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A Career in Managed Care By Yenni Lin Many pharmacy students choose to come to UCSF for its unique pathway curriculum. I chose UCSF for the very same reason, specifically for the Pharmaceutical Health Policy and Management (PHP&M) pathway. However, the idea of managed care was very ambiguous to me. I was somewhat interested in pharmacoeconomics, but I knew I needed more information to confirm my interest. Thankfully, through the RAMPS Program, I was paired up with Dr. Glen Yokoyama, a clinical pharmacy professor at UCSF, who has extensive experience in managed care and teaching. My first meeting with Dr. Yokoyama took place in his office. Since I had never met him before, Dr. Yokoyama started out by giving me a brief overview of his pharmacy career path. Unlike traditional pharmacists with a dispensing role, Dr. Yokoyama focuses his work in teaching, managed care and administration. Before coming to UCSF, he worked as the director of clinical service at Prescription Solutions, a thirdparty insurance company, and as a director of pharmacy at several hospitals. Currently, he serves as the south bay rotation site director for the students in the pharmaceutical care pathway, a faculty advisor for the students in the PHP&M pathway and teaches classes in pharmacy administration. During our meeting, I was more interested in knowing the pros and cons about being a managed care pharmacist. According to Dr. Yokoyama, it was nice to know that the protocols and guidelines he developed can affect the healthcare system he worked for on a greater scale, since it was proposed and implemented at the management level, as opposed to smaller projects targeting a smaller patient population. In addition, a managed care pharmacist position offers many opportunities to interact and communicate with other healthcare professionals. However, the drawback is that there is less direct patient contact. When one works primarily in the office, clinical practice often becomes minimal. However, Dr. Yokoyama also emphasized that it is not to say that there is no position that offers opportunities in both administration and clinical practice. Overall, I truly enjoyed meeting with Dr. Yokoyama and felt that I have gained a better understanding about my career options in managed care. Before the meeting ended, he gave me some advice that I thought would be worth sharing with my fellow pharmacy students who are considering the PHP&M pathway: talk to faculty members and other students in the pathway to find out what interests you, network with pharmacists to explore your career options, and attend the AMCP conference in San Francisco in April 2008. Yenni Lin is a second-year pharmacy student.
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