSoN liNNEY

Management expert Allison Linney is convinced that the practice of pharmacy is becoming to healthcare what Uber is to getting a ride: more accessible, more effective, more human. But have you positioned yourself within this new healthcare paradigm? Do you even understand it?

For two decades, Linney has been helping healthcare professionals broaden their vision. That’s what Pharmacy in the Age of Uber is all about. Explore with her your profession’s adventurous new course.

FRiDAY JUNE 17 The Provider Status Show with BEckY SNEAD

For Georgia to find a way forward on Provider Status, we’ll have to hear from a lot of voices. NASPA CEO Becky Snead says it’s time to get the conversation started.

That’s where The Provider Status Show comes in. You’ll learn what provider status can mean both in Georgia and nationally for pharmacists, and what must be done to get us there. After all, what better way to explore this complex topic, than hearing experts hash it out?

SATURDAY JUNE 18 innovation Showcase: Five Pharmacists Who Are Paving the Way to Provider Status in Georgia

Think provider status is just about immunizations and MTM? Think again. Pharmacists in Georgia and elsewhere are finding surprising ways to practice to the full extent of their licenses and training. And as they do, they’re also finding new revenue streams and, more importantly, delivering better healthcare outcomes for their patients. Join us as our lineup of pharmacist innovators as they share their surprising pathways to provider status.

Announcing the 2016 Georgia Pharmacy convention’s general sessions. Led by experts from the worlds of law, healthcare, and business, we’re sure you’ll agree

there’s no better way to prepare for the challenges pharmacists will face.

Hilton Head Marriott resort, June 16-19, 2016

GP.NewConfAd.3.indd 1 11/20/15 6:07 PM


InvestInG In PharmPaC Is InvestInG In your PraCtICe.

2015 PharmPaC InvestorsThe following pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, students,

and others have joined GPhA’s PharmPAC. The contribution levels are based on investment for the calendar year as of September 18, 2015.

Fred SharpeAlbany

David Graves, Macon, PharmPAC chairman

Scott MeekSDouglas

ralph BalchinFayetteville

GreG hickManMonroe

t.M. BridGeSHazlehurst

JeFF SikeSValdosta

Brandall lovvornBremen

danny SMithMcRae

Diamond Investors ($4,800 or $400/month)

Titanium Investors ($2,400 or $200/month)

ChArleS BArneSValdosta

thoMaS lindSeyOmega

ted hUntKennesaw

david GraveSMacon

dean StoneMetter

Marvin MccordAlbany


Get invested today.Visit GPhA.org/PharmPAC or call (404) 419-8118

thomas BryanWilliam CaGlehuGh ChanCyKeith ChapmanWes Chapmandale CoKeral dixonJaCK dunnneal FlorenCemartin GrizzardroBert hattonWilliam huanGira KatzJeFF lureyJonathan marquess

pamala marquessivey mCCurdydreW millerlaird millermarK parrishouston roGersdaniel royalWade sCottterry shaWtim shortChris thurmonddanny tothalex tuCKertommy WhitWorthCarl stanley

larry BradenWilliam BreWsterBruCe BroadriCKliza ChapmanBlaKe danielmahlon davidsonsharon deasonroBert diCKinsonBenJamin dupreeKevin FlorenCeKerry GriFFinmiChael iteoGumarsha KapiloFFstephanie KirKlandCurtis marshall

miKe mCGeeBoBBy moodysherri moodyBrian riCKardandy roGersBill sCroGinsteresa smithmiChael tarrantCarey vauGhanChuCK WilsonWilliam WolFe

2015 PharmPaC Investors (ContInued)

Silver Investors ($300 or $25/month) Renee Adamson Nelson Anglin Larry Batten Chandler Conner Mandy Davenport Gregory Drake Bill Dunaway Eric Durham Marshall Frost Amanda Gaddy Amy Galloway Carson Gleaton Johnathan Hamrick Willie Latch Kalen Manasco Bill McLeer Donald Peila, Jr. Daryl Reynolds Ashley Rickard

Sharon Sherrer Richard Smith Archie Thompson Austin Tull Flynn Warren Hillary Jack Mbadugha Bronze Investors ($150 or $12.50/month)

Phil Barfield Robert Bentley Elaine Bivins Nicholas Bland James Carpenter Mark Cooper Jean B Cox Michael Crooks Melanie DeFusco Rabun Dekle Christina Futch John Gleaton

Fred Gurley Ann Hansford John Hansford Larry Harkleroad Hannah Head Phillip James Henry Josey Susan Kane Josh Kinsey Brenton Lake Micheal Lewis Mack Lowrey Eddie Madden Susan McCleer Mary Meredith Carolyn Perry AyersLaurence Ryan Jim Sanders Kimmy Sanders Krista Stone Sonny Thurmond

Erica Veasley Angela Wampler Amanda Westbrooks Steve Wilson George Wu

Member Investors(amount below $150)

Marla Banks David ClementsKen Couch James Graves Max Mason Roy McLendon Sherri Moody Debbie Nowlin Leonard Templeton Lindsey WelchAnonymous Donor

Platinum Investors ($1,200 or $100/month)

Gold Investors ($600 or $50/month)

urGent: We need your suPPort to reaCh our 2015 Goal!PharmPAC funds help elect

legislators who are friendly to pharmacy. As of November 15, 2015,

we are within striking distance of making our goal for the year.

visit Gpha.org/pharmpaC to find out more. $0 $10,000 $20,000 $30,000 $40,000 $50,000 $60,000 $70,000 $80,000 $90,000 $100,000

$86,263.00 GOAL


Reach out to us

contact

For questions about our magazine, Web sites, or social mediaAndrew Kantor Director of Communication [email protected]

For questions about engagement with the Georgia pharmacy community, our events, or CPE creditsPhillip Ratliff Vice President of Communication and Engagement [email protected]

For membership questions Tei Muhammad Director of Membership Operations (404) 419-8115 [email protected]

For questions about any of our insurance productsDenis Mucha Manager of Insurance Services (404) 419-8120 [email protected]

For questions about governmental affairsGreg ReyboldVice President of Public [email protected]

For questions about the Board of Directors or for scheduling the CEORuth Ann McGehee Executive Assistant and Governance Manager (404) 419-8173 [email protected]

For operational or accounting questions:Dianne Jones Vice President of Finance & Administration (404) 419-8129 [email protected]

Patricia Aguilar Accounting Coordinator [email protected](404) 419-8124

Our phOne number is 404.231.5074Our Website is GPhA.orGOur blOg is GPhABuzz.com

GPhA LeAdeRshiPPresident & Chair of the BoardTOmmy WhiTWOrTh [email protected]

President-Elect LanCE [email protected]

First Vice President Liza [email protected]

second Vice PresidentTim [email protected]

immediate Past PresidentBOBBy [email protected]

Chief Executive OfficersCOTT BrunnEr, CaE [email protected]

at-Large Board membersJOhn DrEW, [email protected]

sharOn DEasOn, [email protected]

DrEW miLLEr, [email protected]

DaViD GraVEs, Warner [email protected]

DaryL rEynOLDs, [email protected]

Chris ThurmOnD, [email protected]

For assistance with independent-pharmacy issuesJeff Lurey, R.Ph. Vice President of Independent Pharmacy & Director of AIP (404) 419-8103 [email protected]

For questions about your aiP membershipVerouschka “V” Betancourt-Whigham Manager of AIP Member Services (404) 419-8102 [email protected]

aiP member service representativesRhonda Bonner (229) 854-2797 [email protected]

Charles Boone (478) 955-7789 [email protected]

Melissa Metheny (678) 485-6126 [email protected]

Gene Smith (423) 667-7949 [email protected]

Got a concern about a GPhA program or service? Want to compliment or complain?Drop a note to [email protected].

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postscript

On this beautiful fall day in LaGrange, I’m reflecting on how blessed I am in so many ways. Chief among these blessings is the good health I enjoy, a result of a combination of things: access to good nurses

and doctors, facilities and pharmacists and, of course, some luck of the draw.

But I have to think about those across the state who struggle with their health, too. We have a sacred duty to speak for them. But are we pharmacists always doing that?

There are those in our Medicare system who need a more streamlined and respon-sive system of prior authorizations. Are we fighting to give them a better system, one that gets kids in the foster care or juvenile

justice system the medication they need?There are patients in areas of the state

deemed medically underserved, who, as research shows, would benefit tremen-dously from pharmacist providers. Are we educating public officials about how our profession benefits underserved patients in clear, tangible, evidence-based ways?

There are patients who may, after find-ing no success with conventional medi-cations, have found relief in a relatively new medication therapy, cannabis oil. Are we working with legislators to ensure that their treatment is brought under the expertise of pharmacy?

Come September, I hope we’ll all be able to look back at our 2016 fiscal year and an-swer, unequivocally, we fought hard for pa-tients – with our time and with our money. What we do matters. It matters because our patients matter. They’re people who need our voice. But will you speak for them?

tommy whitworth

Spreading our blessings

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Georgia’s AIP pharmacies are now under contract with private Georgia payers and Accountable Care Organizations to provide clinical services through our partnership with CriticalKey, LLC.

As part of this CriticalKey-powerednetwork, AIP member pharmacies will be able to expand patient offerings to provide care coordination and clinical services for MTM, smoking cessation, obesity control, diabetes management, and more.

Network members will get the training they need to up their game and be ready to provide the services payers are asking for.

Look for more information about the AIP High Performance Network in your mailbox, or talk to your AIP member service representative, and get paid for doing what you were meant to do.

Introducing the AIP CriticalKey High Performance Network

SAve thIS dAte:AIP SPrINg MeetINgMArCH 13, 2016MACoN MArrIott CeNtrePlex

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50 Lenox Pointe NE, Atlanta, GA 30324

PharmPAC is GPhA’s political action committee. It works to elect candidates who think like you do, and who understand the challenges you face in serving your patients and running a business.

PharmPAC helps make sure pharmacists have a seat at the table. And it works.

50 Lenox Pointe, NE, Atlanta, GA 30324 | tf: 888.871.5590 ph: 404.231.5074 | f: 404.237.8435 | www.gpha.org

In 2015 GPhA scored two mAjor vIctorIes: expanded immunizations and mAc transparency.

crucial to those wins: friendly legislators, elected with the help of PharmPAc.

we won!

But it won’t keep working without you.By investing in PharmPAC, you help protect your practice, your patients and the pharmacy profession from bad law and policy, and you join with hundreds of other investors in growing your profession’s political influence.Invest today — in PharmPAC and in your practice — at GPhA.org/pharmpac.

2015 12 georgia pharmacy magazine

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