The way Dan Bosley was talking, he might have been trying to recruit ACPHS students to run pharmacies in rural communities.
As an operator of a pharmacy in the northern Adirondacks, Bosley was in fact energetically sharing his experience doing just that. But he also had another agenda – to persuade students to get involved in advocating for the pharmacy profession.
“If we don’t fight for pharmacy, nobody’s going to fight for pharmacy,” said Bosley, who spoke to students by invitation of the Student Pharmacy Society of the State of New York on March 30 in the Gozzo Student Center.
Bosley, who runs Keeseville Pharmacy, urged students to lobby their legislators on Pharmacy Lobby Day, April 24, to limit the use of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), the middle people who take a cut of pharmacy payments from insurance companies, and ensure payments actually make their way to pharmacists. He stressed the importance of informing legislators that such a change in payment structure would benefit small independent operators like him – not only large corporate retail chains.
Working and living in a rural community, Bosley described the close relationships he has with customers, and the obligation he feels to improve the lives of his neighbors of limited means. Adjacent to his pharmacy is another shop, dubbed the Farmacy, a collaborative project with a local non-profit organization, which seeks to improve access to fresh produce. He also spoke about traveling to meet people in his geographically dispersed region who needed vaccinations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“That’s what we’re supposed to do – help people,” Bosley said, adding that if current payment structures continued, pharmacists like him would not have the wherewithal to maintain a charity as he does. “If we take what the PBMs are going to give us, it’s not going to be lucrative and it’s not going to be fun.”
A change to New York’s Medicaid program, effective April 1, will provide direct payments to pharmacists, without going through PBMs. Bosley said that it’s important for pharmacists to urge similar action through other health insurance plans, and push for expanded scope of practice for pharmacists to include limited prescribing, among other things.
Some students who attended Bosley’s presentation said they were intrigued by his life as a rural pharmacist and also swayed by his push for lobbying.
“He really motivated me to start coming out to events to advocate for pharmacy as a whole,” said Sharron Fernandez, a P2 student in the Pharm.D. program.
Students intending to participate in Lobby Day must complete a brief form by April 7 and attend a legislative day rally on Monday, April 17 to learn about the priorities to be discussed in meetings with legislators. Lobby Day is April 24.