- March 2021 -- T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S -

ldquoThe mercenary fights for the buck the soldier fights because he is ordered butthe warrior fights for a cause ndash something good something positive somethingthat improves the quality of the world around him The warrior never forgets he is

an example He is a leader and when no one else will lead he will take charge andlead to a higher standardrdquo Richard Mack Machowicz

Spring has sprung There is light at the end of the tunnel Things are opening up Itrsquos gettingwarmer Baseball

Advocacy season is upon us and CPhA needs you More than 2000 bills are circulating in theCapitol CPhA is principally involved in four significant bills It will take all hands on deck togive us the best opportunity for success These are all very BIG lifts Your CPhA staff hasdone an incredible job to get our Profession out in front of the Legislature Specialrecognition and thanks to our Government Affairs staff headed by Michelle Rivas and DannyMartinez

SB 362 (Newman) ndash prohibit the counterproductive employee quotas that target profit first inthe community pharmacy setting and take away from our ability to spend the quality time toprovide professional individualized care we were trained and want to give to each patient

AB 671 (Wood) ndash authorize DHS to provide payment for disease state management ascontracted for specialty medications to Medi-Cal beneficiaries by providing adequatecompensation and ensure equitable patient care access

SB 524 (Skinner) ndash prohibit patient steering and preserve patient choice as to whichpharmacist they want to work with and where they get their pharmacy service providedwithout penalty of excess cost and inconvenience

AB 1064 (Fong) - expand the ability of the pharmacist to provide and administer all FDAapproved vaccinations Not just a select few

CPhA Advocacy Day is Wednesday April 14 from 1230 to 615 pm Canrsquot make the wholeday Register for the parts you can listen into Working Airpods are hardly noticeable in thepharmacy Multitask You do it anyways Send another member of your staff Sponsor apharmacy student Itrsquos the best money you will spend all day $30 for pharmacists andtechnicians $10 for students There is strength in numbers We need you

WPE 2021 at the Hyatt Indian Wells is coming together very nicely Think about a niceweekend by the pool from June 18-20 Offerings will be both virtual and in person All CDCand local guidelines will be enforced for your safety No place better to meet friends cultivatenew relationships and find out what is going on in YOUR profession and Association ThePresidential Pharmacognosy Tent will be up and running nightly

- Clifford Young RPh CPhA President

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As we all continue to do our part to manage the pandemic CPhA has been hard at workadvocating for you

Celebrated our co-sponsored bill SB 362 (Newman) making it out of committee witha 9-3 votes This bill would prohibit performance quotas for pharmacists based onprofit not health outcomesHosted a Virtual Town Hall covering the latest information about COVID-19 vaccinesAnnounced Lucinda Maine Executive Vice President and CEO of AACP as a keynotespeaker at WPE

an example He is a leader and when no one else will lead he will take charge andlead to a higher standardrdquo Richard Mack Machowicz

Spring has sprung There is light at the end of the tunnel Things are opening up Itrsquos gettingwarmer Baseball

Advocacy season is upon us and CPhA needs you More than 2000 bills are circulating in theCapitol CPhA is principally involved in four significant bills It will take all hands on deck togive us the best opportunity for success These are all very BIG lifts Your CPhA staff hasdone an incredible job to get our Profession out in front of the Legislature Specialrecognition and thanks to our Government Affairs staff headed by Michelle Rivas and DannyMartinez

SB 362 (Newman) ndash prohibit the counterproductive employee quotas that target profit first inthe community pharmacy setting and take away from our ability to spend the quality time toprovide professional individualized care we were trained and want to give to each patient

AB 671 (Wood) ndash authorize DHS to provide payment for disease state management ascontracted for specialty medications to Medi-Cal beneficiaries by providing adequatecompensation and ensure equitable patient care access

SB 524 (Skinner) ndash prohibit patient steering and preserve patient choice as to whichpharmacist they want to work with and where they get their pharmacy service providedwithout penalty of excess cost and inconvenience

AB 1064 (Fong) - expand the ability of the pharmacist to provide and administer all FDAapproved vaccinations Not just a select few

CPhA Advocacy Day is Wednesday April 14 from 1230 to 615 pm Canrsquot make the wholeday Register for the parts you can listen into Working Airpods are hardly noticeable in thepharmacy Multitask You do it anyways Send another member of your staff Sponsor apharmacy student Itrsquos the best money you will spend all day $30 for pharmacists andtechnicians $10 for students There is strength in numbers We need you

WPE 2021 at the Hyatt Indian Wells is coming together very nicely Think about a niceweekend by the pool from June 18-20 Offerings will be both virtual and in person All CDCand local guidelines will be enforced for your safety No place better to meet friends cultivatenew relationships and find out what is going on in YOUR profession and Association ThePresidential Pharmacognosy Tent will be up and running nightly

- Clifford Young RPh CPhA President

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As we all continue to do our part to manage the pandemic CPhA has been hard at workadvocating for you

Celebrated our co-sponsored bill SB 362 (Newman) making it out of committee witha 9-3 votes This bill would prohibit performance quotas for pharmacists based onprofit not health outcomesHosted a Virtual Town Hall covering the latest information about COVID-19 vaccinesAnnounced Lucinda Maine Executive Vice President and CEO of AACP as a keynotespeaker at WPE

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As we all continue to do our part to manage the pandemic CPhA has been hard at workadvocating for you

Celebrated our co-sponsored bill SB 362 (Newman) making it out of committee witha 9-3 votes This bill would prohibit performance quotas for pharmacists based onprofit not health outcomesHosted a Virtual Town Hall covering the latest information about COVID-19 vaccinesAnnounced Lucinda Maine Executive Vice President and CEO of AACP as a keynotespeaker at WPE

Met with legislators and their staff to talk about the work pharmacy professionals doShared that Lourdes Castro Ramiacuterez Secretary of the Business Consumer Servicesand Housing Agency will be a featured speaker at WPE

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Keynote Speaker Announcement Lucinda L Maine PhD RPh Executive Vice President andCEO American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy will deliver her session live from PalmSprings ldquoRising from the Storm A Post-pandemic View of Pharmacyrsquos Futurerdquo Donrsquot missout on this great session Register for WPE 2021 today

Upcoming Virtual CE Courses

Pharmacy-Based Immunization Administration by PharmacyTechnicians Saturday April 17 900 am ndash 100 pm

Pharmacy-Based Immunization Delivery Saturday April 17 800 am ndash 300 pm

Advanced Practice Pharmacist Saturday April 24 800 am ndash 500 pm Deadline to register is April 9

Medication Therapy Management Certificate Program Saturday May 8 800 am ndash 500 pm

Travel Health Services Certificate Program Saturday May 8 900 am ndash 100 pm

New On-Demand CE Courses

WPE 2020 Virtual Education Bundle Looking to satisfy your continuing education needs CPhA is excited to offer our WPE 2020Virtual Education Bundle which includes 16 CE sessions representing 195 CPE hours ofquality relevant education for pharmacy professionals all in one place That is three timesmore CPE than you could have obtained in person at the meeting The WPE 2020 VirtualEducation Bundle includes recordings of education sessions that were scheduled to take placeat WPE 2020 last April All sessions are accredited for both pharmacists and pharmacytechnicians

Providing PrEP and PEP in a Pharmacy Pharmacists are uniquely positioned to increase knowledge usage and adherence to PrEP(pre-exposure prophylaxis) and PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis) particularly forunderserved populations by their accessibility in California communities CPhA is offering anon-demand course covering everything you need to know to be certified to administer PrEPand PEP Plus you receive additional resources to help implement this service in yourpharmacy practice

In addition to the core training requirements CPhA collaborated with HIVAIDS and LGBTQ+Advocacy Organizations as well as pharmacist and physicians who specialize in HIV todeliver important resources to support pharmacists with the following

Training on cultural humility with the LGBTQ+ community for pharmacists to enhancethe provider-patient relationshipResources for reimbursement for services and financial assistance for patientsSpecialized marketing material to help pharmacists advertise their PrEPPEP clinicalservicePatient Screening and Intake Form for PrEPPEP

Register Now

Register Now

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Advocacy in Action In March our co-sponsored bill SB 362 (Newman) was passed by the Committee onBusiness Professions amp Consumer Protection and referred to the Committee onAppropriations This bill introduced by Senator Josh Newman would end the dangerouspractice of performance quotas for pharmacists based on profits

Our co-sponsored bill SB 524 (Skinner) will be heard by the Committee on BusinessProfessions amp Consumer Protection in April This bill would prohibit patient steering allowingpatients to continue to choose which pharmacy they use

On Wednesday April 14 2021 we will be hosting our Joint Virtual Advocacy Day with theUnited Nurses Associations of CaliforniaUnion of Health Care Professionals This is a criticaltime to show lawmakers how important pharmacists are for the success of the healthcareteam and the public health benefit they continue to provide to the community during apandemic Register now to hear from legislative leaders

Register Now

For more information on the work that the Center for Advocacy is doing on behalf of ourmembers please contact advocacycphacom

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March 25 2021

The California Pharmacists Association condemns all acts of racism especially the recent actsof violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

As members of the healthcare team we must acknowledge the ways that racism drives socialdeterminants of health and is a barrier to equitable healthcare and it is our duty to work inour communities to eliminate those inequities and inequalities to ensure all Californians arehealthy and safe

Friday March 26 is the StopAsianHate Virtual National Day of Action and Healing Weencourage you to participate listen and learn We can all be part of the solution bysupporting AAPI members of our communities and calling out racism and hate when we seeit Although the pandemic led to a wave of hate and violence anti-Asian racism is not new Itis a shameful and destructive part of American history that we should all seek to know andunderstand

As an association and as Californians we at CPhA are dedicated to combating racism in allforms and promoting equity and equality in the profession and in our communities

Susan A Bonilla CEO California Pharmacists Association

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Pharmacy-Based Immunization Administration by PharmacyTechnicians

April 17

The APhAWSU Pharmacy-Based Immunization Administration by Pharmacy Technicianstraining program explores the expanding role of the pharmacy technician by providingadditional skills training to administer immunizations This two-part program emphasizes ahealth care team collaboration between pharmacists and technicians which seeks to improvepopulation health by increasing immunization rates in states that allow technicians toimmunize

Composed of an online self-study component combined with a live seminar that teacheshands-on immunization techniques this program will provide a total of 6 hours of continuingeducation for technicians and pharmacists (2 hours of home self-study work and 4 hours oflive training via Zoom)

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Register Now

The Ray Symposium honors Max D Ray MS PharmD Dean Emeritus ofWesternU College of Pharmacy

We love seeing our future pharmacists keeping theircommunities safe

USC student pharmacist Trevor Leeadministers a vaccine at LincolnPark

Student pharmacists from Universityof the Pacific help a patient prepareto be vaccinated

Touro University student pharmacist Kimberly Sturdivant was able to vaccinateher parents at a TUC vaccine clinic

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Pharmacies Hubs for Decentralized Clinical Trials Written by Ingrid Oakley-Girvan PhD MPH SVP of Research and Strategy Medable Inc Editor Parisa Vatanka PharmD CTTS

The pandemic has highlighted a need for improved communication channels that helppatients participate in clinical trials Rather than ask patients to take time off of work andmake long trips as a requirement of participation or just to find out they are not eligible toparticipate why not expand an existing communication channel

The Avoca Group notes that ldquoDecentralized clinical trials (DCTs) offer a more patient-centricapproach reflecting a transformational philosophy for the conduct of clinical trials in whichfewer clinic visits are required and patient and caregiver burden is reducedrdquo1 From animplementation standpoint clinical trials can continue to follow the existing model thatcenters on visits to the clinic for all interactions or they can adapt It is increasingly apparentthat the standard approach limits broad participation and sets-up multiple barriers andburdens for patients and their families Instead we can consider innovation centered on thepatient How do we conduct remote assessments how do we bring services to patients or toplaces they frequently visit in daily life The determination of what can be done remotely willbe dependent upon the therapeutic area what is involved in the trial and what

communication channels and technology solutions are available

Technology solutions such as telehealth connected devices eConsent and electronic clinicaloutcome assessments (eCOAs) have evolved to support the DCT model Mobile and digitaltechnologies replace written diaries with electronic diaries and collect data from wearablesensor devices Many reliable devices are now available to remotely measure specific vitalssuch as heart rate variability blood pressure temperature oxygen level and more Butdespite the value of a more decentralized approach for complex assessment needs that falloutside of current technology capabilities clinical trials still experience challenges How canwe solve this problem

Even during the pandemic many of us have continued to regularly visit the pharmacy ndash it isoften right next to or in the grocery store making it very convenient In rural locations thepharmacist knows almost everyone and the pharmacy may well be closer than the doctorrsquosoffice It can be a hub of social interaction (even six feet apart and masked) and many nowresemble one-stop shops with groceries and essential hardware items like light bulbs Inother words convenience and products we use on a regular basis are accessible why notexpand this communication channel to make clinical trials more accessible

Across the United States COVID-19 has prompted new service offerings by pharmacists andpharmacy technicians including COVID-19 testing and vaccinations For clinical trialscreenings or on trial assessments that cannot be performed remotely or by a telehealthvisit reimbursement codes could be added to allow pharmacists to conduct these in-personIt would open up more treatment opportunities for patients regardless of physical locationand could begin to chip away at disparities in clinical trial participation Of course no onesolution will erase all the barriers but given that pharmacists are already embedded in ourcommunities this would be a win for everyone

Reference

1 httpswwwtheavocagroupcomde-mystifying-the-qualification-of-decentralized-clinical-trials~text=Decentralized20clinical20trials20(DCTs)20offerand20caregiver20burden20is20reduced

To learn more about digital health click here

To contribute an article to Digital Health Corner contact Risa Vatanka atparisavatankagmailcom

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The California Pharmacists Association (CPhA) is the largest statewide professional association forpharmacists student pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in the country CPhA represents thepharmacy profession in all practice settings and promotes the health of the public through thepractice of pharmacy For more information visit cphacom

Copyright copy 2021 CPhA All rights reserved

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