Melanie
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Friday, October 21, 2011
Today marks the last day of my administration rotation at UMHHC with Dr. Jim Stevenson and Dr. John Clark. I have to say this month has really flown by. My days were filled with meetings and project work. I definitely learned a lot and had great mentors to learn from.
I was able to attend the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) meeting where I learned how drugs are put into different tiers for the employee drug plan. I also saw a Pharmacy and Therapeutics (P&T) Committee meeting where drugs are selected for the formulary in the hospital. I was even in attendance for a meeting with the Provost where Dr. Stevenson gave a presentation on 340b, a program the hospital qualifies for to receive medications at a discounted rate.
I completed several projects during this past month. These projects ranged from quality improvement to medication safety. I also learned how to analyze numbers based upon drug cost to the hospital and insurance reimbursement to justify an additional full-time equivalent (FTE). I learned about Medicare Part D and how a patient would move in and out of the doughnut hole and into catastrophic coverage.
Did you know that in 2011 a patient will only pay 50% of the drug cost for eligible brand-name drugs while in the doughnut hole and the manufacturer will pick up the other 50%? As part of the federal health care reform, discounts for patients will continue to increase through 2020. The following figure illustrates a Medicare Part D plan taken from Novartis Oncology:
Administration definitely gives a different perspective on pharmacy. I encourage every pharmacy student to spend at least one day shadowing a pharmacist in administration so that this viewpoint can be observed. It gives you an appreciation for the work that goes into operating and maintaining a pharmacy service. I am very glad I had this experience.
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