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Our Past Year and the Year Ahead

Feb 04, 2014
Paul W. Abramowitz, Pharm.D., Sc.D. (Hon.), FASHP

Paul W. Abramowitz, Pharm.D., Sc.D. (Hon.), FASHP

I VALUE THE OPPORTUNITIES I have to meet with and talk to members. During my visits to state affiliate meetings, schools of pharmacy, and the hospitals and clinics where you practice, I enjoy hearing about the work that you are doing and seeing first-hand how your efforts benefit the patients under your care. These visits also give me a chance to update you on the initiatives that ASHP is undertaking on your behalf.

As I’m traveling, I am only able to talk to small groups of members. That’s why I am so excited to tell you about a recent interview I did with William A. Zellmer, M.P.H., for a podcast called “AJHP Voices.”

Bill, a former ASHP staff member who served as the Society’s Deputy Executive Vice President and editor of AJHP, hosts this podcast series, which features interviews on contemporary pharmacy issues and discussions with AJHP authors. The podcast gives me a chance to update an even larger audience about the work that is happening at ASHP.

During our interview, Bill and I recapped a few of the highlights of the Society’s important work in 2013, including our partnership in the Center for Pharmacy Practice Accreditation and our role in the successful passage of the Drug Quality and Security Act, legislation that addresses compounding outsourcing facilities.

We also looked forward to our plans for 2014. Bill and I discussed the upcoming Ambulatory Care Conference and Summit, along with our plans to meet the growing need for accredited residency sites and accredited technician training programs, and develop tools to help members expand pharmacists’ services to clinics and other ambulatory care clinics. There’s also a message directed to student pharmacists, residents, and new practitioners.

Bill and I talked quite a bit about ASHP’s top advocacy priority of achieving provider recognition for pharmacists, which was a major focus of our advocacy efforts in 2013. Last year, a 14-member stakeholder group from the major national pharmacy professional associations and chain pharmacies came to consensus around a set of principles to govern our legislative push for provider status.

This move sets the stage for building a strong, broad-based coalition in 2014 to draft and introduce legislation into Congress. It’s our hope that other health professions as well as patient and consumer groups, payers, business coalitions, state-based groups, and others will join our efforts to improve our nation’s health outcomes by bringing patients closer to the services that pharmacists provide.

We packed quite a bit into a brief interview! Please listen to the podcast for news on the work we are doing. And as we move forward, I appreciate your feedback on how you feel ASHP is meeting your professional needs. I hope to see and hear from you in 2014.


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