A NEW SURVEY of ASHP members age 50 years and older finds that many plan to either work part-time or do consulting after the age of 65. More than 1,300 members responded to the October 2008 online survey, which posed questions about their career plans as older practitioners. Members often cited the worsening economy and [...]

ISSUES THAT AFFECT hospital and health-system pharmacists have received media coverage in recent months. A story about recent Department of Health and Human Services recommendations to expand comparative effectiveness research highlighted the need for dissemination of the research findings. Cynthia Reilly, director of the ASHP’s practice development division, noted that expanding the data infrastructure was [...]

Take Charge of Pharmacy’s Future! ARE YOU PASSIONATE about patient care and pharmacy’s future? Do you know someone who is? Consider nominating yourself or a colleague for a position among ASHP’s elected leadership. ASHP’s president-elect and board members oversee the society’s initiatives and programs, including professional policies, finances, and strategic planning. The chair of the [...]

WIDELY ACCLAIMED as one of the most charismatic actors of our time, Dennis Quaid is also an advocate for reducing medical errors. He will be giving the keynote address at the Midyear Clinical Meeting on Monday, December 7, from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., sharing his family’s experience with two near-fatal I.V. medication errors. Quaid’s [...]

JOIN THOUSANDS of your pharmacy colleagues at the 44th ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting, December 6–10 in Las Vegas. This year’s meeting, which features nearly 300 hours of continuing education, will include a special learning community called Building Ambulatory Services: Best Practices in Design, Reimbursement, and Outcomes. Short on time? The CE Power Hour was so [...]

DIANE B. GINSBURG, M.S., FASHP, will help guide ASHP efforts to strengthen the role of health-system pharmacists as the society’s president-elect. Ginsburg is a clinical professor and assistant dean for student affairs at the University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy. She has served as a member of the ASHP board of directors, as [...]

What happens when a well-intentioned policy has an effective date that could result in patients going without needed medications? You get a groundswell of advocacy that causes Congress and the White House to take notice. When the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a new tamper-resistant requirement for prescriptions for Medicaid beneficiaries, ASHP [...]

ASHP reiterated its sup­port for the creation of a “behind-the-counter” class of medications during testi­mony at a Food and Drug Admin­istration (FDA) public meeting in November. William A. Zellmer, MPH, ASHP deputy executive vice president (pictured at right), told administration officials that patients would benefit both from the increased availability of medica­tions in an intermediate [...]