Time’s running out: Nominate someone (yourself?) for the GPhA Board

The GPhA Board of Directors sets the goals of the association — what services to offer, what policies to support, how best to spend the association’s resources, and more.

You can be a part of that. You can be one of the 11 members of the board. (Yes, there are requirements and responsibilities; you can read them at GPhA.org/2019board.)

For the 2019-2020 board, GPhA is looking to fill three seats, each with three-year terms:

• One person representing the Academy of Independent Pharmacists
• Two people to be at-large members elected by the GPhA membership

Nominate yourself or someone else to run for a seat on the board. We encourage applications from all pharmacy practice settings. (If you have questions, feel free to contact Governance Manager Merrily Bennett at mbennett@gpha.org.)

Click here to go directly to the nomination form.

The deadline for applications is 11:59 p.m. EST on March 11, 2019. The election itself will begin May 23, 2019 with results announced on June 14 at the Georgia Pharmacy Convention.

Don’t just stand there, offer to lead. Be a bigger part of Georgia pharmacy — serve on the board!

Jasper Drug Store wins innovation award

Jasper Drug Store in (obviously) Jasper — and owner Jack Dunn — earned the National Community Pharmacists Association’s Innovation Center Excellence (NICE) award for Best Customer Convenience Improvement.

What improvement, you ask? For its “extraordinary work in adding a section at the pharmacy dedicated to babies and mothers who are expecting,” according Kurt Proctor, president of the NCPA Innovation Center.

Ban on surprise billing passes Georgia Senate

Per the Rome News-Tribune: “A formula in the bill would determine what the insurer must pay the provider, with the patient’s share limited to the in-network cost.”

By any other name would smell as sweet

While you might expect the company created by Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase to be called something like “Augustus Iaponius Centarius,” instead they’ve decided to name it “Haven.”

The opioid-crackdown backlash

Not unexpectedly, as opioid prescribing comes under tighter scrutiny, patients who have relied on them for chronic pain say they’re getting the short end of a sharp stick.

But it’s more complicated, because there’s little evidence of whether opioids are even effective for chronic pain, and there might be better alternatives.

Don’t miss out on your APhA immunization certificate

Sure, you learned how to give immunizations, but having an APhA certificate helps you differentiate yourself — and makes sure your patients are getting the best treatment.

That’s why GPhA is offering “APhA’s Pharmacy-Based Immunization Delivery: A Certificate Program for Pharmacists” on March 31 in Macon (on the campus of Mercer University).

This is always one of our hottest courses, so get to GPhA.org/2019immunization fast before the class fills!

Asbestos in cosmetics

Foods and drugs have to be tested for safety, but not so cosmetics. That’s left to industry self-regulation… and an FDA warning to avoid three cosmetics products sold by Claire’s because they contain asbestos. (Claire’s says the fibers aren’t asbestos but is removing the products anyway; the FDA says we need stricter rules for cosmetics.)

The Canadian connection

About 500 U.S. cities, counties, school districts, and private employers get their medications from Canada via CanaRx, saving a huge chunk of change. And, while the FDA warned against using the company (claiming it sent “unapproved” and “misbranded” drugs), the agency couldn’t actually cite any instances of harm. So the status quo remains.

And don’t skimp on the personal jetpacks, either

Hoping to live forever — or at least see those flying cars they were promised in the ’50s — older people are turning to off-label uses of drugs like metformin.

At a recent scientific forum on aging, one of the researchers […] asked the 300 or so people in attendance to raise their hands if they were already taking metformin for aging. “Half the audience raised their hands.”

Really, what more can you say?

Giant, inflatable “Captain Colons” continue nationwide tour after original giant, inflatable colon was stolen last October.