Activating Pharmacy's Political Power | Jesse Brashear, Pharmacy Entrepreneur

This transcript was generated automatically. Its accuracy may vary.

[00:00:12] Mike Koelzer, Host: Jesse, for those that haven't come across you online, introduce yourself and tell our listeners what we're talking about today.

[00:00:19] Jesse Brashear: I am Jesse Brashear. I'm the co-owner of Brashears Pharmacy in central Florida, second generation pharmacy owner. And today we're gonna be talking about P B M reform on the state level and how pharmacy owners and pharmacists can get involved.

[00:00:35] Mike Koelzer, Host: Jesse, you've Had some good success on the political front for change in pharmacy and.

It's interesting that your background was political science. Has that made a difference in what you have done, or do you think even without that you would've been ruffling some feathers there?

[00:00:56] Jesse Brashear: I would say no, it didn't make a difference. I would tell you that my wife would say no. It absolutely made a difference. 

Got involved in the state legislature. I worked in the house and I worked in the Senate while I was in college. And so I had that background, but I had been out of it for 20 years when I was in college. I dipped my toes a little bit into it, worked a couple of legislative sessions and then left that world completely to go into pharmacy and work in the pharmacy business world.

But over the years as P B M issues have gotten more and more on the forefront and as pharmacy owners, we had to take a look at our businesses and say wait, we gotta start doing something. I think I did a lot of what normal people do for many years. I wrote letters. I called her.

State representative. I called my state senator, I called my congressman. We invited our congressman Daniel Webster to visit both of our pharmacies during campaign seasons in 2016, in 2018. And so I did things like that, things that are, trying to raise awareness of, hey, there's really an issue here on both a national level and a state level that pharmacies need P B M reform, drug prices are going up, pharmacies are going outta business.

This isn't sustainable. 

And of course, that really got me nowhere. So that's the kind of level of involvement that I've had in recent years. This year was different this year. Actually it started last year. I got a call from another pharmacy owner, Don Butterfield, down in South 

 And there had been a group that was formed prior to my involvement with this, but it's small business pharmacies aligned for reform and a group of pharmacy owners got together for the sole purpose of hiring a lobbyist in the state of Florida to go to Tallahassee, our capital and lobby for pharmacy, P B M reform.

And I got involved with that last year. Went to one of their annual meetings and helped get that rekick off. Joined as a member and then stayed involved with that a little bit over the rest of the year. And then in March of this year, I got a text message from Don saying, Hey, we need a pharmacy owner to go to Tallahassee and walk around with our lobbyist and knock on some.

State representative doors. The lobbyists will do most of the talking I was told. And I remember just sitting at my desk at work and I pulled up my calendar and there's nothing pressing on my calendar.

And I said all right, I can go.

I remember going up that first day and thinking in some ways I was feeling a little cocky.

 And I'll tell you, Mike, I walked into the Capitol Rotunda, and I knew I was meeting this lobbyist and we'd already connected about where to meet up.

And I get there and I walk up to the elevator bank and I walk onto the elevator and there's no buttons inside the elevator. you know, 

start thinking, what do I do now? And I get off the elevator and I start looking around. I go, I must be an idiot. I don't even know how to get on the elevator in this place. And apparently it was this little kiosk out in front that you tell it what

floor and it tells you which elevator bank to hop But I'd not seen that I live in a little town. So that kind of brought me down to, to the ground level. but I eventually figured out the elevator and moved forward. 

I would tell this to any pharmacy owner, if you're going up to the state capitol, if you're going up to lobby for P B M reform issues, the first thing you want to do is you want to go and knock on your state representative's door and introduce yourself.

Thank them for whatever efforts they've done on your behalf already. And then advice. They're connected to all their colleagues up there. They're gonna tell you, Hey, you need to go and meet with senators and such, and you need to go meet with this representative on this committee.

And that's really your first step to get in the door.

[00:04:46] Mike Koelzer, Host: When you say knock on the door, you're being figurative that you would set something up? Or did you physically just go and hope to run into people?

[00:04:56] Jesse Brashear: That first day I was really just going up to meet our lobbyist and I didn't really have a plan beyond that. I didn't know what they had lined up. It was new for me. I had not contacted them before our president Dawn had been the main point of contact. But yes, literally go and knock on their door.

 If the legislature is in session, they're gonna be in their office or their staff will be there. Maybe you need to get an appointment to come back. Maybe you should call ahead. But, it's really interesting the different levels of impact that communication with your legislator can have.

Sending an email in this day and age is worthless. Because everybody can send an email. All the major organizations will just, 

Send out draft blast emails, and there's so many of them, they can't be read. Making a phone call, that's important. They notate that down. When you call 

[00:05:49] Mike Koelzer, Host: Even if you're getting their voicemail or something, they're still 

[00:05:54] Jesse Brashear: 

Yes, especially if you're a constituent sending a handwritten letter or a typed up letter that gets read by somebody, a staff member. But I would tell you that the most impactful thing you can do as a pharmacy owner that's lobbying for P B M reform is taking the time outta your day to go to your state capitol and meet with your legislator in person in their office.

They understand the significance of. A constituent that has gotten a pharmacist to cover their store for them, or that has taken time out of their day to, to go up there and meet with them in person. That is really impactful.

[00:06:30] Mike Koelzer, Host: When they sent out all those emails . I gotta figure that it is not gonna help the legislators understand the issue anymore. Because if you already have the email structure set up by somebody, it seems almost, to me, like it might be more of a vote like, Hey, we got X hundred from this group and we got half of that from this group.

 But the letter and the phone calls that they're listening to.

[00:06:56] Jesse Brashear: They do that staff work closely with that member, with that legislator, either a representative or senator. If they start getting a lot, that gets recorded, that gets noticed. Over the years, I remember one time I called up our state representative's office.

He's a physician here in our county. He's been here a long time. He's got a great reputation as a physician. He had a great reputation as a state representative. And I remember calling up his office for the first time and getting his staff. And I remember not really knowing who I was calling or what, but I remember calling and trying to introduce myself and explain who I was and.

To start off the conversation of talking about P B M reform, and I remember his aide said, Hey, Jesse, it's okay. I work for his medical office. I know exactly who you are. 

It's like, oh, thank you so much.

[00:07:46] Mike Koelzer, Host: especially with state legislators, their districts are not huge. That's like what your city or something back in your town in Florida 

[00:07:56] Jesse Brashear: I'm in more of a rural area or a suburban area, so it's generally countywide.

[00:08:00] Mike Koelzer, Host: Alright, Jesse, here's what I want to ask you. You got a PoliSci degree. What were your aspirations and what clouded those aspirations once you saw it?

[00:08:16] Jesse Brashear: In about 1991, my parents started an infusion pharmacy franchise called Vital Care. Vital Care is still an infusion company today. 

And my grandmother was the bookkeeper.

And it was just a few blocks away from my high school. So very often I would leave school and walk over to the office as we called it then, and sit around waiting for my mother to get off work or my dad to get off work. And I would hang out with my grandmother. And she was a great fan of government and politics and current events.

And she always had on the news and we would sit there and talk about George W. Bush and Congress and government on state and federal level. And it was probably because of her that I said, Hey, I really like this stuff. This is really interesting to me.

[00:09:08] Mike Koelzer, Host: What did you think you would be doing three years after graduation?

[00:09:14] Jesse Brashear: I would tell you, Mike, I didn't necessarily have a plan. I'm not much of a strategic long-term thinker. I know that everybody wants to say that they are. I'll just be honest and say that I'm not. I didn't have my whole life planned out for

1. I thought maybe I'd go to law school.

That didn't really seem to work out. I thought maybe I'd be an urban planner that didn't seem to go anywhere. 

[00:09:32] Mike Koelzer, Host: It's funny you put yourself in the lower half of long range planners. If you ask people Like 80% of them would say they're better than an average driver. Things like that.

Mathematically that's not true. You're either in the top 50 or the bottom 50. So some of those I read and I just come out and admit it. It's like, all right I'm a crappy driver, I'm not paying attention or my mind's somewhere else, and so that's refreshing to hear because on a lot of things I'm way below average.

[00:10:03] Jesse Brashear: And that's true for me as well, Mike. 

[00:10:05] Mike Koelzer, Host: I was just going through one of my podcasts that's yet to be published, and the guest was mentioning how much we know in the industry, and most workers in certain industries do that where they diminish their knowledge because they're hanging around those people all day. They think they're having maybe mundane conversations, but that's because everybody's at a higher level.

And I think pBMs on purpose have put up the smoke and mirrors. I think there's a huge divide between what pharmacists know and what the average legislator knows. And then as soon as you think the legislators know something, typically if the PBMs get wind that they might know something, they're gonna be right in there saying, ah, 

don't listen to them. They're greedy pharmacists.

[00:10:59] Jesse Brashear: I'll give you a story of, I was sitting in front of a committee before it started this year and had been working with two lobbyists that Spar had hired. One of which is lieutenant governor Jeff Amp. He was Lieutenant Governor years ago. I was reading my speech that I had typed up from prepared to, to go up and give.

And he very kindly and gently and encouragingly said, Hey, you don't need that. You're an expert on this stuff. Just go up there and talk.

And I did, and it was fine. And I didn't die and I didn't stumble over my words and I actually knew what I was talking about. But he had seen me go and do that several times already.

And so that, that was just great encouragement., yes, I know more about this thing I do sometimes. 

[00:11:47] Mike Koelzer, Host: like, that phrase, I don't know who said it, but it's something like you might have important things to say and your voice might shake but say it anyways , kind of thing, because there's such good information but I think we're more focused on the messenger than, than the message.

 So Jesse, with that in mind at some point then, did you have to make a plea or something like that in front of a group?

[00:12:14] Jesse Brashear: Yes. Several times many times. So after that first day up in Tallahassee meeting with my state legislator, I went visiting other offices. I even tell you, Mike I, I went to our state senator's office and the door was locked. So I just took a picture in front of his office with my phone and sent it to him on Twitter saying, Hey, I was here to talk to you about P B M reform issues.

You weren't here. Just stop to say hi. I. Really need your help on this. And he saw that he responded on Twitter.

Yeah, it was so yeah, I would go up to the committee meetings when the bill was being moved through the legislature. Every time a committee hears a bill, there's time for public comment on the bill. And so I would go up and just, I wasn't giving sworn testimony. I was giving public comments and I would go up there and speak just very personally that there were plenty of people. There were other people from the pharmacy Florida Pharmacy Association that were coming to speak.

There were industry experts. So I would just go up and make it personal. Mike. I would tell 'em who I was. I would tell 'em I'm a second generation pharmacy owner. I talk about why for our patients and our business, P B M reform is important and just puts a human face on the whole thing.

 There's a common refrain that would go through my head throughout some of this. And, N C P A has been such a great advocate for independent pharmacy on P B M reform issues. I remember Doug Hoy has said many times, get into politics or get out of pharmacy, 

and it's so true.

[00:13:53] Mike Koelzer, Host: I think the US government has set up this way so that it's supposed to be slow. Our founding fathers kind of set it up for all the checks and balances and so on, and it's so slow sometimes. But I think the problem is for reform to happen, sometimes you don't know who's gonna break through.

That's why you gotta keep going for it, you never know who's gonna be that one voice that makes it through. And so that just makes everybody keep doing it. But I don't know, I think back to my days, Jesse, like when I did stuff this is when I was new in the business and 20 years into it, and I think back it's like, was that beneficial at all?

 It probably was, but it just gets depressing with the, just the largeness of it. It's Just depressing sometimes.

[00:14:50] Jesse Brashear: It is depressing, but joy comes in the morning. And we experienced that in Florida this year. And I want every state to experience that. I'll tell you in going up and trying to make this very personal for legislators we had an opportunity during one of the committee meetings it was during my children's spring break

And we had plans to go out of town for spring

break and a couple days before we were supposed to go, we got word that, Hey, the bill's coming up in front of committee and who can go?

And my wife and I talked about it and I said, Hey, I, I think we should just go to Tallahassee for spring break and speak on this bill. And it felt like that needed to be the priority. Like we're, we need to be on a mission about this. It's now or never. Let's go.

But it was great because I got to sit in several legislative committees with my three children.

They're seventh, fifth, and third grade. And we dressed 'em up as nice as we could, those ragamuffins that they are. And we put 'em there on the second row in these state capitol legislative committees, which are very nice rooms. And I would still go up there and speak and give public comments on the bill as it was moving through the process.

And in, in those instances with my children behind me, I would be able to say, Hey, I'm a second generation pharmacy

owner, but I'm not sure that there's gonna be a third generation without P B 

M reform and I could turn to my children. And say, and here's why I am standing here with you. I got up in front of a house committee and said, I canceled my children's spring break to be here with you guys today.

And that made a huge impact. The committee chairman, when I got done speaking, asked for the Brashear children to stand up and be recognized and all of the subcommittee members all clapped for my kids, for being there that day. That was

so 

impactful. It was cool. but it's oh my gosh.

That is a memory. They will have their whole lives. 

[00:16:49] Mike Koelzer, Host: When I speak about my past with the legislative stuff, when I was very involved back then we would have legislative days and breakfast and things and we'd invite a bunch in. I think the problem back then was This is the like mid nineties it's starting to get, you're seeing signs of it, but there didn't seem like there was a lot of stuff to really press for anything. There wasn't really a bill. Now, maybe we should have had some forethought and made a bill early in this process, but I guess ours was always just nebulous of, Hey, we're pharmacists and we do a lot for the constituents and support us.

And I guess it never seemed like much was being done, but the main reason is we weren't really asking for anything, so how could it be done? And I think sometimes that's the beauty of having something so bad. Stuff has to happen because in your case there, that would seem very valuable to go once that bill's already there.

However, Jesse, how do you think it got to that point where there was a bill? Was that from you guys doing the same thing and do the senators have enough impetus to say, Hey, that's good, Jesse, we're gonna start a bill out of that? It seems like there has to be a certain spark or a certain straw with the camel's back for that to happen.

[00:18:15] Jesse Brashear: First and foremost, I do not want to overrepresent myself. I played a small part in this. I was involved heavily this year as much as I could be. But this took years of work by industry groups, by state associations, by pharmacists, by pharmacy owners, pharmacists holding dinners for legislators, pharmacists holding fundraisers for legislators.

I'd say two other things that really made a big difference is we got two pharmacists elected to the Florida State House last year, and between the two of them and whoever it was that got to Governor DeSantis office to get him to start talking to understand the importance of P B M reform, all those things combined led to the momentum that we needed to get a bill filed and start to get it heard by the house and Senate leadership.

[00:19:10] Mike Koelzer, Host: Speaking of DeSantis then Jesse, how much do you think and this is just in general, let's say he doesn't really have a big dog in the fight. How much do you think that he really knows about stuff in terms of like when he, I imagine either there was or is gonna be a signing day, where they get all their fancy pens and do this kind of stuff.

Do you think they have a pretty good handle on that or are they just taking the word from their staff and stuff?

[00:19:44] Jesse Brashear: So I happen to be invited to the bill signing for this P B M.

[00:19:48] Mike Koelzer, Host: Very 

[00:19:49] Jesse Brashear: Bill. And I would tell you that Governor DeSantis was very well prepared to answer any question that was coming up about P B M reform and why we just passed this bill. 

Oh, yeah. He was able to speak about it. He knew the importance of it.

He had press conferences in January of this year about the need for P B M reform. He had signed an executive order directing some state agencies to start making positive changes in insurance regulation. He knew this issue as well as you would hope 

[00:20:20] Mike Koelzer, Host: We've seen enough times, where was it? Healthcare bill. It was gonna take the one from Obamacare or something. They had 12 hours to vote if it would take someone like 27 hours to read it all, or something like that.

There's just no way that these people can understand all this stuff. And then I. I never knew this until I actually read it. I found it hard to believe, but sometimes the different states will want certain things: what do they call it, pork or what do they call that in the bills?

 Pork in the bills where it'll be a whole healthcare bill and then someone will have in there something like we want a new basketball court for the Y M C A or, I mean, it's just not even there. Some stuff's not even associated.

[00:21:01] Jesse Brashear: So in Florida everything within the bill has to be germane to one another. Meaning it all has to. Be about the same thing. You can't have a bill about one thing and insert something in there that you want just 'cause you know it's gonna get passed.

Then 

[00:21:17] Mike Koelzer, Host: Yeah. 

[00:21:18] Jesse Brashear: doesn't work.

[00:21:18] Mike Koelzer, Host: Jesse, as the pharmacists are listening to this now, who would you recommend getting involved? And the answer is everybody is there at certain times. Pharmacists can truly make more of a difference if there's already been a call for input on this. And that is, is there a time when somebody makes more of a difference than not?

[00:21:45] Jesse Brashear: I would say there's several things a pharmacist can do to get involved in this, and I think everybody can be involved in some way. Some pharmacists, the best thing they maybe could do, or maybe the thing that's gonna be the easiest for them and instead of another pharmacist that is maybe struggling more is writing checks.

Writing a donation to a legislator, hosting a fundraiser for a legislator. For themselves and other pharmacy owners in their area. I think too often we are siloed away from our colleagues that are also pharmacy owners in our area, or even just statewide. And we have to start talking more and more so that some pharmacists need to be writing checks.

Some pharmacists that are close to the capital need to nominate themselves for being able to go and be advocates on pharmacy issues. Somebody needs to decide if, hey, is our statewide pharmacy association really being a good enough advocate for independent pharmacy? Can we work with them well?

Can we work with them and do we need to also do something else on the side? Probably that's what I've seen happen here in Florida. The Florida Pharmacy Association does what they do. But a group of pharmacy owners got together and said, no, we need to step aside and do something separate from our statewide association.

So we're going to get a bunch of pharmacy owners together, we're gonna put our money up front and we're gonna hire a professional lobbyist to go and speak on these issues. And Do I think that in and of itself is enough? No, I think everybody needs to be doing something. Many hands make light work.

Expecting that your statewide organization is gonna do everything for you is not gonna work. Picking up the phone and calling your pharmacy owner across the street and having conversations about this is important. Everybody can do something and that will eventually move the needle.

[00:23:46] Mike Koelzer, Host: yeah. It's interesting with the organizations, 'cause you've got some national ones like the N C P A, that's for community pharmacy, but when you get to the state ones, you had a state association and. There's a small percentage of pharmacy owners there. although the percentage is skewed because there are probably not as many chain pharmacists as there could be. But it's a big ask for the state associations when they're helping with everybody just numerically they probably don't have enough either resources or just mental resources.

[00:24:24] Jesse Brashear: I've been an N C P A member for as long as I can imagine, part of that is because I feel like they are really, truly excellent advocates for pharmacy issues on a federal level. not sure that our state association is there with them. And so that's why I've seen other outside organizations formed for lobbying purposes.

[00:24:46] Mike Koelzer, Host: I've had Scott Newman, I'm from Putt, and I remember when we talked about that grassroots getting going for finances and just boots on the ground.

[00:24:55] Jesse Brashear: That's what has happened in Florida. That's what helped, spar was not the only advocate for this. Bill. Spar is not the reason that this bill got passed in Florida. And it's really interesting. I remember talking to a pharmacist after the fact and said, do you really think that all of the pharmacy organizations, 'cause I could just see what I could see, I was focused on, Hey, there's a committee coming up.

Jesse's gonna go up there and speak because nobody else can be there. I can go and do 

that. 

And I asked him afterwards, were the organizations all talking to one another, behind the scenes working together on this? And he said, no, that doesn't happen. I was like, okay, we need to work on that.

[00:25:35] Mike Koelzer, Host: I guess I'm not as involved as I could be, but I know a complaint from a lot of my guests that I've had on is just the fracturing of our leadership groups, let's say the big three or four or five or something like that. And sometimes, I know for a fact that two of the larger groups came together to have some legislation.

But I hear that from a lot of people about the fractured pharmacy. Leadership and I don't know enough that it's true or not, but it sounds like we could do better all being on the same page.

[00:26:15] Jesse Brashear: I think pharmacy's different because the pharmacy's not open unless the pharmacist is there. And so it really makes it difficult to spend any time away from the pharmacy

and hardly any other industry is like that. A medical office can be open and, taking appointments, getting things 

scheduled, 

without the physician being there. pharmacy's different 

[00:26:36] Mike Koelzer, Host: That's a really good point, Jesse, because if you think about stuff that starts grassroots, like I had been part of a service club Qantas. It focuses on young children, and I was in that from 91 until golly, 2020. I was there for like 30 years. didn't know I was that old even. That's what you get when you got your pharmacy degree when you were nine. but that dried up once I had fewer pharmacists around to legally keep the store open.

 You think that stuff starts at the grassroot, and pharmacists aren't able to get away to a service club or to go talk to a school or meet up with let's say that a legislator is going to the hospital and you were gonna meet, that's a really good point.

And I wonder how much that affects the grassroots of things. It's just an interesting thought.

[00:27:27] Jesse Brashear: And I think that goes back to the fact that everybody can do something, even though it's not the same, everybody 

is not gonna be doing the same thing. One pharmacist may need to be writing the checks. Maybe you've got a bigger store and you've got additional pharmacists that work for you or that work with you.

I know that if there are multiple pharmacists on the bench, that makes it easier to step 

away, right? 

Maybe that's the person that needs to be driving to Tallahassee or driving to your state capitol to be advocating for change. 'cause they have that flexibility to remove themselves from the bench occasionally.

[00:28:00] Mike Koelzer, Host: Jesse, let's say that someone said Jesse here's a. relatively blank checkbook and you can do things, federally. How would that differ? I imagine you don't get to probably go knock on the door of the Florida senator in Washington and things like that. How would it differ if you had the resources to do that?

[00:28:21] Jesse Brashear: I know that some people absolutely do have those resources. N C P A hosts a annual 

fly in 

to the nation's capital. Yeah 

I've never attended, I've actually always thought, oh, no, I'm, I can't operate at that level. I would just, I've never even considered it Mike. 

[00:28:38] Mike Koelzer, Host: Because why?

[00:28:40] Jesse Brashear: I think for a lot of the reasons that we talked about earlier, just that I don't feel like I have a good enough understanding of the issues.

I've never met anybody that has gone and done that. I'd be interested to hear from somebody that has attended one of those and if it was fruitful for them. . Clearly somebody has the resources 'cause they host it every year.

[00:29:00] Mike Koelzer, Host: Jesse, if you think back 30 years when your dad was in the pharmacy?

It was a different beast because almost everybody coming out of pharmacy school had the dream or at least the possible dream of opening up their own business. And now, it's drastically changed where I'm gonna call 'em kids, even though they're 24.

But these young punks, they come out and. I don't see them doing some of the stuff that we're even talking about now. And maybe I'm all wet. Maybe it's gonna be more because they have the dms on Twitter and they can do different things to make a change.

But what are we gonna do for the new ones coming out to get them involved? I know we can just say do it, but I'm trying to think if there's any ways that it would prompt them to do that more than I think they're gonna do.

[00:29:54] Jesse Brashear: When I was in Tallahassee this year, I saw the c e o of the Florida Pharmacy Association walking around with pharmacy students through the. State capital and having them sit in legislative committees for the first time. And so if your pharmacy association isn't doing that, maybe you're on the leadership team for that association.

Maybe you need to suggest that so that people have that, that first taste of advocacy so that the first time they walk into the state capitol isn't when they're 20 years into their career and they're fighting for P B M reform.

[00:30:29] Mike Koelzer, Host: That is a great thought. Can you imagine if all the, and I guess they do this, but. I always see my alma mater. They've got all the people standing around outside the capitol with a sign or something like that.

Fine. But can you imagine really if you had groups that had to go to state and sit in on those things and have to go at least walk by their senator's office and things that's a great idea. That would really make a huge difference because it just would, it would just make a big difference.

It makes me think of some of the graduates now, I don't know if they've ever even set foot in a pharmacy, which is a scary thing.

[00:31:12] Jesse Brashear: All the recent ones that I've hired have

[00:31:14] Mike Koelzer, Host: Before they went into the pharmacy, I didn't say that before they went into the pharmacy. Some students Haven't even stepped in a pharmacy.

[00:31:22] Jesse Brashear: So I've got one pharmacist that's been with us for six or seven years. He had been a technician for a chain for a couple of years before deciding to go to pharmacy school.

So he brought that experience with him. I've got another one. He's the son. He's my cousin and I got to work with his dad, my uncle, for 19 years before he retired last year.

But the son who now has his pharm d going on a year he's worked in our pharmacy since he was 17 or 16. 

[00:31:51] Mike Koelzer, Host: If you think about all of our colleagues that are in the. Chain pharmacies and hospitals. I wonder what ideas are there for them. Now, I'm putting you on the spot here, so you gotta come up with something even better than the one you gave me about going through the capital.

 I wonder what's out there to get that group more involved and I guess I'd say, it's a chicken and the egg. If they're not involved, maybe they don't care. 

But I know they do care.

[00:32:22] Jesse Brashear: I think one thing pharmacy owners could do to help future advocacy efforts, on behalf of independent pharmacies, is to reach out to those pharmacy students. Maybe when they're on home for break, invite 'em into the pharmacy to come check it out. Maybe it's, some acquaintance of a friend of yours, their son or daughter 

That's in pharmacy school.

You need to be hounding them, they may not go into a community pharmacy themselves, but you want them to have a taste of what it's like.

You want them to understand a little bit of what you're going through, how you're taking care of patients differently than a hospital pharmacist does, and yet why that equally matters.

[00:33:01] Mike Koelzer, Host: Jesse, put yourself back as a 18 year old. are Are you taking the same road? it was 2023?

[00:33:13] Jesse Brashear: Yeah, I'm definitely taking the same road. I would tell you that I've enjoyed my career, that I continue to enjoy it, that I have a great partner and my wife that I get to work alongside. And she is awesome at what she does. When we meet people for the first time and they're aware of our family we say that Elise manages patients and drugs and Jesse manages people and money.

And with that we're a really good team. So I'm very pleased with where I am.

[00:33:43] Mike Koelzer, Host: Does she ever get jealous that you get to sit and she, as a pharmacist, has to stand? 

[00:33:48] Jesse Brashear: i, I'm sure she does, yes.

Yeah, probably. Yeah.

[00:33:54] Mike Koelzer, Host: I try to walk every morning and walk a few miles. I got to the pharmacy and I used to always tell myself that I wasn't gonna sit down at all. I used to never sit down. Then I said I wasn't gonna sit down until 11 o'clock and that I was gonna be active till 11.

Now I go in and I've actually, it's pretty cool. It's a trend now. You've got the sit down computer and the standup computer, and it's pretty cool because I've taken out one of the drawer sets, so I'm actually down at a desk level, basically with my legs underneath the counter, 'cause there's nothing there.

I took that out and then right next to it, like a foot away from it is the same exact. It's two monitors into one computer, and so they're identical. So it's pretty cool. So if I'm sitting there and someone comes, I can stand up and just carry it on. But nowadays, my ass is on that stool at about nine 15, 

[00:34:45] Jesse Brashear: Now you've seen this diagram of the evolution of man, and it's comical. It starts at a monkey and it works its way from neolithic man to modern man, and then it usually downgrades to something that's unrecognizable. Not the peak of humanity. And there's gotta be one of those for the evolution of a community pharmacist.

You know, You go up and up, and then finally you're sitting on the stool, 

[00:35:07] Mike Koelzer, Host: Yes, you've heard it said about all the old pharmacists, ah, he just sits over in the corner now here I am, doing the same thing. So what though?

[00:35:16] Jesse Brashear: It is totally okay. You 

have my permission. 

[00:35:18] Mike Koelzer, Host: They say sitting is like the second smoking, sitting all day. I don't mean to pick on you, Jesse. I just heard it through. I heard that it's the second smoking,

[00:35:28] Jesse Brashear: I have seen that as well. I don't know what to say. I chose poorly. I don't know.

[00:35:34] Mike Koelzer, Host: But hey, at the end of the day it feels better. 

[00:35:37] Jesse Brashear: feels so good to stand up though, when you've sat all day.

Yeah. 

[00:35:42] Mike Koelzer, Host: Do you force yourself up Or naturally Are you just up enough?

[00:35:46] Jesse Brashear: I am not up enough.

[00:35:47] Mike Koelzer, Host: You're not. 

[00:35:48] Jesse Brashear: I'm not, I am so busy clicking clacking on my keyboard that sometimes I'll go for a run at lunch and I will do that. 

[00:35:56] Mike Koelzer, Host: Out in the Florida heat.

[00:35:58] Jesse Brashear: Yeah, I didn't go today though. It was 95 degrees. I checked the weather. I brought my clothes, I had my running shoes.

I decided to stay at my keyboard. 

[00:36:05] Mike Koelzer, Host: alright, Jesse if I'm a pharmacist listening to this, And maybe the world's given up on me ' but let's say a little bit younger and they're listening to us and they're saying, Jesse and Mike, that sounds good, but they haven't been ones to do this and they don't picture themselves doing it. What can you tell the pharmacist to get them one step further?

[00:36:37] Jesse Brashear: I would say the first thing to do is pick up your phone and call the person that you know that has been active in your state on these issues and just say, Hey, I'm a pharmacy owner. I know that you've been active in this. How can I help? And they're gonna be able to tell you, we'll, they'll say, Hey, will you come with me to this committee?

Or Will you host a fundraiser for this legislator? Or, will you invite your state representative or your state senator, or your congressman to your pharmacy and tell 'em what it is that you do every day and how you help your patients and why P B M reform is so important. There's already people in your state that are working on these issues.

Maybe it's your state association, maybe it's the person who just has more energy than the rest of us, and they can work their 12 hour shift and still sit around with their hair on fire, yelling at legislators. Find that person and ride their coattails to, to your state capitol and get involved.

 We had a pharmacist that came to Tallahassee this year, dandy Jackson. And as much as I was trying to tell a personal story when I would go and meet with legislators, he got up and told the story of having to sell the two pharmacies that his grandfather had started because of d i r fees and. He made such an impact on those legislators in that story.

He owns another pharmacy, now, a compounding pharmacy. It's probably cash only because who wants to deal with d i r fees

again? but he came and told his personal story. Personal stories matter. Advocacy matters. Picking up the phone matters. Going up and knocking on the legislators.

Doors matter. Money matters, my gosh. Legislators, they need money for campaigning. They want your money. They need your money. It absolutely makes a difference. Checks matter. Not because they're buying votes, but because that shows them what issues are important to their constituents. And that's really okay to support your state legislator.

It doesn't matter if they're with your preferred political party or not. +You

I want them to listen to you about pharmacy issues. So it doesn't matter who you are, where you are as a pharmacist, if you've been doing this for two years or 20 or 40, you need to get involved in politics or get out of pharmacy.

[00:39:06] Mike Koelzer, Host: I like that suggestion of calling somebody up who's done it, because then you're almost in a negotiation with them where they're like, Hey 

I'm driving down, two days from now I'm doing this. Why don't you come down and we'll go meet someone? , it's a step. You've committed to that person you showed an interest, they're probably not gonna let go of you. .

[00:39:28] Jesse Brashear: Nobody likes to ask for help, but everybody likes to be asked to help. 

Just call 'em up and say, I want to help.

They're gonna pay attention to you. Who is this person? It's the person that when you Google your state PBm Reform and Pharmacist, their name comes up.

And there's people like that in every state. I would tell you to just ride their coattails. Offer to help see what they need. Maybe there's a legislator that they can't get to that you 

can. 

[00:39:57] Mike Koelzer, Host: Jesse, it seems to me that we can bitch all we want to about stuff and. Unless you've done something beyond the walls of your pharmacy.

In my case, I hope that this podcast helps reach out a little bit, and it might be social media to somebody, it might be visiting somebody, but until you've reached out you really haven't done a whole lot just bitching and griping in the background. Maybe it helps you get the energy up to do something, but if that's a common pattern you really haven't done anything.

[00:40:36] Jesse Brashear: Mike, my goal for coming on here today, I'm not here to sell a book. I'm not here to drive you to my website. I don't have a product or a supplement that I'm trying to sell at my job. My goal here was to, as a pharmacy owner, encourage other pharmacy owners to get involved in their statewide politics.

And I'm as timid as they come. I much prefer to just sit in my office all day. If I'm at a party, I'm the wallflower in the corner, but I. If I can get up in front of a state legislative committee and advocate for policy change you can too.

[00:41:11] Mike Koelzer, Host: Very well put, Jesse. Keep doing it. We're gonna check in with you again and it might be our next picture as DeSantis and you on the. Golf course or something like that, 

[00:41:21] Jesse Brashear: I don't golf, but if the governor called and wanted me to go golfing, I'd go golfing with him.

[00:41:26] Mike Koelzer, Host: I've given up on the damn game. I used to do it like once a year with a scramble or something like that. Now it's like I just give it up but I refuse to play pickleball.

have you gotten like A million people talking to you about pickleball?

[00:41:39] Jesse Brashear: Our church has started up like a thing over the summer for it, but I never had time to go.

[00:41:46] Mike Koelzer, Host: It's like an old people cult. 

[00:41:47] Jesse Brashear: I have enough hobbies. I don't need another one. 

[00:41:49] Mike Koelzer, Host: Jesse, keep doing what you're doing and thanks for the push for everybody, and you're right, we're not here talking to someone who's trying to get elected or this or that.

 I say this with all respect. It's a normal person who's making an impact and that's it.

 Jesse, thank you very much for joining us today and keep it up.

[00:42:12] Jesse Brashear: Thank you Mike, for having me.