Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience By: Nicholas Bennett-Brush, 2024 PharmD Candidate, UMKC
hat does a pharmacy student do on a rotation in Association Management?” “What even is
Association Management?” “Will I need to wear a suit every day? I do
not want to wear a suit every day.” T ese were thoughts that I had in
“I leſt [MPA] wondering, “What can’t pharmacists do in Association Management?”
February leading into my rotation at MPA. Having just completed six clinical rotations and one business rotation, I was a little worried that I would be in over my head with the political side of pharmacy. I mean I had attended Legislative Day and was part of the policy committee in APhA-ASP on the Columbia Campus at UMKC but I still had no idea what pharmacists would do in an association management setting. It turns out, we can do far more than expected. T e fi rst couple of days at MPA were
slightly overwhelming. T ere are roughly 50 acronyms to learn, countless meetings to attend, grant programs to understand, and proposed legislation to read. However, Dr. Eisenbeis and the rest of the MPA staff take that in stride and are more than happy to explain everything in depth. T e resources provided also helped to catch me up on what was happening and the roles everyone played in the association. Dr. Eisenbeis and staff develop programs that use grants to expand access to
healthcare and close healthcare gaps (this session focused on vaccine gap closure) by working closely with pharmacies from around the state. MPA also communicates with national organizations to share feedback and develop strategies for new initiatives. T is legislative session focused on bills (written in conjunction with MPA’s Policy team) aiming to increase the transparency of Pharmacy Benefi t Manager pricing and practices. Most importantly, I think, MPA coordinates with both pharmacy schools in Missouri to build out student programming for Legislative Day and to get students engaged with the political process that dictates what we as providers can and cannot do to provide the best care for our patients. Every new day at MPA was vastly
diff erent from the previous. From giving presentations on the importance of Legislative Day to both of Missouri’s Schools of Pharmacy, attending strategy meetings for new program initiatives with multi- state organizations, assisting with data collection and research projects by faculty, proposing new areas for advocacy eff orts to bolster pharmacy practice here in Missouri, or walking over to the Capitol to have a meeting with legislators about the bills in committee, a rotation at MPA was anything but dull. I leſt wondering, “What can’t pharmacists do in Association Management?”
8 Missouri PHARMACIST | Volume 98, Issue II | Summer 2024
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