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The APhA Academy of Pharmacy Practice and Management (APhA–APPM) has officially launched Special Interest Groups (SIGs) for Medication Management, Nuclear Pharmacy, and Preceptors as the move to transition to the new Academy structure continues.
Members can opt in to any of these SIGs for networking opportunities and work on potential projects. Several other SIGs are in various stages of development.
As many of you are aware, El Rio pharmacist Sandra Leal, an APhA member and newly recognized APhA Fellow, is circulating a petition through the Change.org website advocating for recognition of pharmacists as health care providers.
To date, Leal has gathered more than 15,000 signatures from physicians, patients, pharmacists, and a senator from Kentucky. Her grassroots effort was profiled on January 15 in the Arizona Daily Star newspaper.
Leal works in a community health center that is a recognized medical home and has been having challenges integrating into the medical home model because the lack of provider status causes payment challenges in her work setting.
APhA has been in frequent contact with Leal to get updates from her, and we facilitated a conference call she had with a CMS representative. We have been supportive of her efforts to raise awareness about pharmacists and lack of provider status by promoting them in our electronic communication vehicles.
We’ll continue to update you as this initiative progresses.
The U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) recently released a landmark report identifying a “rationale and compelling discussion to support health reform through pharmacists delivering expanded patient care services.”
In an exciting development for the pharmacy profession, U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, MD, MBA, released a letter publicly supporting the report. It is notable that a high-ranking government official would get behind a report that advocates pharmacists as health care providers.
The USPHS report is already generating a buzz within the profession, and APhA will be using the report in our advocacy and practice development work. The report and the letter from the Surgeon General are available on pharmacist.com.
The report, “Improving Patient and Health System Outcomes through Advanced Pharmacy Practice: A Report to the Surgeon General 2011,” was coauthored by several USPHS pharmacists and led by U.S. Assistant Surgeon General Scott Giberson.
APhA Board of Trustees member and student pharmacist Sara McElroy is currently on rotation with RADM Giberson and was instrumental in developing communication strategies for the report and interfacing with APhA so that we were ready with a public statement and news article as soon as the report was made public.