A visit to the home pages for the American Medical Association (AMA) and American Pharmacists Association (APhA) might make your tummy turn if you are a community pharmacist.
Why, you ask.
Look at the AMA page and you will see, front and center, three big stories that show how the new health care will affect the practice of medicine. Not surprisingly the stories revolve around the financial impact that AMA members will see. The actual stories are:
- Congress delays Medicare cuts
- How will health reform affect you
- AMA launches national managed care contract
Seem like pretty relevant topics. Now let's compare to the lead stories over at the APhA:
- Tylenol/Zyrtec recall
- New drug approval
- Article on TNF inhibitors
- New USP president
- Article on aspirin
Not a damn thing about the financial side of pharmacy. Doesn't seem like the APhA pays any attention to that side of pharmacy, you know, the side that pays the bills.
Those of us in community practice settings (aka retail) have felt the disconnect for years. Mention the APhA and you see eyes roll and get a little chuckle. Either that or you see the pharmacist's face turn all sorts of red as the blood pressure elevates.
So when I received an email about how I want to receive my election ballot I wondered how I would vote. I've been an APhA member for about eight months. This is my first election.
Will the candidates/issues be relevant to my practice of pharmacy? Will the election results have any impact on the financial side of pharmacy?
I already know the answers to my questions. So no matter what the issues on the ballot are, I'm going to write-in a candidate for APhA president. My choice....
Dee Snider.
With him as president of the APhA we could then adopt a new slogan for American Pharmacists Month. It would be based on several issues that relate to issues that pharmacists see.
Things like insurance contracts.
Staffing requirements.
Hours of operation.
Break periods.
You already know the new slogan for the APhA.... We're Not Gonna Take It
Just think how nice pharmacy would be if the organization that "represents" us took as active a role in the financial side of the profession as their counterparts over at the AMA.
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1 comment:
My coworkers look at me funny when I state that I plan on joining APhA in the fall.
Why you ask? So we all can finally have a mole in the organization. Maybe I can help stir things up so they actually accomplish something aside from patting their own backs.
Wishful thinking perhaps.
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