LOCAL PHARMACISTS PARTICIPATE IN PLANNING FORUM OF NATIONAL PHARMACY ASSOCIATION

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Care Pharmacies Cooperative, Inc.
1-866-227-3797
www.carepharmacies.com

LOCAL PHARMACISTS PARTICIPATE IN PLANNING FORUM OF NATIONAL PHARMACY ASSOCIATION

ALEXANDRIA, VA (March 17-18, 2016) – Local CARE pharmacy owners George Garmer, Mike Kim, and Jake Olsen, and Mark Ey, Vice President of CARE Pharmacies Cooperative, participated in the National Community Pharmacists Association’s (NCPA) Steering Committee Forum. The annual two-day event in Alexandria, Va., is dedicated to wide-ranging, in-depth discussions of the role independent community pharmacies play in health care and how to best position them for the future. They were among 100 pharmacy professionals and students who worked with NCPA staff to develop new initiatives that support independent community pharmacies and their patients for the coming year.

In communities across the nation, independent community pharmacies are a vital resource for patients. The evolving pharmacy marketplace, characterized by more and more Americans seeking prescription drug services; the government’s growing role as both a regulator and major purchaser of health care services; competition from mail order pharmacy companies; and technological advances all ensure that the future viability of independent community pharmacies is predicated on their ability to adapt.

“CARE Pharmacies is a successful and admired independent pharmacy cooperative dedicated to helping its members thrive in the competitive pharmacy marketplace, while also helping patients improve health outcomes and lower costs,” said NCPA President Bradley J. Arthur, RPh, co-owner of BlackRock Pharmacy and Brighton-Eggert Pharmacy in Buffalo, N.Y. “That commitment was recently demonstrated by George Garmer, Mike Kim, Jake Olsen, and Mark Ey finding time to attend and engage in the thought provoking, difference making discussions about the future at annual NCPA’s Steering Committee Forum.”

There are seven committees dedicated to addressing specific aspects of the challenges independent community pharmacies face on a daily basis, and how those issues impact the patients they serve. The committees are technology; compounding; long-term care; management; emerging models; state legislation and regulatory affairs; and national legislation and government affairs. They meet jointly with NCPA’s Special Task Force on Membership.

On March 17-18, each committee met and was presented with the results of a recently completed NCPA Member Priority Survey. Then the committees identified areas where they would work with staff over the coming year and created a timeline of goals and expectations based on the committee area of interest.

The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA®) represents the interests of America’s community pharmacists, including the owners of more than 22,000 independent community pharmacies. Together they represent an $81.4 billion health care marketplace and employ more than 314,000 individuals on a full or part-time basis. To learn more, go to www.ncpanet.org, visit facebook.com/commpharmacy, or follow NCPA on Twitter @Commpharmacy.