Login
CEO Blog
February 5, 2014
Last night, I learned from senior CVS Caremark officials that they would be announcing the termination of tobacco product sales in their pharmacies, effective October 2014. Honestly, I was thrilled, and I told them so. As we seek access and coverage for pharmacists’ quality patient care services (…
February 4, 2014
On the morning of Saturday, February 15, I will join friends and family of Mary Munson Runge, who will gather at 11:00 am for a memorial service at the First United Methodist Church at 850 16th Street, Modesto, CA. I’ve been in touch with several friends who also plan to attend.
I wanted to follow…
February 3, 2014
If you are a visitor to pharmacist.com, you may notice the “Under Enhancement” sign. This Super Bowl weekend, a large contingent of APhA staff was hard at work tying together the many components of the site with a new Association Management System (AMS). I am so appreciative of this team of…
January 28, 2014
When I and nearly 40,000 Americans petitioned the White House to “recognize pharmacists as health care providers” in December 2012, we were asking for a change in “the compensation structure allowed under Medicare” so that patients would “have access to the medication expertise of pharmacists.” The…
January 21, 2014
Recently we learned of a new bill that would name pharmacists to health care teams responsible for providing “integrated care for Medicare beneficiaries with chronic conditions.” Kudos to Senator Wyden (D–OR), the expected next chair of the Finance Committee, and Senator Isakson (R–GA) as the lead…
January 10, 2014
On Wednesday of this week, APhA’s Executive Office sadly learned of the passing of one of pharmacy’s true trailblazers. Mary Munson Runge, the first woman and first African American to be elected APhA President, passed away after a long period of declining health.
We have not been able to locate an…
January 7, 2014
Yesterday CMS released a 678-page proposed rule on “Contract Year 2015 Policy and Technical Changes to the Medicare Advantage and the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Programs,” which contains many changes to Medicare Part D. Some of those changes are great news for pharmacists and patients.
The…
January 1, 2014
Happy New Year, everyone! Today we received additional links from the White House and CMS for consumer resources that you may find useful to share in the coming days with your patients as they begin to use the benefits available through the Affordable Care Act (ACA). We wanted to get these…
December 31, 2013
On January 1, 2014, benefits will kick in for more than 1.1 million Americans who have thus far signed up for health coverage through the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) federal health insurance marketplaces. CMS gratefully recognizes the helping hand lent by pharmacists during the Medicare Part D…
December 23, 2013
After decades of debate about health care reform and years of tireless efforts by APhA members and dozens of other pharmacy stakeholders as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) wound its way through the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of our government, the key date in the implementation of…