OpFocus Oversight

[wmarsh100]

So I’m a Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT) who works at the busiest pharmacy in my very large city. The first thing I noticed when I started there two years ago was the SpydieChef in his pocket. I showed him the PM2 Sprint Run in mine, and we’ve gotten along ever since (pretty cool how knives bring people together!). Our jobs have always been about service and care, but the roles we take on have shifted dramatically in response to the pandemic. I got licensed to be one of the first Technician Immunizers in my state and have given thousands of COVID vaccines in the past year, as our already-busy pharmacy became a hub of public health care and education for the neighborhood. We use knives every day to open our warehouse orders (the amount of packaging drugs come in is unbelievable, everything is shrink-wrapped, in a zip-tied tote, or both), unpack vaccine shipments, all the same sorts of things other medical professionals (doctors, nurses, etc.) use their knives for, but we don’t have Type-1 (individual) NPIs, we just have the Type-2 (Institutional) ones, so we couldn’t register on ID.me easily even IF they considered us medical professionals. The pharmacy manager at another big store in our district came by to pick up some amber vials the other day and I noticed a Lynch-clip in his pocket, so my boss and I aren’t unique, is there anything to be done for the SpydieFans out here who give your shots and make sure that your meds from 3 different doctors who don’t communicate with one another don’t have a random really nasty interaction (happens almost every day)? Anyone else in the pharmacy field who’s been able to successfully register for OpFocus? I know some states have individual NPIs for pharmacists and techs, but if ID.me doesn’t count us as “medical professionals,” I don’t know how much difference that makes. Thanks for the feedback, all, and thank you for the great knives, Sal!

[sal]

Hi Wmarsh,

Welcome to our forum.

Thanx much for the interest and support. Interesting question. I'm sure Kristi or Mike will see your query as well as others her in the group.

sal

[SSR3]

I'm a board certified janitorial technician, and it is my sworn duty to protect the public from fomite transmission of viruses and other harmful microorganisms. While I'm not a first responder or frontline medical professional, I'm pretty close, and $200 folding knives are essential to my public service. Please consider honoring our profession for discounts as well.

[ladybug93]

there was a whole thread on this not too long ago. you can find it pretty easily if you search "pharmacist." i will warn you though, there is some unwarranted negativity in that thread, so i'm not linking it and only quoting mr. janich's final comment here.

To All:

I just finished a meeting with our Marketing Team and our Sales and Marketing Director. We confirmed that the exclusion of pharmacists under the ID.me program was an unfortunate mistake. We never made a deliberate decision to take that profession off the list. The list of professions offered by ID.me is enormous and in the hours that it took to manually review it, we made an error.

That error has been fixed and pharmacists should once again be able to register for the OpFocus program and enjoy its benefits. If in this process you run into any issues, please let us know via PM and we'll do our best to sort them out as quickly and efficiently as possible.

We are also ensuring that all members of our Sales Staff are aware that this was an unintentional error and that they have a clear understanding of all the professions eligible under the OpFocus program.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Stay safe,

Mike

Seems strange to quote myself, but this issue has been fixed. It was an error and has been corrected.

Stay safe,

Mike

he said it was resolved, so i'm not sure why there's still an issue unless the policy changed again. either way, i'm sure he'll chime in soon.

[Kevinim82]

So I’m a Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT) who works at the busiest pharmacy in my very large city. The first thing I noticed when I started there two years ago was the SpydieChef in his pocket. I showed him the PM2 Sprint Run in mine, and we’ve gotten along ever since (pretty cool how knives bring people together!). Our jobs have always been about service and care, but the roles we take on have shifted dramatically in response to the pandemic. I got licensed to be one of the first Technician Immunizers in my state and have given thousands of COVID vaccines in the past year, as our already-busy pharmacy became a hub of public health care and education for the neighborhood. We use knives every day to open our warehouse orders (the amount of packaging drugs come in is unbelievable, everything is shrink-wrapped, in a zip-tied tote, or both), unpack vaccine shipments, all the same sorts of things other medical professionals (doctors, nurses, etc.) use their knives for, but we don’t have Type-1 (individual) NPIs, we just have the Type-2 (Institutional) ones, so we couldn’t register on ID.me easily even IF they considered us medical professionals. The pharmacy manager at another big store in our district came by to pick up some amber vials the other day and I noticed a Lynch-clip in his pocket, so my boss and I aren’t unique, is there anything to be done for the SpydieFans out here who give your shots and make sure that your meds from 3 different doctors who don’t communicate with one another don’t have a random really nasty interaction (happens almost every day)? Anyone else in the pharmacy field who’s been able to successfully register for OpFocus? I know some states have individual NPIs for pharmacists and techs, but if ID.me doesn’t count us as “medical professionals,” I don’t know how much difference that makes. Thanks for the feedback, all, and thank you for the great knives, Sal!

Are you licensed in your state? If the answers is yes, you only need to show the ID.me team your license on a state website, and you have an easy solution. Nurses that are not providers do not have NPI numbers. I had to show this site my license via the state website.

[Kevinim82]

I'm a board certified janitorial technician, and it is my sworn duty to protect the public from fomite transmission of viruses and other harmful microorganisms. While I'm not a first responder or frontline medical professional, I'm pretty close, and $200 folding knives are essential to my public service. Please consider honoring our profession for discounts as well.

You are a very valued team member, and in a position that gets devalued and unacknowledged. Your work is the first step to safe patient practice.

In an odd way, you are also in the profession that would have a strong culture of using pocket knives/pocket tools.

[araneae]

There are a lot of us that serve the public, but I wouldn't expect Spyderco to offer everyone the opfocus discount. That doesn't make the work less valuable.

[Danke]

Yeah we all do our part for society but traditionally enlisted soldiers, beat cops, paramedics, etc are not very well paid given the stakes of their work. No doubt that a Pharmacist or a Pharmacy Technician does high stakes work but they're well paid by comparison.

Go much further down this road and you might as well add Morticians to the list; if it wasn't for them we'd be literally swimming in corpses and let's not forget Carnival Personal either. If fit wasn't for us no one would have any fun on weekends.

[Naperville]

So I’m a Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT) who works at the busiest pharmacy in my very large city. The first thing I noticed when I started there two years ago was the SpydieChef in his pocket. I showed him the PM2 Sprint Run in mine, and we’ve gotten along ever since (pretty cool how knives bring people together!). Our jobs have always been about service and care, but the roles we take on have shifted dramatically in response to the pandemic. I got licensed to be one of the first Technician Immunizers in my state and have given thousands of COVID vaccines in the past year, as our already-busy pharmacy became a hub of public health care and education for the neighborhood. We use knives every day to open our warehouse orders (the amount of packaging drugs come in is unbelievable, everything is shrink-wrapped, in a zip-tied tote, or both), unpack vaccine shipments, all the same sorts of things other medical professionals (doctors, nurses, etc.) use their knives for, but we don’t have Type-1 (individual) NPIs, we just have the Type-2 (Institutional) ones, so we couldn’t register on ID.me easily even IF they considered us medical professionals. The pharmacy manager at another big store in our district came by to pick up some amber vials the other day and I noticed a Lynch-clip in his pocket, so my boss and I aren’t unique, is there anything to be done for the SpydieFans out here who give your shots and make sure that your meds from 3 different doctors who don’t communicate with one another don’t have a random really nasty interaction (happens almost every day)? Anyone else in the pharmacy field who’s been able to successfully register for OpFocus? I know some states have individual NPIs for pharmacists and techs, but if ID.me doesn’t count us as “medical professionals,” I don’t know how much difference that makes. Thanks for the feedback, all, and thank you for the great knives, Sal!

Please don't forget to include the personnel manning the IT Desks in OpFocus. Without them everything stops functioning. Networks stop working. PCs stop working. Telephones stop working. Mainframes stop working. Streetlights stop working. Radios that the police, fire and military use, cease to work. Water and sewage stop working.

We are the backbone to every Pharmacy and Hospital globally.

[nerdlock]

there was a whole thread on this not too long ago. you can find it pretty easily if you search "pharmacist." i will warn you though, there is some unwarranted negativity in that thread, so i'm not linking it and only quoting mr. janich's final comment here.

To All:

I just finished a meeting with our Marketing Team and our Sales and Marketing Director. We confirmed that the exclusion of pharmacists under the ID.me program was an unfortunate mistake. We never made a deliberate decision to take that profession off the list. The list of professions offered by ID.me is enormous and in the hours that it took to manually review it, we made an error.

That error has been fixed and pharmacists should once again be able to register for the OpFocus program and enjoy its benefits. If in this process you run into any issues, please let us know via PM and we'll do our best to sort them out as quickly and efficiently as possible.

We are also ensuring that all members of our Sales Staff are aware that this was an unintentional error and that they have a clear understanding of all the professions eligible under the OpFocus program.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Stay safe,

Mike

Seems strange to quote myself, but this issue has been fixed. It was an error and has been corrected.

Stay safe,

Mike

he said it was resolved, so i'm not sure why there's still an issue unless the policy changed again. either way, i'm sure he'll chime in soon.

I think it's been addressed by LB via a reply by Michael Janich in another thread. No need for unecessary replies and take this thread down another path at the OP's expense.

[Diamondback]

there was a whole thread on this not too long ago. you can find it pretty easily if you search "pharmacist." i will warn you though, there is some unwarranted negativity in that thread, so i'm not linking it and only quoting mr. janich's final comment here.

To All:

I just finished a meeting with our Marketing Team and our Sales and Marketing Director. We confirmed that the exclusion of pharmacists under the ID.me program was an unfortunate mistake. We never made a deliberate decision to take that profession off the list. The list of professions offered by ID.me is enormous and in the hours that it took to manually review it, we made an error.

That error has been fixed and pharmacists should once again be able to register for the OpFocus program and enjoy its benefits. If in this process you run into any issues, please let us know via PM and we'll do our best to sort them out as quickly and efficiently as possible.

We are also ensuring that all members of our Sales Staff are aware that this was an unintentional error and that they have a clear understanding of all the professions eligible under the OpFocus program.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Stay safe,

Mike

Seems strange to quote myself, but this issue has been fixed. It was an error and has been corrected.

Stay safe,

Mike

he said it was resolved, so i'm not sure why there's still an issue unless the policy changed again. either way, i'm sure he'll chime in soon.

I think it's been addressed by LB via a reply by Michael Janich in another thread. No need for unecessary replies and take this thread down another path at the OP's expense.

....shiny footprint...good work !

[Naperville]

I was just joking. I know that I'm not in the police/fire/paramedic field.

[ZetaH]

Can European workers register in opfocus? Thanks!

[Kevinim82]

Can European workers register in opfocus? Thanks!

I think this is a gesture to those in the United States. (Someone correct me if I am wrong?)

[Michael Janich]

Dear wmarsh100:

Have you actually tried to register for the OpFocus program and run into a difficulty, or are you just asking the question? If you ran into a difficulty, what was it? This issue should have been resolved.

ID.me only has access to US personnel databases, so unfortunately we cannot extend the OpFocus program to non-US personnel.

Stay safe,

Mike

[wmarsh100]

Dear wmarsh100:

Have you actually tried to register for the OpFocus program and run into a difficulty, or are you just asking the question? If you ran into a difficulty, what was it? This issue should have been resolved.

ID.me only has access to US personnel databases, so unfortunately we cannot extend the OpFocus program to non-US personnel.

Stay safe,

Mike

I actually tried to register as a medical professional and it asked for my NPI number (National Provider Identifier), but in my state only pharmacists and pharmacies have NPIs, techs have license numbers. I tried entering my pharmacy’s NPI and it failed because it’s an institutional NPI and not an individual one. I tried entering my license number from the state board, and my CPhT credential number from the APhA, and neither one worked because they aren’t NPIs. If it were ONLY first-responders, then I’d totally get it, but they include doctors and nurses but don’t include techs? It even says on the ID.me website that pharmacy technicians are included but when I tried to register it wouldn’t let me.

[Michael Janich]

Dear wmarsh100:

Thank you for the additional information. That's the kind of detail we need to try to address these issues with ID.me. Our in-house expert on ID.me is out enjoying Spring break with her kids. I'll ask her to look into this with ID.me when she returns.

What state are you in?

Stay safe,

Mike

[Kevinim82]

Dear wmarsh100:

Have you actually tried to register for the OpFocus program and run into a difficulty, or are you just asking the question? If you ran into a difficulty, what was it? This issue should have been resolved.

ID.me only has access to US personnel databases, so unfortunately we cannot extend the OpFocus program to non-US personnel.

Stay safe,

Mike

I actually tried to register as a medical professional and it asked for my NPI number (National Provider Identifier), but in my state only pharmacists and pharmacies have NPIs, techs have license numbers. I tried entering my pharmacy’s NPI and it failed because it’s an institutional NPI and not an individual one. I tried entering my license number from the state board, and my CPhT credential number from the APhA, and neither one worked because they aren’t NPIs. If it were ONLY first-responders, then I’d totally get it, but they include doctors and nurses but don’t include techs? It even says on the ID.me website that pharmacy technicians are included but when I tried to register it wouldn’t let me.

Please follow up with an email to the ID.me support. You need to manually send them your state licensure. If you have questions please dm me.

You just need to do this process manually. Most medical professionals don’t have NPI numbers. In registering there is an ability to email the ID.me team. They respond quickly.

[TazKristi]

I actually tried to register as a medical professional and it asked for my NPI number (National Provider Identifier), but in my state only pharmacists and pharmacies have NPIs, techs have license numbers. I tried entering my pharmacy’s NPI and it failed because it’s an institutional NPI and not an individual one. I tried entering my license number from the state board, and my CPhT credential number from the APhA, and neither one worked because they aren’t NPIs. If it were ONLY first-responders, then I’d totally get it, but they include doctors and nurses but don’t include techs? It even says on the ID.me website that pharmacy technicians are included but when I tried to register it wouldn’t let me.

Hi, wmarsh100:
Your best bet would be to reach out to ID.me as that's the first step in the process. They have a detailed article about how to qualify without an NPI number here, https://help.id.me/hc/en-us/articles/36 ... ut-an-NPI-. Once you have an ID.me account and are verified, come back to our site and go through the process from your My Account page. If you have any other issues after you are verified, please e-mail opfocus@spyderco.com and we'll be able to take it from there.

Thanks much.

Kristi