We kicked off the year with a thorough and practical review of oral antimicrobial dosing discussion in various infectious diseases, giving thoughtful insight into condition, patient and microbe specific considerations. Thank you to Dr. Shen and all of our member who were able to make it to Martell’s earlier this month for a great educational and networking event.
Our next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, February 13th, and will feature Ferris State University College of Pharmacy faculty members, Peggy de Voest and Shelby Kelsh, along with a Ferris State University PharmD Candidate, Trenton Cunningham. They will be discussing the role of pharmacy students in transitions of care. This will be a great session to inform higher-level engagement of PharmD candidates, as well as creating opportunities to broaden our clinical impact with students. The meeting will be held in the lower level of the Wege Center (Classroom 1, 2 and 3) at Mercy Health Saint Mary’s in Grand Rapids. We hope to see you all there!
Many of you may have seen emails and calls for action from various pharmacy organizations on an interesting item that came about in October this year. President Trump signed executive order 13890, “Protecting and Improving Medicare for Our Nation’s Seniors”. A specific component of the executive order included instruction to eliminate specific Medicare regulations that require more stringent supervision than existing state scope of practice laws, or that “limit health professionals from practicing at the top of their license”. In an interview on October 29th, CMS Administrator, Seema Verma, indicated that the agency may grant pharmacists provider status, citing the president’s Medicare executive order. Open comment to CMS regarding potential changes recently closed on January 17th. The timeline for a plan in relation to the executive order is within 1 year, meaning that by October 2020, there could be significant progress toward pharmacists being recognized as providers, at the federal level, potentially paving the way toward the ability to bill Medicare directly for pharmacist services.
Reminder to Pharmacy Residents: Submit your research abstract for an opportunity to share your residency project with our members at the April WMSHP meeting! Abstract should be submitted to Shelby Kelsh (shelbykelsh@ferris.edu). Don’t miss out on this chance to practice your presentation before the Great Lakes conference!
