From the Desk of the CEO

We hear you! Your pharmacy workplace is stressed and stretched. You have rapidly growing concerns for patient safety. Still, you are there—every day—to care for your patients despite conditions that seem to be working against you.

As we reach the midpoint of American Pharmacists Month, we must continuously honor the pharmacists who do heroic work every day in the face of incredible pressures. Pharmacy workforce shortages exist in almost every area of the country. Corporations can seem insufficiently responsive to the stresses of pharmacy practice. Patients may aggressively challenge the professional judgment of pharmacists and other pharmacy personnel. A toxic mixture of vaccine misinformation and disinformation fuels distrust. Keeping up-to-date with the rapidly evolving vaccine guidance from government authorities can be difficult. We recognize these problems and are thankful for your invaluable work.

Earlier this month, HHS was working on an aggressive deadline. President Joe Biden had given them 45 days to develop a comprehensive plan to lower drug prices, and the clock was ticking. HHS asked stakeholders across the spectrum to provide input during a special roundtable discussion. Guess who they called from pharmacy?

I’m now home after an amazing two weeks on the road for the Great Midwest Pharmacy Unity Tour. This was my first extended trip outside DC as CEO, where I met many of pharmacy’s patriots and did some meaningful business, all to move pharmacy forward.

It was the summer of 2020, and COVID-19 had pulled back the curtain on historic inadequacies in the American health care system—too little personal protective equipment, an unreliable drug supply chain, rampant health inequities, and a lack of coordination between the government, public health officials, and health care providers and facilities.