Pharmacies are the most accessible health care facility. Nearly everyone in the US lives within 5 miles of a pharmacy. Recognizing this, the federal government passed the PREP act, granting pharmacists the ability to provide emergency services like immunizations to Medicare recipients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, pharmacists have been major contributors in immunizing against COVID-19 and influenza. However, pharmacists have yet to be reimbursed for their time, products, and services. The Provider Status Bill H.R. 7213 seeks to expand Medicare coverage to permanently include services provided by a pharmacist related to testing, drug regimens, and vaccines for COVID-19, influenza, RSV, and strep throat. As a member of the ASHP committee, I informed fellow students of this bill and encouraged them to write letters to our representatives in the House explaining how important this bill is to us. Over 30 letters were sent.

Credit is an extremely powerful tool that can help us achieve our financial goals. Despite its ubiquity in everyday life, the idea of credit has never been included in the curriculum of any program I've been around. To increase our financial literacy, I invited a guest speaker to teach students how to build credit and how to use credit cards wisely.