President’s Page

INVEST IN IPA TO INVEST IN IOWA PHARMACY

Christopher Clayton, PharmD, MBA

IPA President Director of Pharmacy & Population Health, Buchanan County Health Center

Chris Clayton sharing personal experiences as a pharmacist and pharmacy owner in support of the PBM bill at the State Capitol. Over my twenty-two years in practice, I have often been asked ‘why pay to be an ENGAGED member of IPA, why spend the money?’ Personally, I have a pretty long list of reasons for doing so, including the professional networking with a lot of amazing people, but there is one reason that stands out.

I believe every pharmacist, technician, support person and pharmacy owner should be an active member and contribute to IPA.

IPA’s advocacy team provides both offense and defense on proposed legislation. Just like investing or planning for retirement, investing in state legislative support for our profession will help shape and secure our future goals.

IPA represents our profession in Iowa, where all of our pharmacies and practice sites are located. There is a lot we can do in our own state to practice at the top of our license or registration, and our state efforts assist legislative priorities at the federal level. Evidence of this includes the work done in Iowa to support vaccination efforts and technician product verification.

IPA members help determine the state legislative priorities for our profession. IPA employs and contracts to build an advocacy team equipped to represent our profession through the legislative process at our State Capitol. Did you know that every year there are dozens of proposed bills that would impact our profession submitted for consideration?

While some of these bills are submitted by IPA, many are not, and some of those would increase your blood pressure if you realized what they were requesting to change…For example, in 2022, numerous bills were submitted that would strip pharmacists of the right to refuse the dispensing of ivermectin and other medications that are prescribed off-label. In addition, these bills did not remove liability if something bad happened.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have the IPA-submitted PBM bill that we certainly want to support and see move across the finish line. The PBM bill supports the profession across multiple practice settings to assure our patients have proper access to local care, allowing Iowa-based pharmacies to be included in specialty networks, assisting in fair payment practices for those services rendered, and strengthening appeal processes as well as oversight and enforcement by the Iowa Insurance Division.

These legislative activities alone are so important for the future of our profession that I believe all of us need to do our part. If you can’t spare your time, paying for an ENGAGED membership or donating to the Iowa Pharmacy Political Action Committee (IPPAC) helps the IPA advocacy team represent us at the State Capitol and keep members informed on legislative updates and grassroots efforts.

If you are reading this as an ENGAGED IPA member – thank you! I hope you continue to share IPA membership with fellow co-workers and colleagues and help them navigate the process of joining our One Voice. ■