For those unfamiliar with this tune, the posted copy is the remastered version that includes Chad Shuping on guitar, harmonica, and background vocals. I’m also on background vocals but my performance pales in comparison to Chad’s and my dad’s. For music venue managers wanting to book my dad for a paying gig, please email me at John_Clark@unc.edu.

Bill Clark

Me: Are those flowers for me?

Her: No, they’re for my husband.

Me: Oh, what special thing did he do to deserve them?

Her: He passed away.

After that, I reverted back to the unremarkable, but inoffensive way to dispense a prescription: name, date of birth, any questions, thank you, have a good day.

2. Search the term ‘glory hole bathroom Nashville, TN.’

Sometime during the night of June 6, 2007, someone was looking for a sexual rendezvous in Nashville but was sidetracked when Google’s algorithm returned my blog as the top match for ‘glory hole bathroom Nashville, TN.’ The interesting thing is that my glory hole reference in my Illegal Gratuities or my Nashville, TN reference in my John Clark, Fledgling Lobbyist post was enough to sidetrack the prurient interests of this person because he/she clicked on the top link Google gave them. I’ll take blog readers however I can get them, but to preserve my ability to run for public office or an office associated with a pharmacy organization I offer the following disclaimer:

I, John P. Clark, pharmacist blogger (and blarger) from Charlotte, NC hereby condemn the practice of fashioning a hole in a bathroom stall or video booth for the purposes of giving or receiving sexual gratification from an anonymous partner.

In no particular order of shittiness, I present my favorite shitty hits:

1. How Long – Ace
2. Disagree – Dave Mason
3. Steppin’ Out – Joe Jackson
4. Abracadabra – Steve Miller
5. In the Mood – Robert Plant
6. Got my Mind set on You – George Harrison
7. My Life – Billy Joel
8. Everybody’s Talkin’ – Nilsson
9. Caribbean Queen – Billy Ocean
10. Brandy – Looking Glass

Feel free to share your favorite shitty hits or listen to mine for free at Rhapsody.

“Hello, I’m John Clark, a pharmacist in Concord, NC calling to voice my concern about the proposal to cut Medicaid reimbursement from AWP minus 10% to AWP minus 15%. This type of cut may jeopardize the rural poor’s access to medications and cause an increase in poor health outcomes.”

Of course, I didn’t voice my concern as fluidly as you read my concern. In fact, I repeatedly found myself struggling to maintain subject/verb agreements because I felt like I was hurting my cause by being the guy who calls only when I need something. I probably also hurt my cause by calling Senator Hagan by her first name, Kay, when leaving a message on her voice mail. I can see her saying to herself, “If only John Clark would have shown some respect by calling me Senator Hagan, then I would have considered his request.”

But seriously, this cut in funding bothers me for 3 reasons:

1. I hate the helplessness you feel when third parties decide to cut your reimbursement due to political expediency or a desire to increase their bottom line if the third party is a private payer like Medco or Caremark. You can be the best pharmacist operating the best pharmacy in the world, but you still get paid what an actuary in Nashville, TN thinks you are worth rather than letting the patient decide the fair market value of your services.

2. I lack influence in Raleigh. Sadly, most politicians make their decisions from people they know and if they don’t know many pharmacists then they aren’t going to take their ideas seriously when they only offer their suggestions in the face of an immediate threat to their bottom line. The remedy is in developing relationships with decision makers by supporting their other causes when times are good for pharmacy and more importantly, an annual campaign contribution. Hopefully that will cause them to be more likely to embrace your cause the next time they propose cutting Medicaid reimbursement.

3. Reducing reimbursements by 5% to pharmacies does not solve the larger problem of big drug companies creating demand for costly brand name medications via direct to consumer advertising and MD detailing. Why not take a multifaceted approach that cuts reimbursement for costly brands, increases reimbursement for low cost generics, and assign ‘Medicaid reps’ to various regions of the state to counter detail physicians on their prescribing habits. Medicaid has a copy of all prescription claims adjudicated to their plan so they can see which doctors write for the most expensive medications and how often they write them. Target those doctors for interventions and encourage them to write for equally efficacious but less costly medicines.

Fortunately, not all is lost yet. The NC House decided to maintain Medicaid reimbursement at AWP minus 10%. The next step is to repitch my grievances to whoever will work on reconciling the differences in the House and Senate budgets and to begin alloting my resources (time, money, ability to grovel) to creating a community pharmacy majority.

ADDENDUM: The original title of this post was ‘Participatory Democracy.’ I changed the name because The Boggs Blog, which I recommend and read on a regular basis, already had a post entitled Participatory Democracy. Think Elaine from Seinfeld unknowingly reproducing a Ziggy cartoon.

Men Appreciation Day, according to my oil change technician, was created in direct response to a male customer complaining of senior citizens and women as the only customers receiving discounts. I actually had a similar thought when learning that the Home Economist discounts vitamins 10% for senior citizens on Thursday. Not that I’m against discounts for senior citizens and women, but some men are just as interested in the long term health of their car and bodies. Thanks Mr. Irvan for recognizing this fact. Perhaps I should start to float the idea of a Men’s Health day at Moose Pharmacywhere we discount our vitamins and natural products to promote awareness for men’s health issues.

Sadly, Jim Black will join heroin/crack addicts, glory hole users, and men on the downlow as people who perceive their social deviancies to be so heinous that they can only be perpetrated in the confines of human excrement.

This is my first use of the ‘Press It’ function. The blog above discusses community pharmacy issues with the main issue being reimbursement and shady business practices of PBMs (Pharmacy Benefit Managers).

Apologies for referring to myself in the third person in this post’s title, but I’m trying to maximize the number of URLs with my name it in order to increase my search engine visibility.

Monday – Hot Yoga at 8pm. Profuse sweating combined with stretching and strengthening exercises. The music is also good. Nice calming selections from bands like The Shins and Radiohead.

Tuesday – I call the CVS automated Human Resources line to find out the amount of my net pay on Friday. A run in the evening.

Wednesday – A blessed day indeed. Harris Teeter posts the weekly VIC specials online. Frank DeFord reads his weekly commentary on NPR’s Morning Edition during my morning commute and I usually close out the day with a UNC basketball game at Picasso’s.

Thursday – Back to the Yoga studio. The Office at 8:30pm.

Friday – Various. You know, it’s Friday. Spend my net pay on dinner, movies, ice cream, popcorn, peanut butter, sleeping bags, the VIC specials that made it onto my list on Wednesday.