| Fellow SGVPA Members, | |
It has been a fantastic year for the San Gabriel Valley Pharmacists Association. The board has accomplished the goals we had set forth at the beginning of the year and we have grown our membership through an increased number of social, networking, fundraising, continuing education, and legislative events.
We have seen unprecedented turnouts at our VIP Day at the Races at the Santa Anita Race Track in Arcadia, as well as our annual Pizza Bowling Event at Action Lanes in El Monte. We also started our first Corporate Sponsorship Program. This allows friends of the Association to support our activities while also being able to promote their products and services to our vast membership.
In the climate of an election year, SGVPA has been an active leader in Southern California. We have worked with other pharmacy organizations to raise funds, promote, and introduce potential candidates to current issues that confront pharmacy and rally legislative support for our profession. Through these efforts, we have raised over $15,000.00 to support pharmacy in Sacramento!!
Additionally, we were able to provide four continuing education and dinner programs for our membership this past year. Topics ranged from Emergency Preparedness to Advanced Treatments of Hepatitis B. In terms of outreach, our board sponsored and actively participated in the Revlon Walk around the LA Coliseum and the Autism Speaks Walk/Run at the Rosebowl in Pasadena.
I am also excited to see increased channels of communication to our membership this past year. We revamped our website and added a Facebook page to allow for updated information to our members. In conjunction with CPhA's efforts, we also launched our first newsletter this past summer and implemented our first Voice Blast to our membership.
Most importantly, we were able to get students involved. We have had active grassroots participation from pharmacy students at all levels involved with the planning and execution of many new programs and events at our Association. They are truly the future of pharmacy. As a result, we have started two new programs to better serve students in our Association , the Student Mentorship Program and the Student Scholarship.
Lastly, we will be having our Inaugural End of the Year Banquet on November, 19th, 2010 at Luminarios in Monterey Park. In the spirit of having fun, our theme this year will be the "Masquerade Ball."
As I reflect back on this past year, I definitely feel proud of what the SGVPhA Board and membership has accomplished. I think I can speak on behalf of the board and membership when I say that we had a chance to really get to know each other and form a bond that goes beyond the profession. I am excited for what awaits our Association in 2011 and wish everyone a safe and warm holiday season!
Sincerely,
Ken Thai, Pharm.D.
SGVPA President |
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Date: Monday, November 15, 2010
Time: 7:30PM - 9:00PM
Place: USC School of Pharmacy, Health Science
Campus, Room PSC 108
1985 Zonal Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90089
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| SGVPA ANNUAL MASQUERADE END OF THE YEAR BALL |
|  Date: Friday, November 19th, 2010
Time: 6:30pm - 9:30pm
Location: Luminarios, 3500 W. Ramona Blvd., Monterey Park, CA 91754
Details: This will be a our first annual end of year banquet. We are excited to celebrate the accomplishments of pharmacists in our association in the past year! This banquet promises to be fun and exciting way to end the year and share time before the Holidays with friends and colleagues from SGVPhA!!! |
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Outlook is the premier California pharmacy convention where pharmacists meet each year to network, do business, obtain quality continuing education adn participate in one of the largest state pharmacy exhibit halls in the nation. It is hosted by the California Pharmacists Association and the Pharmacy Foundation of California. Early Bird Registration deadline is January 12, 2011and we encourage you to register by this date to be entered into a drawing to win a Dell laptop computer if you have any questions please contact Erin Moeller at (916) 779-4531 or Moe@cpha.com.
Outlook 2011 On-Line Registration is Now Open!! |
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Synergy 2010 was held this past weekend at the Hyatt Hotel in Irvine. Leadership from all around the state was brainstorming and sharing ideas about how they can be better leaders and make CPhA a better organization. CPhA's new CEO Jon Roth was present to hear first-hand feedback from our membership and leaders and shared with us his vision for CPhA. Our Vice President Abir Makaren and President Ken Thai were both present to share experiences and learn from other associations. |
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ELECTIONS 2010
Last Tuesday's election made sweeping changes across the country in local, state, and national offices. In Washington, DC, Congressional power shifted significantly to the Republicans. Around the nation, many Democrats elected alongside President Obama in 2008 were turned out of office, primarily in Republican districts where the voters decided to move back in line with their traditional ideology. However, in California, Democrats fared well. Former Governor Jerry Borwn will, once again, be Governor beginning in 2011. And while it was a close race between Barbara Boxer and Carly Fiorina, Senator Boxer will continue to represent California in Washington, DC.
Other than those two races, there was little change in representation in California's Legislature. So, what does this mean for the future of pharmacy in California? For the first time in a while, we have both a Democratic Governor and Legislature. It is a very significant time due to the implementation of health care reform, but at this point it is anyone's guess as to the substance that this Democratic power base will bring. Democrats tend to be in support of health care initiatives, but Governor Brown is a very unusual politician as he has proven over many decades. We will keep you posted as we gain more insight.
E-Prescribing Safety - PEER Portal As you know, E-prescribing is on the rise as more providers are tapping into this new technology to improve the safety, quality and efficiency of the prescribing process and take advantage of government incentives. We all hear from pharmacists about noticeable errors and challenges they face with e-prescriptions. In fact, recent studies have shown that new e-prescriptions are twice as likely to require a pharmacist's intervention as new written prescriptions. In response to this growing concern, the Alliance for Patient Medication Safety (APMS) is re-introducing the Pharmacy and Provider e-Prescribing Experience Reporting (PEER) Portal (originally developed in collaboration with SureScripts). The revised PEER Portal uses an enhanced, streamlined web-based questionnaire that enables pharmacies to easily enter information about e-prescribing challenges and experiences and provide their critical feedback and expertise to improving the e-prescribing process. Thanks to a grant from the
Community Pharmacy Foundation, data collected from this 3-minute feedback from pharmacy professionals across the country will be aggregated and analyzed to provide impetus for lasting improvements in training, certification standards and technology. Click here for the E-Prescribing PEER Portal. | |
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| MEMBERSHIP EFFORTS IN ACTION |
Voice Message Phone Blast!
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In an effort to expand our membership outreach efforts, we are expanding our communication methods. Hopefully everyone has received voice messages from our Association welcoming our new and renewing members, as well as reaching out to non-renewing members. Secretary, Brian Thai, sent a follow up voice message promoting our upcoming Pizza Bowling event and received many call backs to RSVP for the event! This. along with our blast fax methods will certainly widen the range of communication between our members and encourage our non-members to take a new look at our ever-growing Association.
We're doing our part to expand our outreach efforts. Now, I wish to encourage each member to do their part to recruit one new member and join the CPhA #1 Club. In case you did not know, for each new member that is recruited, the recruiting pharmacist or pharmacy technician will receive a $50 discount off their Outlook registration or member dues at the time of renewal. To qualify for #1 Club membership, you need to recruit 10 or more new members in a calendar year. All #1 Club members are recognized at the CPhA Outlook Annual Meeting in February each year. |
Governor Schwarzenegger Announces $10 Billion Agreement to Expand Coverage to Uninsured
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced federal approval of California's "Bridge to Reform" Medicaid waiver, which will help California prepare for and implement new federal rules that will take effect in 2014 under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The waiver will strengthen the state's hospital safety net and delivery system and result in $10 billion in federal resources to expand health coverage for low-income uninsured residents and improve care for vulnerable populations. Read more in the Imperial Valley News.
New Editor in Chief of Specialty Pharmacy Times
Dan Steiber is the new Editor in Chief of Specialty Pharmacy Times (SPT). His role will be strategic in directing the efforts of this peer written, novel and unique professional journal. There is a deep void in specialty pharmacy literature and SPT fills the void. You can check out the digital version of their first printing. |
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Upcoming Events |
SGVPA Board Meeting
Date: Monday, November 19th, 2010
Time: 7:30pm
Location; USC School of Pharmacy, PSC 108
1985 Zonal Ave.
Los Angels, CA 90089
SGVPA Annual Masquerade End of the Year Ball
Date: Friday, November 19th, 2010
Time: 7:00pm - 9:30pm
Location: Luminarios, 3500 W. Ramona Blvd., Monterey Park, CA 91754
Date: Monday, January 24th, 2011
Time: 7:30pm
Location; TBA
PPSSFV & San Fernando Valley Society of Health System Pharmacists
Date: Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Night with Industry
CE Program: Irritable Bowel Syndrome-Current Therapies Speaker: Marvin Derezin, Professor of Medicine UCLA Med Center
Time: Vendor Display Setup at 6 PM
Dinner and Educational Program at 7:15 PM
Location: Warner Hilton Woodland Hills 6360 Canoga Avenue
Woodland Hills, CA 91367
Cost: Free to Members, Non-members $25.00
Contact: RSVP Mandatory by November 11, 2010 to: Ira Freeman at 818-509-3630 or uclarms@aol.com *HealthCare Professionals Only* please |
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Board of Directors |
Brian Thai - Recording Secretary
Thomas Pierce - Chief Financial Advisor
Horace Williams - Past President
Greoffrey Lim
Alanna Sun
Artin Adamian
Victor Law
Avetis Tashyan
Honorary Board Members
Jean Pallares
Trinidad Bagoyo
Student Representatives
Linda Tran -WesternU
Kathy Truong-WesternU
Chrissie Chew -USC
Amy Lee-USC
Mario Listiawan -UCSF
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Governmental Affairs |
Political Action Committee
CPh-PAC Needs Your Support!
Combined with the strength of other CPhA members your donation will elevate CPhA's ability to influence key legislative issues throughout the year.
Mail your check to:
California Pharmacists Association
Attention: PAC Manager
4030 Lennane Drive
Sacramento, CA 95834
For credit card contributions, please call Veronica at (916) 779-4511.
Keep the Fight Funded!
While the cuts to pharmacy were successfully stopped by a preliminary injunction in both the 10% and 5% cuts cases, the fight is not over.
The 2009-2010 State budget includes additional cuts planned that went into effect on October 1, 2009.
All community pharmacies must help to fight these drastic and unrealistic Medi-Cal cuts. The time to act is now!
The Pharmacy Defense Fund of California was established to support legal efforts to protect pharmacy. By contributing to the Pharmacy Defense Fund of California, you can help support legal efforts to secure viable solutions for both patients and providers.
For questions, call Veronica Van Orman at 916.779.4511 or email at vvo@cpha.com. |
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