 |
House Passes Repeal and Replace of the Affordable Care Act
By a vote of 217-213, the United States House of Representatives passed a bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) on Thursday. The bill, which must still be passed by the Senate and signed by President Trump, does the following:
- Eliminates the individual mandate to have health care coverage.
- Offers tax credits for the purchase of insurance, based on age and income.
- Allows insurers to charge older adults up to 5 times as much in premiums as young adults for the same coverage.
- Give each state an allotment of federal money to fund Medicaid programs.
- Requires insurers to impose a 30% surcharge on premiums for those who experience a gap in coverage of more than 62 days.
- Allows states to apply for waivers that could allow insurance carriers to charge people with pre-existing conditions high premiums if they go uninsured for more than 62 days.
- Maintains the allowance for children to stay on a parent's health plan until age 26.
|
May/June issue of The Journal now online!
2017
July/August - Technicians
September/October - Immunization Update
November December - GI/The Brain-Gut Connection
2018
January/February - Cardiology
March/April - Mental Health
May/June - Specialty Medicine
July/August - Population, Public, and Global Health
September/October - Immunization and Transplant Medicine
November/December - Geriatrics
Articles do not need to follow the issue theme to be accepted for publication. Please consider contributing to The Journal in 2017 and 2018!
Click here
for author guidelines.
|
Emergency Refill Legislation Passes State Assembly
On Tuesday, legislation allowing pharmacists to issue an emergency refill of a non-controlled substance unanimously passed the Wisconsin State Assembly. The bipartisan bill now moves to the Wisconsin State Senate for a vote, which is expected next week.
|
|
Contact Your Legislators and Ask them to Oppose the Repeal of the Unfair Sales Act
Legislators are seeking to repeal the Unfair Sales Act, which prohibits the sale of merchandise, including prescription drugs, below cost. PSW has numerous concerns with this legislation, including that some businesses could lower prices for a period of time at the expense of other pharmacies in the area. Additionally, this bill is harmful to patient care as it can encourage patients to "shop around," thereby filling their prescriptions at multiple pharmacies because they base their decision on price. For patient safety and complete and accurate pharmacist counseling, it is important that patients fill their prescriptions at a single pharmacy, rather than "shopping around."
Please
contact your legislators and ask them to oppose the repeal of the Unfair Sales Act!
|
PSW Ambulatory Care Advisory Board
PSW is excited to announce the formation of the PSW Ambulatory Care Advisory Board! Please consider visiting the group page to learn more about getting involved. In addition mark your calendar for the PSW Annual Meeting September 14 - 16 in La Crosse to attend ambulatory care focused programming.
|
Pharmacy's Role in Community Health: Becoming a Breastfeeding Friendly Pharmacy
Do you work at a 'breastfeeding friendly pharmacy'? PSW is looking for members who have found unique ways to support breastfeeding patients and their families. How are you providing support? Interested in additional resources? We want to hear from you! Contact
Amber France
of the Wisconsin Breastfeeding Coalition today.
|
Wisconsin hospitals are preparing for the transition to ENFit this year. In particular, Madison area hospitals are planning for transition this summer/fall. ENFit is the globally mandated feeding tube connection change to prevent life-threatening misconnections. The new ENFit feeding tube connections will be incompatible with any other system, including oral syringes and IV syringes. Once ENFit is operationalized in hospitals, patients with an ENFit tube will require ENFit syringes for use with oral medications intended for administration via feeding tube. Due to FDA regulations, ENFit syringes will be prescription only. Retail pharmacies should be prepared to provide ENFit syringes, when indicated, along with prescription medications intended for administration via feeding tube.
Upcoming opportunities to learn about ENFit:
- ENFit will be the main topic of the WiSPEN Spring Conference on May 17th
- UW Health will host an ENFit summit in Madison to discuss the transition to ENFit - date TBD
|
|
Special Advertising Section
|
|
Concordia Medication Management Accelerator
Interested in learning more about an initiative to advance comprehensive medication management (CMM) in Wisconsin? Join us for a free, no obligation
CMMA Launch Event
on May 19, 2017 from 10am-4pm
at Concordia University Wisconsin
to learn more about CMM and the processes utilized by the CMMA. Lunch will be provided.
RSVP
at
https://www.cuw.edu/organizations/cmma/registration.cfm
by May 11
and learn more at
cuw.edu/CMMA
. Review our draft itinerary for the launch event here.
|
Unraveling Current Asthma Challenges
Consider attending the 2017 Asthma Educators
Annual Conference "Unraveling Current Asthma Challenges" July 28-30 in Milwaukee, WI. The program will encompass a full spectrum of asthma-related topics including strategies for motivational interviewing, trigger recognition and reduction, novel therapeutics, pharmacology, and much more! The world renowned asthma expert, Dr. Robert Lemanske, will be this year's keynote speaker. See the preliminary agenda and more information at www.asthmaeducators.org.
|
Collecting Interest & Referrals for PSW Technician Section Board
Are you a technician leader looking to provide more influence? Do you know a technician that would push pharmacy practice forward? Join the
PSW Technician Section Board!
PSW Technician Section Board members are the "boots on the ground" that share the knowledge and skills, and discuss current trends and challenges facing technicians and pharmacists on a state level to help guide practice initiatives. The focus the past few years has been around technician education, technician advancement, and providing a voice for the technician profession working in a variety of specialties. Board members serve a 2-year term that has a lasting impact on the Wisconsin pharmacy practice. The Technician Board is a low time commitment, with 4 meetings per year, but far more reward.
Positions are open for the upcoming term! To express interest or to recommend a technician to the Board, fill out this short
survey
by June 1.
Help grow the technician profession by being involved in the Technician Section Board! If you would like to discuss the Board positions, responsibilities, time commitment, or any technician topics, please reach out to Rebecca Bryan, PSW Technician Board President, at
[email protected]
or 608-775-5838.
|
Fast Facts Focus Series: Technician Advancement Opportunities
Each Friday in this 4-week series focused on pharmacy technician engagement and satisfaction we will share what we have learned from our survey of nearly 1,000 pharmacy technicians from around the state of Wisconsin.
Almost one-third of technicians surveyed report that workload is one of the most dissatisfying aspects of their current positions.
THE ISSUE
Although there are a number of different factors that can be attributed to perception of workload and the spread of responsibilities amongst coworkers, inadequate training and understanding of roles has the potential to be a major contributor.
THE OPPORTUNITY
It is very common for employees to feel as though they have been given inadequate amount of training when entering a new workplace. Ensuring adequate training has been shown to have a positive correlation to employee confidence, productivity, turnover, and overall team morale.1 For this reason and the fact that technician roles continue to evolve in their impact and complexity, it is important that significant attention be paid to the onboarding and training process of pharmacy technicians.
Follow this LINK for strategies how to improve the training experience for your pharmacy technicians.
Have a success story you would like to share? Click
here
|
|
|
