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Message to Pharmacy Technicians
To: Certified Pharmacy Technician in Montana.
Fr: Rebekah Matovich, C.Ph.T., Member of the MPA Board of Directors.
Pharmacy is changing and with it so is the role the pharmacy technician plays. I have been a pharmacy technician for over 13 years. I have practiced in retail, managed care and most recently hospital pharmacy. When I started my first pharmacy job, my main duties were counting out prescriptions, answering the phones and "ringing people up." I then was promoted to a position at a corporate office which managed an independent chain of 45 stores in the Northwest. I was directly under the Director of Pharmacy, setting procedures and protocol. I billed Medicare, Medicaid DME and helped initiate, manage and bill our "flu clinics." Upon moving to Montana I decided I again wanted to "expand my horizons" and applied at one of the local hospitals where I have been promoted to IV Specialist, Chemotherapy Certified and participate in the Tech-Check-Tech program as well as being nominated and chosen to serve as the Technician Representative on the Montana Pharmacy Association. The roles and duties of a pharmacy technician have definitely changed and evolved since I first started and will continue to change.
With an increase in older population as the baby boomer’s start to retire, new medication management therapy increasing our life expectancy, rising health care costs and with reimbursement rates dropping we are seeing an increase in the number of technicians being utilized and their roles dramatically changing.
The Bureau of Labor and Statistics estimates that there are more than 270,000 technicians currently employed which is an increase of 120,000 from a decade ago. They also predict that technician employment could grow by as much as another 100,000 by the end of the decade and according to a bureau study increasing "much faster than the average for all occupations." Technicians now are doing third party billing and inventory management.
IV specialists and Chemo Tech’s are now preparing many of hospitals IV admixtures. They are proficient at using and managing Automated Dispensing Machines. Montana is a participant in the "Tech-Check-Tech" program, a program which allows technicians to check other technicians work. Techs are now invited to participate in State Pharmacy Associations and many states now have a technician representative on their Boards of Pharmacy. The American Association of Pharmacy Technicians has developed a code of ethics for Technicians that I would encourage you to become familiar with and to hold your technicians accountable to and to take pride in.
I am excited about what the future holds for Pharmacy and would encourage you to get involved with the Montana Pharmacy Association .To encourage your technicians to do the same. To see technicians as a viable part of the business. To enable technicians in certain duties thus relieving the Pharmacist so that they can focus on giving the best patient care. For technicians to see pharmacy not just as a job but as a career opportunity.
I welcome technicians that have any questions about how they can get involved with the Montana Pharmacy Association to contact either myself or the association. We would love to see you aboard!
Becky Matovich, CPhT.
(406) 651-0426
akayellow@yahoo.com