MO Pharmacist November 2022

FROM THE PRESIDENT

by JERRY CALLAHAN, RPh Advocate, Educate, Promote, Value, and Lead A s I begin my year as President of the Missouri Pharmacy Association, I want to express what an honor and privilege it is to serve you, ADVOCATE includes lobbying ef forts, contributions to the Pharmacist Polit ical Action Committee of Missouri (PPAC), grassroots engagement with the community and legislators, payment protection issues through lobbying for PBM transparency, price protections, and keeping Missouri

Medicaid out of the hands of the PBMs. EDUCATE is more than continuing ed ucation. It includes our conference as ameans to network and learn. It also includes support for those seeking to renew designations and certifications. PROMOTE is howwe can elevate pub lic awareness of pharmacy and the associa tion. We need to position pharmacy at the forefront of patient care and the community, nomatter what area of pharmacy we practice. VALUE is what your association provides to you and what you provide to your associa tion by your membership and support both physically and financially. We will continue to work with MO HealthNet to find ways to offer additional funding sources through enhanced services. We need to make sure that your association is represented by all pharmacy practice settings. MPA is here to serve, not just independent pharmacists-we need all of you in chain, hospital, consultant, education, and all other areas where pharma cists and support personnel work to join the association tomake us stronger and a united voice for our profession. LEAD is what your Board and staff at MPAmust do tomake sure we continue to be to protect and advance the pharmacy profes sion. We must be excellent stewards of MPA finances, assets and intellectual property. You need to know and have confidence inMPA’s achievements and objectives and how you benefit, and be engaged in your association. Our strength lies in our numbers and the in volvement of our members in the association.

our members of MPA. I want to thank our past Presidents for their leadership and the knowledge I have gained from them these past years. My goal is to be the best President I can be for you and this organization, and with your help, along with Ron and his staff at MPA, we will have a successful year with the goals your Board has set for this coming year. At our con ference this year, a new slate of officers was in stalled, and our work is just beginning. What a conference it turned out to be. We went back to the upgraded and much improved Margari taville, and the positive comments we received were verymuch appreciated. If all goes well, we will return there next year. For those of youwho were there, youwere able to hear my acceptance speech and the goals I have set personally for this coming year, as well as the goals the board has set aside at the Board’s retreat we held this past summer. I would like to take this time to share those with you and what I personally hope to achieve, as well as what you, our members, can do to help your MPA achieve these goals. To paraphrase John F Kennedy, ‘Ask not what MPA can do for you, ask what you can do to help MPA.’ Your Board has recommended five goals to pursue this year and beyond. Four deliver value tomembers, while the fifth addresses the structure and human capital of MPA.They are as follows: Advocate, Educate, Promote, Value, and Lead. (If you would like to view the Stra tegic Plan, visit www.morx.com).

The two areas that I will personally focus on are the passage of a strong PBM bill that will allow pharmacy to take back control of our profession and to increase the member ship and involvement of all the various practice site pharmacists and support personnel. We need all pharmacists, students, and support personnel-chain, hospital, consultant, educa tion, research, independent and all other areas we practice-to join and support MPA. If we are to pass a PBM bill this year, we will need your financial support for theMPAPAC as well as your contacts with your State Legislators. Whether you are a student, educator, techni cian or pharmacist, your involvement is needed, welcomed, and appreciated. I am asking all pharmacists who practice in this state to join MPA and to contribute to our PAC, whether it is a one-time donation or monthly as I do. If you are able and willing to contribute with a one-time donation of more than $5000, that will show the Legislators that we are a force to be reckonedwith andwill give us access to at least be heard. I want to thank you again for this oppor tunity to serve as your President, and I look forward to see our association and our profes sion be the best that we can be. I cannot do it alone, though. Your association and I need your assistance and involvement. Jerry Callahan, RPh, Elsberry Pharmacy, is President of the Missouri Pharmacy Association.

2 Missouri PHARMACIST | Volume 96, Issue III | November 2022