WebEx: October 27, 2011

Meeting Date WebEx: October 27, 2011; 1:00pm ~ 3:30pm EDT

Member Organizations (Participating in Bold)

Discussion Items

1. Introduction of new officers
2. Agenda
3. Chair's report
4. Secretariat's report
   1. Vote on renewal for ACP Foundation and Individual Member Deborah Nadzam
   2. Organizational membership renewal of AAPA will be considered at the February meeting
   3. Announcement of ISMP Cheers Award
5. Subcommittee reports
6. NCC MERP Copyright Permissions
7. Quick Refill Promise
8. Criminalization Statement
9. Medication Measurement
10. New business
11. Review of mission and objectives to expand beyond medication error issues.

Action Items

Actions/Decisions are those of the Council as a whole and may not reflect the views/positions of individual member organizations

A. Ms. Becker introduced Manisha Shah as the newly elected Chair and Frank Federico as Vice Chair.The Council thanked Bona Benjamin and Rita Munley Gallagher for their
service as Chair and Vice-Chair.

B. Donna Bohannon was introduced as the new alternate for USP.

C. The meeting summary from July 13 was approved.

D. Ms. Shah discussed the setting of goals for the council for the next term. The Chair
and Vice Chair discussed raising visibility of Council and spreading the word about the
Taxonomy.Members were asked to disseminate Council information to the members of their respective groups. The group discussed preparing an edit-ready-copy that can be added to member publications. Communiqués are sent out in a timely fashion after meetings and posted on the website. The Council Chair and Vice Chair will survey the Council members to collect suggestions to formulate goals.

E. NCC MERP will be recognized by ISMP for 15 years of work in medication safety at the
Cheers Award Dinner, December 6, 2011 in New Orleans. Dr. Gallagher and
Ms. Becker will represent the Council. If anyone is planning to attend the Cheers Award
dinner please let Dr. Gallagher know. Bona Benjamin will be recognized along with others
for her work with ASHP on drug shortages.
F. Renewals: ACP Foundation and Deborah Nadzam were approved for renewal as Council members.

G.Requests for Copyright permission Dr. Bob Wachter is publishing a new edition of his book and requested permission to use the category index which also appeared in the first edition
Request approved. Dr. Thomadsten requested permission to include a table format for taxonomy in his "Handbook of Human Factors and Ergonomics in Patient Safety." This request was also approved.

H.AAPA will be up for renewal in February. Ms. Becker will contact the representative to determine if the association intends to continue participation in the Council.

I. Copyright Permissions: Ms. Cousins reported on a request from Johns Hopkins Hospital for use of the taxonomy and permission to change at their discretion. Not enough detail was provided as to how the taxonomy would be changed and to what purpose. In response to the issues this raised, there was an agreement to form a subcommittee to review this and any future requests. The subcommittee reviewed all issues related to copyrights currently appearing on the NCC MERP website. The subcommittee consulted with USP's general counsel on copyright law. It was determined that the current year will be used in the copyright on all pages. There is an existing committee that will review requests for use of taxonomy and category index. Final recommendations will be presented to the full council for approval. Ms. Shah asked if the Council is aware of who is using NCCMERP taxonomy and category index and how they are being used. The Council does not have that information on all requests. The material is posted with the intention that it be used to advance medication safety.

J. Quick Refill Promise Ad: Dr. Gaunt drafted a statement focusing on the quick refill promise advertising used by certain pharmacies. The Council does not support this promise as the focus on productivity may negatively impact the pharmacist's activities to review the prescription for appropriateness and errors. ISMP has published a commentary on this topic. The Council asked if there is research that indicates the number of errors or harm that patients have experienced as a result. ISMP has collected a number of patient stories. The group questioned if the Council statement would negatively impact mail order pharmacies. The intent is to address any pressure to fill prescriptions in less than the time needed by a pharmacist and technician to properly process the prescription. The statement should be more general than the current focus on the 15 minutes. Several members recommended that there be a review of research into this area. Others also suggested that informing the public about potential dangers with speedy refills would be an effective approach. NICPIE and AARP have developed materials focusing on acetaminophen.Council could use the same method for a message on speedy refills. The message should have broad appeal. It was suggested that the subcommittee use the input received to edit the statement and add a patient perspective. Members recommended that there be a review of research into this area. Members also suggested that informing the public about potential dangers with speedy refills would be an effective approach. NICPIE and AARP have developed materials focusing on acetaminophen. We can use the same method for a message on speedy refills. The message should have broad appeal.Suggestion was made for the subcommittee to use the suggestions to edit statement and add a patient perspective.

K. Criminalization statement: The subcommittee presented suggestions for revising the criminalization statement. Agreement was reached that the proposed changes did not alter the intent or purpose of the statement. Each member is asked to review the changes and determine if the document requires additional review by members of each organization.The discussion of the criminalization statement led to a discussion of reviewing the vision and mission statements of the Council.The suggestion was to expand the scope of the mission to include patient safety. There are many organizations focusing on patient safety. The uniqueness of the NCC MERP Council is its focus on medication safety and medication errors.

L. Medication Safety Measures: A small group met with representatives from the New Jersey Council of Teaching Hospitals. The group has been examining the adoption of measures for medication safety. At this time, those measures include specific measures focusing on high-alert medications. The measures do not present an overall measure of safety.The group discussed the possibility of different areas of the country working to develop a measure or set of measures for one high-alert medication and sharing lessons learned with others. The goal will be to provide a set of reliable measures that can be used to support the Partnership for Patients.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:30 PM.

Actions/Decisions are those of the Council as a whole and may not reflect the views/positions of individual member organizations.