Pharmacy Leaders Converge On Capitol Hill To Advocate For Patient Access To Pharmacists' Clinical Services

Main Category: Pharmacy / Pharmacist
Article Date: 23 Sep 2009 - 4:00 PDT

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As Congress continues to debate how best to reform the nation's health care system, the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) converged on Capitol Hill on Tuesday to educate lawmakers about the need for patient access to pharmacists' clinical services to improve quality of care and lower health care costs.

A group of 18 APhA Trustees, state pharmacy association executives, and other representatives spent the day visiting the offices of over 30 Senators and Representatives to ensure that pharmacists' clinical services are secure as currently present in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions proposal and the House Tri-Committee proposal, including Congressman's Butterfield (D-NC) amendment to the House Energy and Commerce Committee version.

"Regardless of how health care reform is financed or coverage is expanded, we must improve the quality of care and lower health care costs; and pharmacist-provided clinical services can help to achieve these goals," said APhA Executive Vice President and CEO Tom Menighan.

Though the current health care reform proposals include many important elements that could affect pharmacists and the patients that they serve, APhA's top priority is to change how health care is delivered by fully optimizing the clinical skills and medication expertise of pharmacists. To accomplish this, policymakers must:

- Include Pharmacists as Part of Integrated Care Models. The health care system must take advantage of the specialized knowledge and skills of all professionals working as part of a care team. The incorporation of pharmacists' clinical services is necessary given the nearly universal role of medications in the care of patients with both chronic and acute disease.

- Include Pharmacists in Payments for Transitional Care Activities. Pharmacists are medication experts and one of the most readily accessible providers. Medication use is a top reason for hospital readmissions. Pharmacists on the transitional care team can play a major role in preventing these events, as patients are discharged from the hospital or transferred from one care setting to another.

- Conduct a Medication Therapy Management Grant Program. As CMS and/or AHRQ are given additional authority and direction to conduct grant programs, legislative proposals should ensure that the clinical role of pharmacists is an element of at least one project.

Source
American Pharmacists Association (APhA)

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