A key initiative at KPSC that began this year is our campaign to promote the value of KPSC stockholder pharmacies. Kansas Hometown Pharmacy - People Who Take Care of You began with television ads in January and ran for three months across the state. The ads have been complemented by a number of materials for use at stockholder pharmacies, including Kansas Hometown Pharmacy shirts, window decals and tabletop signs. Patients can find Kansas Hometown Pharmacies in their area by visiting www.kshometownpharmacy.com. This campaign has very successfully aimed at showing the many advantages of community pharmacies, specifically those that are on the KPSC team. Many stockholders have continued the campaign through their own pharmacies via TV, radio, or print ads.

KPSC has continued to be quite active in the legislative/political arena, both on the federal and state levels. KPSC Executive Director Pete Stern recently attended the NCPA Legislative Conference in Washington D.C. along with a number of KPSC stockholder pharamcists. KPSC was a sponsor for the meeting and the hard work of KPSC, KPhA, and many KPSC stockholders was very evident as members of the Kansas congressional delegation spoke to the meeting and were able to share their support for current issues of importance to Kansas independents. All of our Kansas U.S. representatives and senators presently support the AMP fix bill and faster payment on Medicare Part D claims. Likely the most important legislation passed by the state legislature this year was the substitute for senate bill 491, which contains provisions for a controlled substance monitoring program, meth precusor tracking program and continuous quality improvement (CQI) program. All the programs are to be developed at the State Board of Pharmacy level. KPSC will be active in working with the state board as the programs and the rules and regs move forward.