North Carolina Association of Pharmacists 2021, Issue 6 of 12 ncpharmacists.org
E-News ENews
Advancing Pharmacy. Improving Health.
General News NC COMMUNITY PHARMACY WORKPLACE SURVEY
compare monthly trends on inpatient hospital stays for COVID-19 and other conditions. The data is drawn from AHRQ’s Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project with information from 46 states and the District of Columbia. ASHP COVID-19 VACCINE CONFIDENCE TOOLKIT
NCAP is surveying the opinions of community pharmacists across North Carolina regarding their workforce and workplace environment in the context of patient safety and advanced roles for pharmacists and technicians. If you have not had the opportunity to complete the survey, you can do so by clicking here. We plan to incorporate this feedback into our future initiatives and programming to better serve pharmacists and to enhance pharmacy practice in our state.
The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists has created a new resource to help pharmacists address vaccine hesitancy and promote vaccine confidence in their communities. The ASHP COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence Toolkit utilizes a four-pillar framework to help improve COVID-19 immunization efforts.
On July 16th, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services announced the availability of $103 million, as part of the American Rescue Plan funding, to reduce burnout and promote mental health wellbeing among healthcare workers. The funds will be administered through HRSA, and will support the implementation of strategies to help with provider resiliency, avoid burnout, and foster healthy workplace environments, particularly for organizations serving rural communities or underserved populations. HRSA is accepting applications, by August 30, 2021, for three different funding opportunities.
NICE BLOG SUMMARY ON DIR FEES— EVERY PHARMACIST SHOULD READ
US DHHS ANNOUNCES $103 MILLION TO ADDRESS BURNOUT
INTERACTIVE TOOL COMPARES HOSPITAL TRENDS Explore the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality’s new interactive data visualization tool, which can be used to
AMAZON WEB SERVICES FOR HEALTH
Earlier this month, Amazon launched AWS for Health to help organizations increase innovation and boost personalized care. AWS for Health will offer cloud-based solutions for 16 different healthcare areas, including genomics and precision medicine, as well as data-driven care planning, and reduced cost and time to market for biopharmaceuticals.
For those in our profession not directly impacted by PBMs and DIR fees, it’s important for you to know that you are indirectly impacted. Remember, when one sector of our profession is threatened, it’s a threat to the entire profession. Often in conversations, I get asked about PBM and CMS Part D DIR reform. It’s a complex issue, but it is an issue that is crushing community pharmacies. Just this month, I have learned of six different NC pharmacies that have been forced to sell or close their doors. Our commu-
nities are losing their local pharmacists. Health Affairs recently published a blog on the need for Part D DIR reform. If this is not a topic you understand, we encourage you to take just few minutes to read this blog; and in the future, when we ask all our members to take action on PBM or DIR reform legislation, we hope you will feel more comfortable helping us take on the issue. EXECUTIVE ORDER ON PROMOTING COMPETITION
On July 9th, President Biden issued an executive order (EO) for promoting competition in the American Economy. A Fact Sheet provides background information and targeted areas of concern such as the impact of mergers and acquisitions impact on healthcare cost. The EO calls for a whole-of-government effort to promote competition in our economy, and includes 72 initiatives by multiple federal agencies. As with many multi-pronged initiatives, some of the information in this EO is not ideal for pharmacy, while others are great for our profession. Related to the focus of this EO, we thought you might be interested in a paper written by Stacey Mitchell, with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, entitled, Monopoly Power and the Decline of Small Business: The Case of Restoring America’s Once Robust Antitrust Policies.
Practice Advancement News DON’T MISS OUT ON YOUR CHANCE Join us for our last 2 programs “First Do No Harm: Diminishing the Negative Effects of Substance Misuse” coming up August 12th & August 19th Overdose
NCAP E-News Issue 6 of 12 Page 1