Who Defines Us?
TAKE BACK our pharmacy profession
A recent conversation with a physician colleague of mine inspired this post. During our conversation I was describing our new cash-only practice, Towncrest Wellness Apothecary (TWA). TWA opened just over one year ago, and we have essentially tripled its sales (revenue) in that time. The physician was intrigued, but skeptical of our cash-based practice. I was asked “what exactly are patients paying for?” and “what do they receive?”. My answer was: patients pay for our expertise, and they receive services that help them optimize their health. I could tell that my colleague was becoming even more skeptical on how this payment model can even work in today’s health care system. So, my final question to my colleague was “do third party payers define you and your worth? And just like that, the conversation ended.
My question was getting to a root cause of the issues affecting health care professions and, in our case, pharmacy. Who defines us? Almost forty years ago, as a first-year pharmacy student, I remember a professor defining the meaning of belonging to a profession. The definition included terms like autonomy, self-regulation, a calling requiring specialized knowledge and skills, and a whole body of persons engaged in a calling. In other words, we, pharmacists, define who we are—not some third party. Unfortunately, over the years, our profession has been corporatized, commoditized, and commercialized which has resulted in others not only defining who we are, but what we can or cannot do, and how they will pay us. This is not consistent with why I made the decision to be a pharmacist—to be a member of a health care team, to utilize my unique knowledge and skills to help patients achieve therapeutic outcomes with medications safely and effectively, and to be fairly compensated for my services.
So, what can WE do about this? This is a profession-wide issue, one that requires the voice and advocacy efforts of all pharmacy personnel. How do we “take back” our profession? I have created an acronym TAKE BACK emphasizing the actions that we all can take to advocate for our profession.
Tell your story and the impact you have on patient care to community leaders, legislators, payers, and other stakeholders that impact our profession.
Advocate for the profession whenever you can, through community engagement, discussions with decision makers, and participation in local, state, and national pharmacy associations.
Keep current with pharmacy issues and be a resource for the media, legislators, and your professional associations.
Engage within the profession, network with colleagues, let your opinions and thoughts be heard.
Belong and become active with a local, state, and national pharmacy organization as they advocate on our behalf, help to unify our voices, and seek our input/opinion.
Aspire to be a life-long learner so your clinical skills and knowledge are sought out by others including patients, other providers, and payers.
Challenge the status quo, don’t accept the unacceptable, and embrace positive change that promotes and highlights our profession.
Know your therapeutics and use that knowledge to ensure your patients are achieving therapeutic outcomes with medications safely and effectively, working collaboratively with prescribers and other providers. Become the drug therapy expert in your community.
This is our profession, and we should not take it for granted. Therefore, we need to fight for it, advocate on its behalf, and TAKE BACK control of it. I see a very bright future for our profession, but it won’t be without its own challenges and threats. It took us a long time to get to where we are right now, so correcting the situation won’t happen overnight. The disruptive changes I am seeing in our profession and in my own practice are encouraging, exciting, and inspiring. WE need to be in control of our own professional destinies—not some third party!