The AMCP-Pacific Chapter would like to invite you to participate in the 6th Annual AMCP Western Region Managed Care Student Conference to be held on June 22nd and 23rd at Western University in Pomona, CA. This conference is an invaluable chance for students to learn more about Managed Care and the various opportunities it has to offer to you and to the world of pharmacy.
This conference composes of student-oriented lectures and educational programs with the participation of a wide variety of pharmacist speakers, numbering up to 22 different pharmacists, who will touch upon numerous topics which include but not limited to industry, health plans, management, policy, and health economics. In addition, Day 2 of the conference will be dedicated to networking and information regarding residencies and fellowship; topics that are invaluable to students interesting in pursuing these career goals in the future. Also, this conference is open to student pharmacists from universities throughout the West Coast, which opens up an incredible chance for students to network with them and with pharmacists throughout the Coast. The registration fee for attendance is a non-refundable $45 per person. This fee will cover all meals at the event, which includes a dinner + wine reception following the event, where additional practicing pharmacists in Managed Care will be invited to join for additional networking opportunities. Lodging can be found at The Aryes Hotel in Chino Hills for a discounted price of 89$ a night for students attending this conference. For registration and more info regarding the event, please visit their website at http://amcpwrc2013.weebly.com. Information and link in regards to booking a room at the Aryes Hotel can also be found at the website. The deadline for registering is June 12th, 2013. If you are interested, it is highly suggested that you register as soon as possible as there will be a limited amount of seating available. Please take the most out of this opportunity to not only learn more about our profession, but to also network with both students and pharmacists spanning the West Coast. Also, for AMCP members, this is a wonderful opportunity to complete the conference requirement that is mandatory to received Honor Cord Credit. Sign up now and represent the Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy at this event. For students interested in this conference, linked below is an Interest Spreadsheet. Please fill this out to figure out rides, flights, or living arrangements. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AkgVUDPSGynrdGlMS2U3RS0za0dCT0VHWEY3YUlYLWc&usp=sharing Thanks you, and I hope to see you all there!
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The AMCP 2010 Educational Conference was absolutely the best conference for a pharmacy student to attend. Seven students from Pacific traveled to the midwest to learn about managed care, pipeline (upcoming) drugs, health care reform, residencies and much more. The event was held at America's Center, a convention building that was fully staffed and ready for over 2,000 guests from various schools and practices. Keep an eye out for a photo gallery with more tidbits about the event!
This past weekend we were quite fortunate to have a number of speakers at the conference. The following is a summary from the eyes of various attendees of each speaker! (note that there are a couple more speaker summaries on the way as of 07-09-10) Dr. Cohen was one of the eight founders of AMCP. He presented on the past, present, and the future of AMCP. AMCP was established in 1988. Memberships grew from 135 people at the first meeting to 6000 members as of 2010. The first student pharmacist chapter started in 1996 at the University of Illinois at Chicago and expanded to 35 chapters with over 1500 student members. AMCP promotes information, advocacy, education, networking, and career opportunities through the AMCP News, Journal of Managed Care Pharmacy, AMCP daily dose, and AMCP ASCENT Center. One of the aspects managed care follows is the dollar flow. Because drug companies invest the most money in the pharmaceutical area, they are very influential. In the future, one can anticipate the new technology to expand in diagnostics, genomics, medical devices, personalized medicine, and vaccines. Pharmacist’s traditional roles continue to thrive in areas such as community, hospital, long term care, mail order, and specialty. In addition, managed care pharmacists are highly involved in clinical account management, customer services, drug formulary, management, and pharmacy network management. In the future, managed care pharmacists will involve and expand in formulary management, clinical informatics, drug reimbursement management, and medication therapy management. Other roles for managed care pharmacist will expand in pharmacoeconomics, phamacogenomics, and specialty health benefits. We were very happy to have Dr. Allison Baglin from Pharmacy Solutions speak at our Western conference this past weekend. Dr. Baglin talked to us about specialty pharmacy, an area of the profession that seems to be difficult to define for many of us. Basically, specialty pharmacy gives access to, and support for, most pharmaceutical and biologic products that have high acquisition costs, are difficult to manage, and present reimbursement challenges. These include most injectables (like those administered at home), adjuvant therapies, as well as oral medications for specific disease states. These products require a high level of support for patients, specific handling requirements, and often require strict inventory control. Specialty pharmacists role are vital to patients who are in need of these specialty products in terms of helping patients with billing insurance, acquiring specialty products, and even administering these products. Specialty pharmacy is indispensable and will continue to grow in the future of our profession. Dr. Vinson Lee, Assistant Scientist at Genetech, showed us the opportunities available to pharmacists in a managed care setting. Although some of us may have came to this presentation with the idea that careers in managed care would not include any clinical work. Dr. Lee was able to show us that managed care is a concept that applies to every job a pharmacist can hold. He opened all of our eyes to the opportunities that are available in health plans, pharmacy benefit management, pharmaceutical industry, specialty pharmacy, consulting firms, academia, and even retail. His presentation made me more aware of how encompassing the concepts of managed care are and some of the reasons that every pharmacist should understand these concepts. Dr. Tom Wang gave a very motivational presentation on leadership and success. He gave examples from his own experiences about what helped him to achieve the success that he has today. Dr. Wang’s presentation included many inspirational quotes which we all found encouraging; he particularly emphasized that there is no limit on what we can do, we just have to go out there and do it. In addition to this, Dr. Wang also talked about the importance of networking and how networking can help us obtain our desired career. The students at the conference also had an opportunity to present! During the student roundtable, the schools that were in attendance all shared ideas on various topics that makes their chapter strong. Loma Linda provided low cost/no cost fundraisers that bring a high profit to fund their projects. Touro described their unique student body government that shares various board members such as fundraising so that each organization at school can focus on their core goals. Pacificdescribed the Mentor/Mentee program that reaches out to aspiring pharmacy students in the central valley. UCSF gave a presentation on how their board coordinates various events that lead up to their P&T competition that has made their school such a powerhouse in the event. Lastly, but not least, USC presented their goals of increasing student activity in the medication therapy management field of the profession. The last presentation at the conference was given by Dr. Steven Gary, PharmD, JD, on Health Care Reform from the perspective of an attorney. Dr. Steven clarified some of the changes that will occur in the implementation timeline of the new laws, such as closing the donut hole in the Medicare Part D coverage gap by 2011, requiring the integration of Electronic Health Records by 2012 and requiring everyone in the United States to have minimum health insurance coverage by 2015. Dr. Steven was highly enthusiastic about the changes in health care reform and commented on the vast opportunities that will be available to health care profession as a result of it. Hello Everyone,
I just got back from the 3rd Annual Western Conference and it was an awesome event! I'll update everyone with details of the event as soon as I'm done with my quizzes this week. For the time being, take a look at the photo gallery to get an idea of what the event was about. I'm making some slight changes to the layout of the gallery in hopes that it'll be easier to navigate. Before I sign off to study, I just want to thank the '09-'10 AMCP@Pacific Board, Dean Oppenheimer, Dr. DeGuire, all the very informative (and entertaining!) guest speakers, and all the attendees for this great experience. Without the careful planning, donations, knowledge and energy provided by the entire group, this weekend would not have been as wonderful an experience. -R |