Pharmacy News Round Up | Oct. 10, 2023

Calif. Pharmacy Assoc. Unsafe Workloads Call To Action; Out of Pocket Spending Report; UCare selects Navitus as PBM; AscellaHealth Launches Specialty & Rare Pipeline Digest™; and more.

CPhA Support for Pharmacy Professionals Protesting Unsafe Workloads

The California Pharmacists Association (CPhA) is proud to represent the dynamic community of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians across all practice settings. As members of this frontline health provider community, we stand with our colleagues across the nation who are bravely protesting poor working conditions to preserve and protect patient safety. The Pharmacist’s Oath is not mere words on paper, rather, it calls upon pharmacists to advocate for their patients’ care and safety. When patient safety is compromised, pharmacists must speak up and act.

In California, CPhA continues to take action to improve patient safety and to preserve the professional status and clinical judgment of our pharmacists. In 2021, CPhA sponsored Senate Bill 362 which became law in 2022, banning the use by chain stores of any prescription, vaccination or sales quotas to measure a pharmacist’s performance. As a result, the California State Board of Pharmacy is actively taking enforcement action against stores when such quotas are reported. It is also notable that in response to California law, Walgreens announced in October of 2022 that they will cease to use these quotas nationally. There are pharmacies that do recognize that it is essential for pharmacists to have sufficient time and support to perform medication safety checks, to provide important patient counseling and to render clinical services to ensure the best outcomes for their patients. In stark contrast, CVS is mired in massive prescription backlogs of its own making, in large part due to aggressive patient-steering tactics driven by its Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) company, CVS Caremark. Due to these practices, patients are increasingly being denied access to other community and independent pharmacies where their pharmacy needs could be met. This cherry-picking of patients away from other pharmacies, coupled with persistent understaffing at its own pharmacies, along with unreasonable workloads, has caused the untenable situation that its pharmacists and patients face today.

Currently, Assembly Bill 1286, sponsored by the California Board of Pharmacy and strongly supported by CPhA, is sitting on the desk of the Governor awaiting signature. AB1286 aims to address patient safety by instituting mandatory reporting of medication errors while empowering the Pharmacist in Charge (PIC) to make staffing decisions to ensure that the work environment does not contribute to increased errors. The reporting is done in aggregate, without punitive measures against individual pharmacists, thus fostering an atmosphere of transparency and continuous improvement. The goal is to create an environment in which pharmacists may openly report errors while working collaboratively to identify and correct them. Using the professional judgment of a pharmacist in staffing decisions will ultimately create a safer work environment and thus improve patient safety.

We firmly believe that pharmacists need proper resources and support to maintain healthy and safe working conditions. As the demands of our profession are substantial and ever-increasing, it is incumbent upon us to advocate for the well-being of our members. As an association, we are committed to addressing these challenges, ensuring that pharmacy professionals have access to the resources, support and the advocacy required to thrive in their roles as essential health care providers.

The California Pharmacists Association is here to stand with you, united with your colleagues across all practice settings as One Profession, One Voice. We will work tirelessly to protect the integrity of our profession, the well-being of our members, and the communities they serve.

Resources:

AB 1286 Call to Action

Reporting Pharmacy Quotas Violations