Justin Wilson, Pharm.D
2011-2012
President
OPhA
WILSON PRESS RELEASE
OPHA Presidential Acceptance Speech
OPHA Annual Convention
June 11, 2011
I would first like to thank the membership, President Crumly, the current officers and the OPHA executive council for this opportunity. I am truly honored to be standing before you today accepting the office of OPHA president. I would also like to recognize a few people who make it possible for me to be active in the association in addition to my job as a pharmacist: my wife Heather and daughter Meg. Thank you for your love and support.
As I stand on the podium today and look out at all of you, one word comes to mind…perspective, and how my perspective has changed over the years. I have literally grown up around pharmacy and the association. Between me and Shonda Lassiter, we should probably receive a pin for most conventions attended for pharmacists under the age of 35. My perspective as a child was quite a bit different than the one today. I was mostly concerned with getting through these banquets and back to playing video games and ordering room service (and for those kids in the audience tonight, your parents will find out about the room services charges at checkout tomorrow, so be careful).
But even as a child, I grew to understand that I was participating in something special. I was surrounded by leaders in our profession….people like Calvin Anthony, Jack Coffey, Willie Osborn, John Lassiter, Jim Spoon and of course my most influential mentor, Lonny Wilson, just to name a few. These were pharmacists who were very successful in their own practices, but have a passion and duty to work together towards improving our profession, meeting challenges head on, overcoming these challenges, and ensuring that the pharmacy profession continues to thrive for years to come. These values became apparent to me at a young age, and although I was not aware that pharmacy would be my profession down the road, I feel it has shaped, at least somewhat, the practitioner I am today.
Upon graduating pharmacy school and beginning to practice in Oklahoma, my perspective changed again. I realized how significantly legislative issues can have a direct impact, both positive and negative, on our profession. I had the opportunity to start becoming active in the association. Working with the most recent leaders like Eric Winegardner, Greg Huenergardt, and John Crumly, I'm reminded of a phrase I recently heard: "if it's not broke, break it and improve it." I feel these leaders have done an excellent job of bringing their own perspective and ideas to the association and I believe we are better for it. I hope to continue that trend.
Over the next year I want to focus on three major areas. The first is patient care services. I truly believe that if you do what is right for the patient then it is right for pharmacy. The pharmacy profession is evolving. Pharmacists across the state and the country are finding new and innovative ways to improve the health of our patients and the bottom line for our pharmacies. We have expanded into areas like vaccinations, diabetes management, medication therapy management, and anticoagulation, just to name a few. We need to work to expand these patient care opportunities and to receive payment for these services.
Two years ago, we worked with the state board of pharmacy and a committee of practitioners to introduce Collaborative Practice language into our pharmacy practice act. Although we were unsuccessful at getting this passed, we learned that many of our legislators and much of the public are still fairly uninformed as to what services we currently provide. We saw this setback as an education opportunity. At this years OPHA legislative day, we provided a health fair for legislators and their staffs. Pharmacists from multiple settings....community retail, hospital, ambulatory care, and academia, as well as a group of excellent student volunteers screened 80 patients at the capital. We provided blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar screenings, as well as a drug information section and a map of immunizing pharmacists across the state. The fair was a tremendous success and we hope to build on it for next year so that next time a patient care piece of legislation is introduced, our true impact on the healthcare system is realized.
The next area I want to focus on is membership. As I look at the audience I see many of the faces I grew up with, but I'm very encouraged by many of the new faces. It's exciting to see the new graduates and the students that are here. You are the future of our profession and we will need your support as you move forward in your careers. We need to grow our membership, grow our Political Action Committee fund, and work together across all pharmacy settings. Our strength is in our numbers, our relationships in the community, and our dedication to the profession. This message needs to reach our colleagues that are currently not being involved.
Finally, we will continue to focus on legislative issues. I truly believe that this is the area that can have the most immediate and significant impact on our profession.We had a very successful legislative session this year. Our bill targeting the unfair audit practices of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) passed thru all levels of the senate and house with only 1 negative vote. Although this does not solve all of our PBM audit problems, it is definitely a step in the right direction. We had a workman's comp bill from the governor that would have pushed medications for state employees to mail order. Thanks to the efforts of our lobbyists we were able to change the language of the bill to allow patients the choice of where they can fill their medications. These are just a few examples of how quickly legislation can impact pharmacy. I'm confident OPHA, PPOK, and the Taylor group lobbying firm will continue to monitor for those bills that can impact our profession. We will continue to need you, the membership, to use your grassroots efforts with the legislature to affect change as issues arise. In conclusion, I would like to thank the association once again for the opportunity to serve as your president. I know we will have many challenges over the next year, but with challenge comes opportunity. I look forward to meeting these challenges and taking advantage of opportunities as we work together to shape the future of our profession.
Thank You.
Justin Wilson, Pharm.D
2011-2012
President
OPhA
WILSON PRESS RELEASE
OPHA Presidential Acceptance Speech
OPHA Annual Convention
June 11, 2011
I would first like to thank the membership, President Crumly, the current officers and the OPHA executive council for this opportunity. I am truly honored to be standing before you today accepting the office of OPHA president. I would also like to recognize a few people who make it possible for me to be active in the association in addition to my job as a pharmacist: my wife Heather and daughter Meg. Thank you for your love and support.
As I stand on the podium today and look out at all of you, one word comes to mind…perspective, and how my perspective has changed over the years. I have literally grown up around pharmacy and the association. Between me and Shonda Lassiter, we should probably receive a pin for most conventions attended for pharmacists under the age of 35. My perspective as a child was quite a bit different than the one today. I was mostly concerned with getting through these banquets and back to playing video games and ordering room service (and for those kids in the audience tonight, your parents will find out about the room services charges at checkout tomorrow, so be careful).
But even as a child, I grew to understand that I was participating in something special. I was surrounded by leaders in our profession….people like Calvin Anthony, Jack Coffey, Willie Osborn, John Lassiter, Jim Spoon and of course my most influential mentor, Lonny Wilson, just to name a few. These were pharmacists who were very successful in their own practices, but have a passion and duty to work together towards improving our profession, meeting challenges head on, overcoming these challenges, and ensuring that the pharmacy profession continues to thrive for years to come. These values became apparent to me at a young age, and although I was not aware that pharmacy would be my profession down the road, I feel it has shaped, at least somewhat, the practitioner I am today.
Upon graduating pharmacy school and beginning to practice in Oklahoma, my perspective changed again. I realized how significantly legislative issues can have a direct impact, both positive and negative, on our profession. I had the opportunity to start becoming active in the association. Working with the most recent leaders like Eric Winegardner, Greg Huenergardt, and John Crumly, I'm reminded of a phrase I recently heard: "if it's not broke, break it and improve it." I feel these leaders have done an excellent job of bringing their own perspective and ideas to the association and I believe we are better for it. I hope to continue that trend.
Over the next year I want to focus on three major areas. The first is patient care services. I truly believe that if you do what is right for the patient then it is right for pharmacy. The pharmacy profession is evolving. Pharmacists across the state and the country are finding new and innovative ways to improve the health of our patients and the bottom line for our pharmacies. We have expanded into areas like vaccinations, diabetes management, medication therapy management, and anticoagulation, just to name a few. We need to work to expand these patient care opportunities and to receive payment for these services.
Two years ago, we worked with the state board of pharmacy and a committee of practitioners to introduce Collaborative Practice language into our pharmacy practice act. Although we were unsuccessful at getting this passed, we learned that many of our legislators and much of the public are still fairly uninformed as to what services we currently provide. We saw this setback as an education opportunity. At this years OPHA legislative day, we provided a health fair for legislators and their staffs. Pharmacists from multiple settings....community retail, hospital, ambulatory care, and academia, as well as a group of excellent student volunteers screened 80 patients at the capital. We provided blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar screenings, as well as a drug information section and a map of immunizing pharmacists across the state. The fair was a tremendous success and we hope to build on it for next year so that next time a patient care piece of legislation is introduced, our true impact on the healthcare system is realized.
The next area I want to focus on is membership. As I look at the audience I see many of the faces I grew up with, but I'm very encouraged by many of the new faces. It's exciting to see the new graduates and the students that are here. You are the future of our profession and we will need your support as you move forward in your careers. We need to grow our membership, grow our Political Action Committee fund, and work together across all pharmacy settings. Our strength is in our numbers, our relationships in the community, and our dedication to the profession. This message needs to reach our colleagues that are currently not being involved.
Finally, we will continue to focus on legislative issues. I truly believe that this is the area that can have the most immediate and significant impact on our profession.We had a very successful legislative session this year. Our bill targeting the unfair audit practices of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) passed thru all levels of the senate and house with only 1 negative vote. Although this does not solve all of our PBM audit problems, it is definitely a step in the right direction. We had a workman's comp bill from the governor that would have pushed medications for state employees to mail order. Thanks to the efforts of our lobbyists we were able to change the language of the bill to allow patients the choice of where they can fill their medications. These are just a few examples of how quickly legislation can impact pharmacy. I'm confident OPHA, PPOK, and the Taylor group lobbying firm will continue to monitor for those bills that can impact our profession. We will continue to need you, the membership, to use your grassroots efforts with the legislature to affect change as issues arise. In conclusion, I would like to thank the association once again for the opportunity to serve as your president. I know we will have many challenges over the next year, but with challenge comes opportunity. I look forward to meeting these challenges and taking advantage of opportunities as we work together to shape the future of our profession.
Thank You.