Pharmacy Benefits, Rx Law & Career Development Update - Week Incoming Mothers' Day - 2023

Caution: I do have affiliate links in this newsletter

Happy Mothers' Day Weekend, everyone! (And that also goes for fur moms.)

THIS WEEK: We're talking about....drug shortages, drug additions, and a very special new secret career development livestream session just for...you.

Let's do this!

Pharmacy Benefits

• Drug Shortages - are at a 5-year high. Basic older generic injectable drugs and IV drugs are running low for pediatric cancer indications, and even sodium chloride solution is back on shortage. Check out the FDA drug shortages page to see more. And more.
• Our own fearless leader at Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs, Dr. Alex Oshmyansky, testified on Capitol Hill this past week about our severe drug shortages problem.
• How might we fix this problem of National Security? For starters, bring active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and pharmaceutical manufacturing back to the US. We're working hard on our own 503B facility in Dallas.
• Medical Drugs - meanwhile, J Code or medical drugs that are infused just keep going up in price while the rest of us are just trying to find the drug in the first place. See this post that explains overcharges on some medical J code drugs - and caution: if you thought pharmacy benefit drugs were out of control and marked up between spread and rebates, it's 20 times worse over in the medical drug benefits.
• Drugs...Plentiful? While we continue to hunt for drugs on shortage, BTW, this week we added nearly 200 drugs to the Team Cuban Card! That's right--we have hundreds of drugs available over at www.TeamCubanCard.com if you need to pay cash for your prescription and are running out of affordable options. Regardless, you may want to enroll and grab your card ahead of when you actually need it. It's another option to bring our prices to you, closer to home, at your local independent pharmacy. Bookmark our site and keep checking if your drug is still missing - we'll be adding several more in the months to come!
• We now have two ways at Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company - to help you and your family obtain safe, affordable medications - 1. Costplusdrugs.com and 2. TeamCubanCard.com. Read about the differences and similarities here.

• If you're an independent pharmacist - and would like to learn more about joining the Cuban Pharmacy Affiliate Network and being a part of Team Cuban Card - just complete this form and we'll be in touch!

Pharmacy Law

• ASPL 2023 is coming up - why not sponsor? The American Society for Pharmacy Law's mission is to educate and be a resource at the intersection of pharmacy and law. Our call for sponsors of the 2023 annual meeting is open. If you're interested in supporting the society, please check out our 2023 annual meeting landing page.

• And...the ASPL Podcast will be coming back soon! Another season of fun, the ASPL podcast, Post Scrip in June will feature 2 of our past DASPL class I candidates discussing the program. Be sure to subscribe now and never miss an episode - particularly if you're interested in applying to DASPL Class II. Applications will open in June, 2023 for the second class.
• PBM legislation - is it really headed this way in Congress? Stay tuned.
• Is an OTC Oral Contraceptive - coming to market this summer? Stay tuned!

Career Development

• Join me for a top-secret career development live discussion - for a super top-secret career conversation for early to mid-career professionals....over at Whatnot coming at the end of May! (NOW suddenly her obsession with whatnot makes sense - lol!)
• You may need to register as a buyer or have an account set up at Whatnot to join the stream, most likely (you can register using my code and get a small budget to try it out, from my understanding), and at this live event, yours truly will be going on camera to share some of my favorite tips, tests, and testimony to build a career that you'll love (hint - this will be heavily focused on healthcare and pharmacy careers, in particular.) I will be selling books and other resources I use to coach professionals on their careers. But most importantly, I'll be interacting live, real-time, with YOU and taking YOUR questions!

• If you'd like to join me live at the end of May for this discussion - Just send me a private message and I can send you the private link to the discussion. (The show is also not indexed in whatnot's coming up shows either - it's a private event exclusively for newsletter readers and general aficionados of pharmacy & healthcare career development.)
• You don't need to download the whatnot app - to watch this upcoming live stream - you can use the online portal. And, I have no idea when or if I may try this again in the near future (at least blending my two worlds together), so hop on board now if you like and get your questions answered REAL TIME, FOR FREE!

Until next time - take care!

____

Erin L. Albert is an author, pharmacist, attorney, and VP of Pharmacy Relations at Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, PBC. Opinions expressed in this newsletter and any of Erin's writings, however, are her own. If you prefer an audio version of this newsletter, Erin typically has a livestream audio session live on Saturday mornings at 9 am ET on LinkedIn in advance of the newsletter publication.