SPA President’s Message - June 2009
Submitted by Brenda Bray, MPH., SPA President
Continue SPA Drug Alert Program or Not?
The Board of Managers of the Spokane Pharmacy Association (SPA) is currently evaluating the value and feasibility of continuing the “SPA Drug Alert” program which has been in existence for many years, first as a telephone-tree and then for the past 15 years as a fax notification to all pharmacies in the region. It is common for requests to come from medical and dental offices in our region requesting that a notification go out regarding a particular patient or incident, such as stolen prescription blanks. As the board moves forward, we would like to hear the views of our membership regarding this service/system.
Several issues are driving the current review of the system and include the following.
1. Electronic/fax prescribing, chain-wide profile review, electronic billing records, instant messaging, and caller-id technologies have made it easier to track prescription abuse in the community.
2. There is a constant and over-riding concern over balancing the requirements to protect patient privacy with the need to share information among multiple health care providers over fax lines or email accounts.
3. The logistics and cost of administering the system pose challenges as an individual must review submissions to evaluate appropriateness and then initiate the process. Without a paid staff, the SPA must identify someone willing to act in this capacity.
4. There is concern that although SPA has acted as a clearinghouse for the Drug Alert line for many years, it may not be consistent with our stated goals and mission particularly if it involves our involvement in any patient privacy issues. Please feel free to check out our mission statement on the SPA About Us tab.
The SPA Board of Managers will be addressing this issue during the summer to decide if the SPA Drug Alert program should be discontinued or continued possibly in a simplified version. To this end, we are asking the pharmacists of Spokane to complete a survey. The survey will be faxed to each pharmacy location within the next week and will include instructions for how to return the survey. We ask that you take time to provide your feedback. In addition to the survey, please feel free to contact me via e-mail (bbray@wsu.edu) or phone (509-358-7735). We value your perspective and want to hear your views on this issue.
Thank you to Sue Marchi Kellogg, SPA Board member, for pulling this information together. Have a happy, safe and relaxing summer!
Brenda S. Bray