Maine Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists

Message from the President

May 15, 2008

Thank you to all who helped make the April continuing education meeting in Waterville a success.  Approximately 40 members attended an excellent presentation given by Joe McVety and Don Galipeau from the Department of Health and Human Services.  Their discussion provided valuable information about the roles of the Division of Licensing and Regulatory Services, Department of Health and Human Services and how the Federal regulations are used.  They also discussed ASHP Standards of Practice and how the Board of Pharmacy Regulations interact with the DHS regulations.

Martha Kurzius will be completing her second term as the Technician Board member.  Thank you to Martha for your time and commitment to representing the technicians of Maine.  I would like to ask all members to consider recommending a technician to be a nominee for this position.  Technicians – if you would like to consider this great opportunity and would like more information, please contact Martha at mkurzius@emh.org .

Other Board seats that will be open for the upcoming election include:  President Elect; Secretary, Region 1, Region 4, and Region 5.

The MSHP 2008 Clinical Symposium on June 13 and 14 will feature Chris Borr and David Zilz presenting McKesson’s High Performance Pharmacy Seminar.  The High Performance Pharmacy (HPP) Seminar reviews proven best practices for achieving high performance across 8 dimensions of hospital pharmacy practice.  The practices and processes of the High Performance Pharmacy can serve as a roadmap for hospital executives and pharmacy leaders to identify areas of opportunity to improve clinical outcomes and financial results.  In order to take advantage of this great seminar you can create customized seminar materials for the workshop by completing the High Performance Pharmacy Assessment Tool before May 28.  See the meeting brochure for instructions.

Steve Townsend and Paul Barrett will be representing the Maine Society of Health Systems Pharmacists at the Annual ASHP House of Delegates meeting in June.  Phil Rioux and Jim Cattin are alternates.  You can weigh in on the issues by visiting ASHP’s House of Delegates/Virtual Talk link at www.ashp.org or by contacting any of the MSHP delegates.

At the March MSHP board meeting board members voted to increase Pharmacist membership fees to $50 for 1 year and $120 for 3 years.  The Technician, Student, Resident and Pharmacist Couple fees will remain unchanged.

Respectfully,

James A. Cattin, MS, RPh

President, MSHP