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Board of Pharmacy Executive Officers Share Successes, Challenges at Interactive Forum
Originally published in the November-December 2011 NABP Newsletter
Thirty-one executive officers gathered at the Interactive Executive Officer Forum, held September 21-22, 2011, to discuss with their colleagues the challenges their boards face on a daily basis. The second in a series of three meetings themed “Prescription for Shared Future: The Partnering Plan to Protect Public Health through AWARxEness,” the Forum for executive officers reinforced the partnership between the boards of pharmacy and NABP, and the shared mission to protect public health.
Following the success of the Interactive Member Forum, which was held for the members of the boards of pharmacy in 2010, the Interactive Executive Officer Forum featured panel discussions on topics of high interest to participants, as well as plenty of attendee discussion time on these and other topics suggested during the course of the meeting. In each discussion, executive officers gained valuable new ideas as fellow participants posed challenging questions and offered a variety of relevant experiences, perspectives, and information. To ensure adequate discussion time, and in response to suggestions made by attendees from the Interactive Member Forum, the length of the meeting was increased from one day to two days.
The meeting kicked off with William T. Winsley, MS, RPh, chairperson, NABP Executive Committee, welcoming executive officers and reiterating the purpose of the meeting. Winsley stressed the importance of this unique opportunity for board of pharmacy executive officers to discuss with their colleagues – in closed sessions – important and timely issues related to pharmacy regulation. He added that NABP takes seriously its role of assisting the boards of pharmacy, and that this meeting, as well as the forums for the members and compliance officers, is just one of the many ways that the Association strives to support and create value for the boards.
The first session of the day – “Is This the Practice of Pharmacy?” – covered four areas of pharmacy where the practice or regulation of pharmacy is being infringed upon or public safety is at risk. These areas included pill mills, regulation of pharmacy benefit managers, Internet pharmacy, and the Federal Trade Commission law suit against the North Carolina Board of Dentistry. Throughout the meeting, scheduled topics were introduced by board of pharmacy executive officers who had noteworthy experiences with a particular topic. After the brief overview by the panelist, attendees engaged in lively discussions regarding issues in their states.
At the conclusion of the first afternoon’s programming, attendees were taken to NABP Headquarters for a tour of the building, staff presentations, and a networking dinner. Prior to the dinner, NABP President Malcolm J. Broussard, RPh, welcomed the attendees and sought input on the progress of the meeting.
The Forum continued on Thursday morning with more networking events and programming. “Technology: Progress or Problems” was the first topic of discussion, and attendees focused on the areas of automated dispensing systems, virtual wholesale distributors, and uses for the NABP PMP InterConnectSM. Again, short introductions provided by executive officers were followed by audience discussions. The next session, entitled “Shared State Topics,” featured topics that were suggested by executive officers in response to a survey that was sent prior to the event. The topics covered included dwindling board of pharmacy resources: challenges for chief administrative officers, prescriber dispensing, and pharmacy robberies. In the time remaining, attendees began discussing some of the topics that were suggested by attendees during Winsley’s welcome remarks the previous day, including pharmacists practicing in locations without pharmacy permits, dealing with errors, drug take-back programs and the potential for diversion, remote pharmacy practice, compounding regulations, immunization programs, and group purchasing using charitable exemptions.
The final session of the meeting was “Social Media: Life in 140 Characters or Less.” This session focused on executive officers’ experiences with social media and how it has or has not worked for their boards of pharmacy. The session also included time to finish discussion of the additional topics that were brought up by attendees at the beginning of the meeting.
NABP President-elect Michael Burleson, RPh, closed the meeting with some additional information about NABP programs and services that are available to the attendees as well as a call for nominees for the awards presented at the NABP Annual Meeting. He thanked attendees for their participation and encouraged the executive officers in attendance to support the next interactive forum, which is geared for compliance officers, inspectors, and investigators.
The Interactive Compliance Officer Forum will be held December 1-2, 2011, rather than waiting until 2012. Attendee feedback prompted this change, as members and executive officers expressed their desire to meet more frequently than every three years, as was initially planned. The time period was condensed to allow members and compliance staff to meet every other year, and executive officers to meet annually.
The Interactive Compliance Officer Forum will be modeled after the previous forums with feature panel discussions and networking over a two-day period. In addition, the annual NABP surveyor training will be held at the same time and surveyors will participate in some of the Interactive Forum sessions. By combining the surveyor training session with the Forum, NABP surveyors will have the chance to learn directly from board of pharmacy compliance officers, inspectors, and investigators what their typical duties and challenges entail. NABP will again cover all expenses for one member from each board in order to facilitate participation by as many boards as possible and allow for increased opportunity for networking as compliance officers, inspectors, and investigators use the Forum to share ideas and develop potential solutions to meet common challenges.
