Managed Care Residency Panel

March 25th, 2015 - The UOP pharmacy students had a chance to ask questions and learn more about residency opportunities in managed care. Residency directors, preceptors and residents from HealthNet, Health Plan of San Joaquin (HPSJ) and Blue Shield of California joined the students in sharing their experiences in managed care, their particular residency programs and demystified their job description. 

Left to Right: Viral Panchal, Rodney Gedey, Kristen Do, Jonathan Szkotak, Brenda Ng, Vinay Panchal, Kevin Wu

        “When I started ten years ago, there was only three pharmacists in the [managed care] department and now we have nineteen or twenty,” Dr. Rodney Gedey, Residency Director of HealthNet, shared about his experiences on the growth of managed care. While managed care is not a new concept, a pharmacist’s role seems to become more prevalent as more drugs come into the market. Dr. Jonathan Szkotak, Residency Director of HPSJ, reaffirmed the importance of a strong clinical foundation to provide the most appropriate medication for improving patient health. One important aspect of managed care involves considering health care costs, especially with all the new, expensive drug treatments entering the market. Dr. Vinay Panchal, Preceptor of Blue Shield, explained “there are billions of dollars at risk on the table and we’re managing that.”

        While the seasoned pharmacists expanded on the world of managed care, the residents shared their experiences applying, interviewing, and getting into their residency programs. Residents Kristen Do of HealthNet, Brenda Ng of HPSJ, and Kevin Wu of Blue Shield unanimously agreed upon the importance of researching the residency programs. Managed care provides opportunities to step into a variety of roles, but that also means that not all managed care residencies focus on the same aspects. Our resident speakers also emphasized the importance of researching programs and also talking to current residents before applying. As with all fields of pharmacy, it is always beneficial to have some experience in your chosen area of practice. However, some of the residents confirmed that they did not pursue managed care until their APPE rotations and encouraged students that it is never too late to pursue their areas of interest. Although experience in managed care is not essential for obtaining a residency, each of the residency directors agreed that early exposure and experience were important factors that could set residency candidates apart during the interview and application process.

        Thanks to our generous speakers, our students were able to spend the evening gaining valuable insight on the world of managed care pharmacy and explore the process of gaining a managed care residency.