Editorial: Best Ever IACP Compounders on Capitol Hill!

With over 400 registrants, this year's meeting in Washington, DC was the best ever in terms of attendance, programming, and intensity. The J.W. Marriott is an excellent venue for meetings of this type as the accommodations are first class and the food excellent. The meeting facilities are well-designed, and the technical (sound, video, projection, etc.) was very professionally done.

The programming was packed full with presentations on compounding advocacy and facts and figures on why compounding is such an important part of contemporary health care. The themes throughout the educational sessions seemed to rally around the following:

1. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was never intended to be involved in pharmacy compounding; it was created to monitor pharmaceutical manufacturing.
2. The media tends to exaggerate and present only the side of the story in which they are interested and want to promote.
3. Some organizations that appear to be touting patient complaints and concerns are actually front organizations for some pharmaceutical companies.
4. The state boards of pharmacy are working towards more detailed regulations governing pharmacy compounding.
5. The Pharmacy Compounding Accreditation Board is quite active with a membership of approximately 150 pharmacies; all were encouraged to seek accreditation.
6. Third-party payors continue to discriminate in what they will and will not pay for, with no firm documentation or justifiable/rational reasons for their decisions; quite possibly setting themselves up for an expensive class action lawsuit.
7. Quality issues are being addressed with documentation and new technology being incorporated into day-to-day compounding activities.
8. Veterinary compounding continues to be a subject of intense interest where there are still differing opinions; much work needs to be done for clarification and possibly considering some legislative changes.
9. The Midland Decision was an important event in reaffirming and protecting the availability of pharmacists to compound under jurisdiction of the state boards of pharmacy and not the FDA.
10. Pharmacy compounding is for the people, by the people, and of the people; we must be on guard for additional encroachment of federal control in the physician-patient-pharmacist relationship.
11. Pharmacy compounding has resulted in only about two deaths per year, as compared to the Institute of Medicine report of 98,000 deaths per year occurring in hospitals and a reported 75,000 deaths per year attributed to FDA-approved drugs. Even if compounding only involves 2% of total prescriptions, then the normalized comparison if 100% of drugs were compounded would only be 100 deaths per year related to compounding, which still pales in numbers to the others. Obviously, even one adverse event or death is too many, but things must be kept in perspective.
12. The USP Chapter <797> changes will be available soon.

The meetings with the senators and representatives went very well. They seem to generally support the small businesses in which pharmacists are involved and wish to protect them. One other topic that seems to come up is the difference between the "politicians" and the "bureaucrats" as discussed previously in this column. The Medicare Part D and other changes are implemented by the "bureaucrats" and seem to be upsetting the elected politicians as pharmacies are being hurt and some even going out of business. It may be time for the politicians to once again step in and set more stringent laws in place to protect the small businesses from these arbitrary decisions (cutting back on reimbursement to pharmacists). It seems we generally have a more sympathetic ear with elected politicians than with career bureaucrats.

In summary, this meeting was outstanding. Even the exhibitors were well represented. About 40 exhibitors applied, but there was room for only 30. With the educational programming, facilities, and political activities available, you might want to start planning for next year, which will be held May 31 through June 3, a cooler time of the year.


Loyd V. Allen, Jr., PhD, RPh
Editor-in-Chief

In the upcoming July/August issue of IJPC, look for articles on the following subjects:

• The History of Progesterone
• Common Acronyms Used by Health Professionals Who Prescribe or Prepare Hormone Replacement Therapy
• Logbooks and Documentation Forms

This week 50 additional citations and abstracts on the topics of hormone replacement therapy have been added to CompoundingToday.com's literature search database. See the complete list at www.compoundingtoday.com/Articles/SearchResult.cfm?Batch=126

Bag Stuffers
They don't cost much.
They are sometimes annoying.
They are sometimes very useful and informative.
It's difficult to determine their impact.
They can be greatly used to your advantage.

Yes, we are talking about "Bag Stuffers," which are usually simple pamphlets that can be used to your advantage. Place information on the pamphlet (historical facts about your city, money-saving tips, etc.) and use colorful combinations of text, art, photos, etc. You can include emergency numbers, your pharmacy's contact information, and even a message related to the season, other promotional materials, and even something about "compounding," but be brief. As for the size of the pamphlet, 8.5 � 11 is not a recommended size to use as a bag stuffer. Make them smaller (size not limited) and "to the point"! Try them and see what happens.