{"id":1188,"date":"2013-01-01T00:00:15","date_gmt":"2013-01-01T05:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rhochistj.org\/RhoChiPost\/?p=1188"},"modified":"2014-02-24T16:25:17","modified_gmt":"2014-02-24T21:25:17","slug":"white-house-petition-seeks-recognize-pharmacists-health-care-providers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rhochistj.org\/RhoChiPost\/white-house-petition-seeks-recognize-pharmacists-health-care-providers\/","title":{"rendered":"White House Petition Seeks to Recognize Pharmacists as Health Care Providers"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Mohamed Dungersi, Associate Student Editor<\/span><\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

A recent We the People petition on the White House official website has reached the 25,000 signature threshold needed to trigger an official response.\u00a0 The petition tilted \u201cRecognize pharmacists as health care providers\u201d, was initiated by the current editor in chief of the Rho Chi Post<\/i>, Steve Soman.1<\/sup>\u00a0 Currently the petition has well over 30,000 signatures.<\/p>\n

Started on December 27th<\/sup>, 2012, the petition quickly gathered support and within twelve days, the 25,000 signatures were secured.\u00a0 The petition was inspired by a similar petition on the change.org website started by Sandra Leal, PharmD, CDE, who Steve interviewed last year for the Rho Chi Post. \u00a0(The interview can be accessed via the following link: http:\/\/rhochistj.org\/newsletter\/RhoChiPost_-_Vol_1,_Issue_5.pdf<\/a>)<\/p>\n

He said in regards to the petition, \u201cI put it on my Facebook account as well as sent it to a few classmates at St. John\u2019s. \u00a0It was a chain reaction. \u00a0Every individual that I shared it with, they sent it to their friends, their coworkers, their bosses.\u201d2<\/sup><\/p>\n

The petition aims to raise awareness for the fact that pharmacists are not listed as healthcare providers under the Social Security Act.\u00a0 This plays a vital role in the compensation structure allowed under Medicare.\u00a0 The petition states, \u201cBy changing the compensation structure allowed under Medicare, we can ensure that patients have access to the medication expertise of pharmacists.\u201d \u00a0It further states, \u201cStudies have shown that when a pharmacist is directly involved in patient care, patients have fewer adverse drug reactions, experience improved outcomes, and health care costs are reduced.\u201d1<\/sup><\/p>\n

The petition has led to wide-spread support from pharmacists around the country and pharmacy organizations such as ASHP, APhA, and ACCP were quick to throw their support behind the grassroots movement.<\/p>\n

ASHP CEO Paul Abramowitz, PharmD, FASHP, applauded the initiative behind the petition effort and encouraged ASHP members to sign the petition, and also to watch for calls to action by the Society and a pharmacy-wide coalition in the coming months.\u00a0 \u201cOur advocacy efforts will focus on multiple fronts, including influencing elected members of the U. S. Congress to pass legislation that will amend the Social Security Act to recognize pharmacists as providers,\u201d he said. \u00a0\u201cWe encourage every ASHP member to reach out to their member of Congress to set the groundwork for this effort.\u201d\u00a0 He further stated in a column on ASHP\u2019s intersections, \u201cThe data are conclusive: Pharmacists improve medication-use outcomes for patients when they are included on the patient-care team.\u201d3,4<\/sup><\/p>\n

\u201cThis quick response by the profession represents an interest in pursuing recognition for the value of pharmacists\u2019 clinical services. The petition vehicle is one activity that pharmacists and student pharmacists can contribute to the initiative,\u201d said Jenelle L. Sobotka, PharmD, FAPhA, APhA President.\u00a0 \u201cWe fully recognize the importance of getting pharmacists ‘on the list’ and recognized as providers of patient care services. \u00a0I believe the response to this petition shows a united profession. \u00a0APhA is pursuing provider status as its top priority,\u201d said Steven T. Simenson, BSPharm, FAPhA, FACA, FACVP, APhA President-elect and Chair of APhA\u2019s Provider Status Task Force.2<\/sup><\/p>\n

Speaking to the APhA official website, Steve discussed the impact he expects the petition to have, \u201cThe petition will be a public awareness\u2013raising tool\u2026 It is not going to have a legislative impact. \u00a0However, it will highlight the issue that pharmacists are underutilized in the health care system, as well as gain official recognition of this from the [Obama] administration.\u201d2<\/sup><\/p>\n

On behalf of the Editorial team of the Rho Chi Post<\/i>, we would like to congratulate Steve for his positive contribution to the pharmacy community.<\/p>\n

SOURCES:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. https:\/\/petitions.whitehouse.gov\/petition\/recognize-pharmacists-health-care-providers\/3lkFWfvw?utm_source=wh.gov&utm_medium=shorturl&utm_campaign=shorturl<\/a>. \u00a0Accessed January 13, 2013.<\/li>\n
  2. http:\/\/www.pharmacist.com\/provider-status-white-house-petition-hits-25000-signatures-and-growing?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook.<\/a> \u00a0Accessed January 13, 2013.<\/li>\n
  3. http:\/\/www.pharmacytimes.com\/news\/The-Push-for-Provider-Status.<\/a> \u00a0Accessed January 13, 2013.<\/li>\n
  4. http:\/\/connect.ashp.org\/ashp\/blogs\/viewblogs?BlogKey=e83fd270-14c1-412a-9748-a4b242e4d5bc.<\/a> \u00a0Accessed January 13, 2013.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By: Mohamed Dungersi, Associate Student Editor – A recent We the People petition on the White House official website has reached the 25,000 signature threshold needed to trigger an official response.\u00a0 The petition tilted \u201cRecognize pharmacists as health care providers\u201d, was initiated by the current editor in chief of the Rho Chi Post, Steve Soman.1\u00a0…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[190,343,41,2231,102,13,2227,29,28,314,20,43,93,14,363,968,19,12,11,42,33,453,1061],"class_list":["post-1188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-news-politics","tag-account","tag-and","tag-apha","tag-ashp","tag-december","tag-drug","tag-ebola-virus-disease","tag-editor","tag-editorial","tag-for","tag-health","tag-interview","tag-january","tag-medication","tag-of","tag-one","tag-patient","tag-pharmacist","tag-pharmacy","tag-public","tag-student","tag-system","tag-with"],"views":522,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhochistj.org\/RhoChiPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhochistj.org\/RhoChiPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhochistj.org\/RhoChiPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhochistj.org\/RhoChiPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhochistj.org\/RhoChiPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rhochistj.org\/RhoChiPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1188\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhochistj.org\/RhoChiPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhochistj.org\/RhoChiPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhochistj.org\/RhoChiPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}