Well, it's happened again. The legislation to expand the pool of patients who have access to medication therapy management benefits has been introduced to the current Congress. The Medication Therapy Management Benefits Act of 2011 is now in the hands of the House of Representatives.
On cue, a couple pharmacy organizations (NCPA and NACDS) have come out with the canned response of how beneficial MTM is and how MTM can save the health care system a lot of money. These two groups have also come out in support of the Medication Therapy Management Empowerment Act of 2011.
Unfortunately, I see both of these pieces of legislation finding their way to committee where they are never heard of again, at least not until the next Congress is seated and the legislation is introduced again. That is, unless pharmacists take action and call the members of the committees to which these bills are assigned.
And that's why this legislation will fail. I don't know why, but pharmacists are afraid to take action on issues that directly affect their profession. I guess the reason is that it's a lot easier to complain after the fact than make the effort to create the fact (if that makes any sense).
It's time for pharmacists to take some action. Step out of your comfort zone and call/ write/ fax the committee members to advance this legislation to the floor for a vote.
For those of you who decide to take action, the MTM Benefits Act is in both the House Energy and Commerce Committee and in the Ways and Means Committee.
Me, I sent a message to Speaker John Boehner to encourage him to advance the bill out of committee and onto the floor.
What are YOU going to do for YOUR profession?
Monday, March 7, 2011
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2 comments:
Your point is dead on. Because so many abandoned stewardship of their profession to others, business types, and just check the mailbox for the check, we are the easiest to push aside, ignore etc... In our state, a year ago, a move to send all state employee rx;s mail order came close to passing. RPhs, primarily independents, rose up and called all their customers, explained situation, and bombarded their rep.'s with calls for days. Me and my contacts prob.made 200+ calls, any and all reps. It worked and the bill was stopped. We can make a difference, but inertia must be overcome. I will follow your lead and make a few calls. The squeaky wheel/s get the grease!
It is time for pharmacists to stop sitting on their hands and do something. It is our profession to lose. We can either sit back and let things deteriorate around us or we can stand up and make our voices heard. This bill is a perfect example of an opportunity for pharmacists to really let our voices be heard by contacting politicians and telling them about this bill.
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