UCSF Dean calls for health care provider status for pharmacists
Mary Ann Koda-Kimble urges Obama administration to treat pharmacists
as health care providers rather than technicians.
Pharmacist.com is proud to provide accounts of pharmacists’
dedication, initiative, and commitment to the cause of advancing our
profession. The next installment in our series of advocates’
letters—culled from contributions to pharmacist.com and healthreform.gov—comes
courtesy of Mary Anne Koda-Kimble, PharmD, who serves as Dean at the
UCSF School of Pharmacy. Koda-Kimble urges Obama and policymakers
engaged in the current health care reform debate to recognize
pharmacists as health care providers, not technicians.
If you haven’t done so already, post your own story on healthreform.gov, and send a
copy of the text to Allison
Wiley at APhA.
Dear President
Obama:
In my pharmacy practice, I encounter so many patients who are
confused about their drugs. They don't know how to take them. They don't
know what effects to expect. They don't know if their drugs are causing
side effects, which in turn lead to more prescriptions to treat those
side effects. Drugs are expensive, and many don't have access to
insurance that will help them pay for life-saving medications. At the
counter, I have seen patients asking pharmacists to please help them
find a drug they can use without a prescription, as they cannot afford
certain name-brand drugs. Pharmacists are the intersection point among
multiple prescribers, who often prescribe drugs that interact and/or
duplicate a medicine another has prescribed. Let's make the use of drugs
more rational, safe, and affordable. Clinically trained pharmacists are
prepared to make this happen, but they must be recognized as health care
providers, not technicians. We train the next generation of pharmacists
to focus on patients. We will help!
Related resources on www.pharmacist.com
Beth Farnstrom, (bfarnstrom)
Posted July 24, 2009, 9:30 am EDT
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