Dear colleagues,
I hope this writing finds you well and healthy. I can’t believe we have already hit March. As we reach the quarter pole in the year, I felt this was a good time to give you an update on the work that has begun, and continues to happen in the pharmacy community, and specifically within PPA.
First, I’d like to thank everyone who made our recent conference a success. I appreciate our Board for coming in a day early so that we could conduct business before the start of the conference. Hats off to the Professional Development Committee whose members did a tremendous job filling the conference with such diverse and timely CE. And thanks to the Conference Committee, Independent Owners, Health System and Ambulatory Care Advisory boards who helped create meaningful and informative networking sessions. All of your work is deeply appreciated.
Our Foundation Board not only put on another wonderful Sunnyside Up Breakfast, filled with updates on grant research that our own have done in the previous year, but they also hosted a great “fun-raiser” “pie” in the face event. Thank you to all the volunteers who took a pie to the face and to Stephanie Mrozek for cleaning up the pie. Also, shout out to PPA past president, Lauren Simko and the Foundation fundraising committee for their collaboration on the auction. Lauren, who is a past PPA president, has continued her service on the Foundation and the PAC boards – thank you for the continued service.
I would also like to thank Molly Biemel, Kathy Grandizio, and all the PAC trustees for the work putting on the fundraiser to build up the PAC. This is critical as we are in an election year. Those funds will go a long way in making sure we can support the candidates who support the work that we do.
We were also blessed to have APhA’s CEO, Michael Hogue, join us and give a federal update. Thanks to him and our partners at APhA for sharing the same mission. Thank you also goes out to fellow Board member, Frank Konzelman, on initiating the contact with Dr Hogue. Much appreciated.
Beyond the annual conference, we have been hard at work. Just a couple of days after our conference concluded, I headed to Harrisburg, where I and CEO Victoria Elliott represented PPA at PA Provider Advocacy Coalition meeting. At the meeting, hosted and led by The Hospital-Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP), we discussed the vision, mission and goals of the coalition moving forward. The coalition partnership may provide us with some opportunity to seek collaboration among other provides as we seek to advance opportunities for pharmacist practice in the Commonwealth.
Speaking of pharmacist provider roles, have you seen the white paper that was authored by our executive fellow, Ashley Addison, PPCN COO, Rob Maher, and our CEO, Victoria Elliott? If not, check it out HERE. The paper, Optimizing Pharmacist Provider Roles, provides insights from the 2025 PPA Pharmacist Provider Summit.
In other news, the PPA officers have been notified of all the upcoming commencements this Spring. We are currently in discussions to make sure we have a presence at all of them. To the class of 2026, we look forward to celebrating your accomplishments and welcome you as our newest colleagues.
Pennsylvania has received 193 million dollars for in the Rural Health Transformation funds from Congress. It is my understanding that the commonwealth has already earmarked those funds this year. I do not expect PPA to receive any of the funding in year one. However, we do see potential for years 2-5. Thus, we have been planning on how we can use potential funds to improve patient access to the pharmacist. One of the first calls I took as president in early January was with the pharmacy working group discussing rural health transformation opportunities. Joni Carroll continues this work, and I thank her for taking up the challenge.
In case you missed it, PPA has started a series of town hall meetings. Our first one held earlier this month was on Medicare Transaction Facilitator (MTF). The discussion, led by fellow PPA board director, Ron McDermott, brought together an expert panel to discuss the issue. Look for the next webinar in our town hall series this April, focusing on pharmacy technician registration.
We continue to meet regularly with our coalition partners PARD, PACDS, and Value Drug company on addressing PBM issues in the commonwealth. A single PBM bill in the Medicaid Managed Care program will be the focus of our upcoming legislative day. We have
Work continues to evaluate and launch PPA-led statewide mentorship program. Look for a needs survey from our co-chairs, Yenok Admassu and Matthew Rozik. My goal is to get this endeavor up and running during the summer months.
If you’re headed out to the APhA annual conference, please make sure to join us at the Pennsylvania Reception. It will be held on March 28th at 5:30 pm at Audio Graph Beer Co. located at 1203 S Olive St, Los Angeles CA 90015. I hope you will join us.
Congrats goes out to PPA President-elect Brandon Antinopolous, and Vice President Kyle McCormick on being featured in the latest APhA CEO blog on their respective cost-plus pharmacies. If you missed it, you can read it here: https://www.pharmacist.com/Blogs/CEO-Blog/Article/community-pharmacists-are-rewriting-the-rules-of-practice
Speaking of congratulations, we send congratulations to Courtney Smith and her husband Wes, on welcoming a baby boy. We also extend congratulations to PPA’s Vice President, Kyle McCormick and his wife Pam welcoming a baby girl. I take great joy seeing our PPA family grow. Congrats to all.
Finally, we are in a season of devotion to people of different faiths. To the Muslims who have just finished up the holy month of Ramadan, peace be with you. To our Jewish brothers and sisters, may you have an awe-inspiring Passover. And to our Christian family, peace and blessings for a divine Eastertide.
This is just a snippet of the things going on in PPA. If we can ever be of assistance to you in your practice, please do not hesitate to reach out to the office. I will update you in the coming months with information as it becomes available. Until then, I bid you peace.
Darryle Tillman Jr., R.Ph.
President
