Pharmacy Accreditation Research Articles

Utilization of Lean Six Sigma and the DMAIC process on oral treatment regimen entry and consent to improve patient care and mitigate practice risk.

281 Background: Oral medication (chemo/hormone) volumes in oncology treatment selection will continue to increase year over year. In 22’, oral meds accounted for the largest market share in dollars at 51% vs IV treatment at 49%. Oral medication volume is projected to increase by proliferation and utilization, though revenues may decrease due to decreasing drug margins. Medication regimen consent is a critical part of specialty pharmacy accreditation through one of the national accrediting organizations. This accreditation is vital to meeting the requirements and maintaining contracts with pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and specialty-focused pharmacy services administrative organizations (PSAO). Without improved and continued consent compliance, OHC was at a significant risk of losing the ability to provide care for this impacted patient population, thus resulting in increased risk of financial toxicity. PBMs and accreditations require quality components be completed to maintain the ability to run a specialty oncology pharmacy. When a new oral prescription is written, the oral must be 1.) entered as a regimen and not a single script-only in the EHR and 2.) must have a completed teaching visit and legal consent. Methods: Following the DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, implement and control) process, OHC’s Lean Team deployed Lean Six Sigma strategies and tools in PY23’ to bridge the gap to goal for both oral medication risk areas. OHC followed the lean methodology A3 process using DMAIC, deployed implementation strategies and curated data analytic reports to ensure oral medications were entered as regimens vs script-only, that teaching/consents were completed, and that the control phase maintained a steady state. Results: In 23’, OHC providers accurately prescribed in the EHR a new oral chemo/hormone at 98% (1037/1055) accuracy vs 22’ at 69% (586/845). Additionally, OHC achieved a 93% (986/1055) teach/consent compliance rate vs 22’ at 59% (499/845). With mitigation of compliance risk (est. at 12,114,000), OHC ensured no loss of pharmacy accreditation and contracts. Increased oral medication teaching visits capture rate increased (n=399) resulting in $114,000 additional return on investment in calendar year 23’. Conclusions: Utilizing Lean Six Sigma tools and the DMAIC process, OHC was able to implement strategies to meet both measure goals in one performance year, resulting in improved patient care, organizational risk mitigation, and sustainable profitability. The results have been maintained in the control phase of PY24’. Lean Six Sigma and the DMAIC process are vital to organization success. Tactics deployed have proven to be reproducible and scalable to other projects. Measure PY2022 PY2023 Goal Oral Medication Regimen NCCN Entry vs Script-only 69% (586/845) 98% (1037/1055) 90% Oral Medication Regimen Teach/Consent 59% (499/845) 93% (986/1055) 93%

Exploring First Nations’ and Cultural Safety Content of Pharmacy Curricula With Academics in Australia

ObjectiveThis study aimed to explore academics’ views on Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Health and Cultural Safety content in pharmacy school curricula to inform recommendations for future curricula. MethodsAll 18 Australian pharmacy schools were contacted, and interviews were conducted with consenting heads of school and/or their delegate(s). The interviews covered what the school was doing with respect to the First Nations theme in the revised accreditation standards and further ideas for improvement. Audio recordings of interviews were transcribed verbatim via an online transcription service. Transcripts were thematically analyzed and coded according to the framework approach and mapped to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Curriculum Framework. Coding was facilitated using NVivo software. ResultsAll 18 schools consented to participate and a total of 22 interviews were conducted. The pharmacy accreditation standards were well known to most educators, however, the dissemination of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Curriculum Framework, introduced in 2014, appeared to be poor. Many interviewees (n = 14) expressed that the current content regarding Aboriginal health and cultural safety/competence was lacking and cited barriers that have led to a lack of development such as a lack of First Nations staff and expertize. ConclusionWhile cultural safety/competency was taught in all Australian pharmacy schools, it is apparent that pharmacy schools are at various stages in their development of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health curriculum design and implementation. Future resources should be developed and made available.

Examining Validity for the Pharmacy Affective Domain Situational Judgment Test

Objective. With the integration of the affective domain in the pharmacy accreditation standards, it is important for programs to have methods for formatively assessing student competency in these areas. The objective of this study was to examine the validity evidence for a recently developed situational judgment test to assess the affective domain contained in the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) Standards 2016.Methods. After pilot testing items in multiple pharmacy schools, a revised 15-item situational judgment test instrument was developed measuring the affective domain as it relates to the pharmacy profession. The resulting Pharmacy Affective Domain Situational Judgment Test (PAD-S) was administered to students at three institutions and internal structure validity evidence was examined using item descriptives, Cronbach alpha, and results from a Rasch measurement model.Results. There were 559 valid responses included in the study. The items were of varying difficulty, with Rasch results confirming the hierarchy of items and suggesting that items were contributing to the measure. The Cronbach alpha was 0.70, suggesting acceptable reliability. However, the reliability items from the Rasch model were lower (0.65 and 0.66), indicating that the ranking of ability was limited, which may be due to fewer items of high difficulty.Conclusion. Overall, the PAD-S performed well as a measure of the affective domain. The PAD-S may be a useful formative instrument as part of a comprehensive assessment plan and may be less resource intensive than other measures.

Patient Safety Management Practices by Community Pharmacy Pharmacists～Telephone Follow-up by Community Pharmacy Pharmacists in Cancer Drug Therapy～

As a patient safety management practice in outpatient cancer drug therapy at community pharmacies, continuous follow-up after the dispensing of medication is required. In 2013, QOL Pharmacy Kohoku and its affiliated stores started the "Telephone Follow-up for Cancer Patients" program, which utilizes telephones and information communication devices to communicate with patients and provide information to hospitals. Specifically, follow-up, including phone calls, is used to ascertain medication status and side effects before the next visit to the hospital, and feedback is provided to the prescribing source using trace reports. In some cases, this initiative has led to an early detection of side effects, reduction in the usage of anticancer drugs, and enhancement of supportive care, leading to patient safety and security. In addition, on August 1, 2021, a new pharmacy accreditation system was launched with two new functional categories, namely "Community Cooperative Pharmacies" and "Specialty Medical Institution Cooperative Pharmacies." Specialty medical institution-linked pharmacies are defined as pharmacies that can provide specialized and more advanced pharmacological management and dispensing of medications in cooperation with other pharmacies and medical institutions for patients who require specialized pharmacological management, such as in the case of cancer. Following our certification as a specialized medical institution collaborative pharmacy, we intend to continue the efforts we have invested to date and create a community that can assume a prevailing role in patient safety management.

Advancement of Pharmacy Accreditation in the Field of Chinese Higher Education

Advancement of Pharmacy Accreditation in the Field of Chinese Higher Education

Designing a Pharmacy Accreditation Programme to Improve the Quality of Service Delivery in Pharmacies

Introduction: Improving service delivery has become a major goal in all healthcare settings. Accreditation can play an important role in improving service delivery, but few studies have been done on the development of pharmacy accreditation models. Aim: To design a pharmacy accreditation programme, develop accreditation models and provide a suitable tool for improving the quality of service delivery in the pharmacy. Materials and Methods: This study was a mixed-method study conducted from March 2019 to December 2020. A scoping review was undertaken for this study. PubMed, Google Scholar, World Health Organisation (WHO) and other related databases (like Web of Pharmacy Accreditation Organisations) were used as sources of databases, used following keywords to search documents according to MeSH terms i.e, health services administration, delivery of healthcare, accreditation and pharmacy. A structural equation modelling method was used. Based on the data extracted from the databases, a questionnaire was designed and was administered of stakeholders. The collected data was analysed using confirmatory factor analysis. Model parameters were estimated using the Full Information Maximum Likelihood (FIML) method. The model was revised on inspection of modification indices and fit statistics and experimented for construct validity, construct reliability and measurement invariance. Results: The findings of this study were the design of a pharmacy accreditation programme that includes five dimensions of quality and safety, management and performance, training and development of human resources, procedures and environmental and equipment factors. The quality and safety dimension with a correlation coefficient of 0.92 had the greatest impact on the accreditation programme, the environmental and equipment factors had the least effect with a correlation coefficient of 0.73. Conclusion: Simultaneous use of valid global models, the views of experts and stakeholders in this model, has provided a powerful and novel tool to improve the performance of pharmacies.

ASHP National Survey of Health-System Specialty Pharmacy Practice-2020.

Results of the first ASHP National Survey of Health-System Specialty Pharmacy Practice are presented. A sample of 230 leaders in health-system specialty pharmacies were contacted by email and invited to participate in a survey hosted using an online survey application. The survey sample was compiled from ASHP member lists, through review of data from other ASHP surveys indicating the presence of specialty pharmacies, and by outreach to ASHP member organizational leaders. The response rate was 53.0%. Most health-system specialty pharmacies dispense 30,000 or fewer specialty prescriptions per year, have an annual revenue of $100 million or less, are part of an entity eligible to participate in the 340B Drug Pricing Program, operate 1 specialty pharmacy location, have at least 1 specialty pharmacy accreditation, dispense nonspecialty medications in addition to specialty medications, and employ an average of 13 pharmacists and 15 technicians. More than two-thirds of health-system specialty pharmacies (68.8%) dispense no more than half of the prescriptions written by their providers due to payer network restrictions or limited distribution drugs. The health-system specialty pharmacy practice model includes access to the electronic health record (100% of respondents), pharmacists and technicians dedicated to specific clinics (64.9% and 57.7%, respectively), specialty pharmacist involvement in treatment decisions and drug therapy selection prior to the prescription being written (64.9%), and documenting recommendations and progress notes in patients' electronic health record (93.4%). Most health-system specialty pharmacies (83.3%) offer experiential or formal education in specialty pharmacy. Top challenges that survey respondents expected to face in the next year included restricted access to payer networks and limited distribution drugs, 340B Drug Pricing Program changes, and shrinking reimbursement from payers. The health-system specialty pharmacy represents an integrated advanced practice model that incorporates specialty medication-use management across the continuum of care.

Evaluation of the Indicators of Quality and Safety Using the Global Models of Pharmacy Accreditation in Iranian Pharmacies

Background & Objective: Utilizing optimal accreditation methods in pharmacies could improve quality and safety. The present study aimed to evaluate the quality and safety indicators of Iranian pharmacies based on the global models of pharmacy accreditation. Methods: The first phase of the study was exploratory, followed by descriptive, comparative, cross-sectional, analytical stages using the structural equation modeling technique. A regular search was conducted in databases such as PubMed and Google Scholar, websites of other reputable organizations (WHO), and pharmacy accreditation organizations using various keywords, including accreditation program, pharmacy, quality, safety, model, and their Persian equivalents. In total, 1,217 sources and studies were identified, 199 of which were relevant to the research subject. Based on the objectives of the study, the identified sources were refined, and 10 models were finally analyzed using the structural equation modeling technique. In addition, exploratory factor analysis was performed in SPSS, and confirmatory factor analysis was performed in the AMOS software. The validity and reliability of the model were evaluated for the sample size of 300. Results: The quality and safety indicators were determined to be professional ethics, correct principles of medication, quality improvement programs, monitoring of quality improvement programs and improvement of the results, safety programs, error reporting, and monitoring of safety programs. Conclusions: Our study could be considered a tool to improve the performance of pharmacies.

Can interprofessional case conferences effectively teach interprofessional core competencies? A case study

BackgroundThe establishment of interprofessional education (IPE) as an effective method for training future health care providers, the subsequent establishment of IPE requirements in accreditation standards, and the challenges to integrating IPE into professional-centric curricula have created an environment that encourages opportunity for innovation and collaboration in curriculum design. Interprofessional education activityInterprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) Core Competencies were integrated into an Interprofessional Case Conference (ICC) model that included six annual case conferences involving students from eight health professions across multiple campuses. Students worked in groups of eight with no more than two students from each profession per group. Interprofessional teams facilitated live progressive cases consisting of iterative guided student discussion alternating with group problem solving, followed by “talk-show style” reports. A retrospective pre-post study design using the validated IPEC Competency Self-Assessment V3 and Student Perspective of Interprofessional Clinical Education tools assessed student perspectives of the ICC model. The online survey was sent to participants who attended at least one ICC in 2015–2016 and 2016–2017. DiscussionPre-/post-data was available from 94 students. Results revealed modest, but significant, score changes across both instruments, confirming the value of IPE and the ICC training model. ImplicationsThe ICC formula allowed flexibility in applying IPE, resolved scheduling and resources challenges, complemented other IPE programming, and assisted in meeting pharmacy accreditation requirements and the diverse IPE needs of health professions education. The model is flexible, inexpensive, and could be readily replicated at other institutions.

Funding and Service Organization to Achieve Universal Health Coverage for Medicines: An Economic Evaluation of the Best Investment and Service Organization for the Brazilian Scenario.

BackgroundThere are many health benefits since 31 years after the foundation of the National Health Service (NHS) in Brazil, especially the increase in life expectancy. However, family-income inequalities, insufficient funding, and suboptimal private sector–public sector collaboration are still areas for improvement. The efforts of Brazil to achieve universal health coverage (UHC) for medicines have resulted in increased public financing of medicines and their availability, reducing avoidable hospitalization and mortality. However, lack of access to medicines still remains. Due to historical reasons, pharmaceutical service organization in developing countries may have important differences from high-income countries. In some cases, developing countries finance and promote medicine access by using the public infrastructure of health care/medical units as dispensing sites and cover all costs of medicines dispensed. In contrast, many high-income countries use private community pharmacies and cover the costs of medicines dispensed plus a fee, which includes all logistic costs. In this study, we will undertake an economic evaluation to understand the funding needs of the Brazilian NHS to reduce inequalities in access to medicines through adopting a pharmaceutical service organization similar to that seen in many high-income countries with hiring/accrediting private pharmacies.MethodsWe performed an economic evaluation of a model to provide access to medicines within public funds based on a decision tree model with two alternative scenarios public pharmacies (NHS, state-owned facilities) versus private pharmacies (NHS, agreements). The analysis assumed the perspective of the NHS. We identified the types of resources consumed, the amount, and costs in both scenarios. We also performed a budget impact forecast to estimate the incremental funding required to reduce inequalities in access to essential medicines in Brazil.FindingsThe model without rebates for medicines estimated an incremental cost of US$3.1 billion in purchasing power parity (PPP) but with an increase in the average availability of medicines from 65% to 90% for citizens across the country irrespective of family income. This amount places the NHS in a very good position to negotiate extensive rebates without the need for external reference pricing for government purchases. Forecast scenarios above 35% rebates place the alternative of hiring private pharmacies as dominant. Higher rebate rates are feasible and may lead to savings of more than US$1.3 billion per year (30%). The impact of incremental funding is related to medicine access improvement of 25% in the second year when paying by dispensing fee. The estimate of the incremental budget in five years would be US$4.8 billion PPP. We have yet to explore the potential reduction in hospital and outpatient costs, as well as in lawsuits, with increased availability with the yearly expenses for these at US$9 billion and US$1.4 billion PPP respectively in 2017.InterpretationThe results of the economic evaluation demonstrate potential savings for the NHS and society. Achieving UHC for medicines reduces household expenses with health costs, health litigation, outpatient care, hospitalization, and mortality. An optimal private sector–public sector collaboration model with private community pharmacy accreditation is economically dominant with a feasible medicine price negotiation. The results show the potential to improve access to medicines by 25% for all income classes. This is most beneficial to the poorest families, whose medicines account for 76% of their total health expenses, with potential savings of lives and public resources.

Closing the Gap: Identifying Rates and Reasons for Nonadherence in a Specialty Population.

Adherence to specialty and nonspecialty medications is often calculated using pharmacy claims data. However, specialty medication regimens are complex and may require periods of intentional gaps in therapy. Common adherence calculations are insufficient in identifying reasons for gaps in therapy. Because adherence reporting is a growing measure of quality care for specialty pharmacy accreditation and payer and manufacturer contracts, a better understanding of the rates and reasons for nonadherence within a specialty population is needed. To identify rates and reasons for misidentified and true nonadherence in patients who are prescribed specialty medications. A single center, retrospective cohort study was conducted using pharmacy claims data between March 2017 and February 2018. Medication adherence was calculated using proportion of days covered (PDC). Electronic medical records of a random 10% sample of nonadherent patients (PDC < 80%) were manually reviewed to identify reasons for nonadherence. Patients were then classified as either (a) misidentified as nonadherent (i.e., a provider-directed discontinuation or disruption of treatment that varies from the prescribed administration schedule or transfer of the prescription to an external pharmacy) or (b) truly nonadherent (discontinuation or disruption of treatment that varies from the prescribed administration instruction that is not directed or recommended by the provider or health care team). Of the 7,488 included prescription records from 18 specialty areas, 1,059 met criteria for nonadherence. 105 prescription records (representing 105 unique patients) were manually reviewed; most of these patients (58%) were truly nonadherent, driven by inability to contact patients for refills (59%). However, 40% were misidentified as nonadherent, most due to provider-directed medication holding (69%). Two percent of patients were nonadherent for unknown reasons. Many patients classified as nonadherent based on pharmacy claims experienced gaps in therapy due to medically appropriate reasons. Methods to better measure and identify true nonadherence are needed to efficiently and adequately affect specialty medication adherence behavior. This study received funding support from CTSA Award No. UL1 TR002243 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. Study findings and conclusions are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent official views of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences or the National Institutes of Health. Zuckerman reports research support from Sanofi and Gilead Sciences, unrelated to this study. The other authors have nothing to disclose. A poster based on the data from this study was presented at AMCP Nexus 2018 on October 24, 2018, in Orlando, FL.

Development of quality measures for use of self-injectable biologic therapy in inflammatory bowel disease: An integrated specialty pharmacy initiative.

The development of a tool to measure medication safety, therapeutic efficacy, and other quality outcomes in patients receiving self-injectable biologic therapy for the management of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) at a health-system specialty pharmacy is described. Through a collaborative initiative by pharmacists, gastro-enterologists, and representatives of a pharmacy benefit manager and a pharmaceutical company, a set of clinical and specialty pharmacy quality measures was developed. The clinical measures are intended for use in assessing patient safety, disease status, treatment efficacy, and healthcare resource utilization during 3 assessments (pre-treatment, on-treatment, and longitudinal). The specialty pharmacy measures can be used to assess medication adherence, medication persistence, specialty pharmacy accreditation, and patient satisfaction. The proposed quality measures provide a foundation for evaluating the quality of IBD care and improving patient outcomes within a health-system specialty pharmacy. Future efforts to validate and implement the tool in clinical practice are planned. The proposed quality measures provide a foundation for future inquiry regarding the appropriateness and feasibility of integrating the measures into clinical care. Further work is needed to implement and validate these quality measures and determine their impact in optimizing health outcomes.

A Reflective Assignment Assessing Pharmacy Students’ Interprofessional Collaborative Practice Exposure During Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences

Objective. To assess the effectiveness of a required reflective writing assignment to document students' exposure to and experience with interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP) during introductory pharmacy practice experiences (IPPEs). Methods. Pharmacy students completed the assignment during their community or institutional pharmacy IPPE and electronically submitted their written reflections. Twelve codes were created to indicate opportunities, barriers, and patient-centered care identified in the community pharmacy reflections. Fourteen codes were created to indicate interprofessional communication, roles, patient-centered care, and teamwork identified in the institutional pharmacy reflections. The reflections were then qualitatively analyzed to identify and code themes related to IPCP. Results. Two hundred twenty-eight reflections were submitted. Exposure to an observed IPCP was described in 51% of the community pharmacy reflections and in 100% of the institutional pharmacy reflections. Identified opportunities to improve IPCP in community pharmacy were extended pharmacy services, expanded networking and relationships, making more phone calls to other health professionals, and greater use of technology. The identified barriers to IPCP in community pharmacy were difficulty accessing patient health data, lack of direct access to prescribers, hierarchy, pharmacy workload, and lack of timely communication. The identified themes that impacted IPCP in institutional settings included dysfunctional communication, technology use, mutual respect, role overlap, teamwork, nonphysician leadership, and personal relationships. Conclusion. Implementing a reflective assignment during IPPEs was an effective way to document student exposure to and experience in IPCP in two types of pharmacy practice settings and helped to meet pharmacy accreditation standards of having IPE included in early experiential education settings.

Mapping the postgraduate year one pharmacy accreditation standards to the core entrustable professional activities

AbstractIntroductionPostgraduate year one (PGY1) pharmacy residency is a common training path for pharmacy graduates. As the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) have published the Core Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) as a standard for new pharmacy graduates, mapping these competencies to the American Society of Health‐System Pharmacists (ASHP) PGY1 pharmacy residency standards may allow for progression tracking.MethodsUsing group consensus, the guidance documents from the ASHP PGY1 pharmacy residency standards and the AACP Core EPAs for new pharmacy graduates were compared and mapped.ResultsThe ASHP PGY1 pharmacy residency standards included one additional tier (ie, goals) when evaluating structural levels compared with the AACP Core EPAs. All of the 15 AACP Core EPAs mapped to at least one ASHP educational objective. In addition, all of the ASHP educational objectives mapped to the Core EPAs except for one objective in Patient Care and four in the Leadership and Management competency areas.DiscussionWith only a slight difference in structure and a small gap between ASHP education objectives and AACP EPAs, tracking of progression from new pharmacy graduate to postgraduate pharmacy resident may be possible. Greater consensus around leveling and general use with EPAs will provide further insight.

Pharmacist-reported practice change as a result of a statewide community pharmacy accreditation program

ObjectivesTo assess pharmacist-reported practice change as a result of participation in a community pharmacy accreditation program. SettingCommunity pharmacy practice in Wisconsin. Practice innovationThe Wisconsin Pharmacy Quality Collaborative (WPQC) is a network of pharmacies and pharmacists who provide standardized pharmacy services. WPQC is based on a unique set of quality-based best practices designed to improve patient safety in the medication use process. WPQC is supported by the statewide pharmacy organization, the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin (PSW), which provides resources focused on implementation and engagement to support the success of WPQC-accredited pharmacies. Program evaluationPSW used a 24-question online survey to evaluate the degree of pharmacist-reported practice change as a result of the WPQC quality-based best practices. ResultsPharmacist-reported frequency and consistency of all quality-based best practices and services increased after WPQC accreditation (P < 0.05), with the exception of robotic dispensing systems, holding regular staff meetings for team communication, and providing incentives for recording quality-related events. In addition, quality-based best practices and WPQC services had a positive impact on pharmacist perceptions of their quality of patient care, patient safety, patient satisfaction, and patient relationships in WPQC-accredited pharmacies. The majority of pharmacies valued WPQC accreditation and shared positive comments about their experiences. ConclusionA community pharmacy accreditation program using standardized quality-based best practices can create and reinforce behavior change in the community pharmacy setting to positively affect patient care and medication safety. Research is needed to determine if there are actual behavior changes as a result of WPQC accreditation compared with pharmacies that have elected not to participate.

Text mining as a method for examining the alignment between educational outcomes and the workforce needs

<br><b>Introduction:</b> Job descriptions outline competencies employers consider requisite for success and can be used to inform curriculum design. This paper demonstrates the use of text mining to determine the extent to which key educational outcomes align with job descriptions. <b>Methods:</b> Eighty pharmacist job descriptions containing a total of 12,064 words were text mined using the “bag of words” method. <b>Results:</b> A majority of the 20 most frequent job description words were also present in the pharmacy accreditation standards and American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy entrustable professional activity statements. However, several top 20 words were not, including customer, dispense, department and company. Chi-squared tests revealed text differences between community and health-system pharmacy, including patient, manage, information, and customer, which may have implications for pharmacy schools preparing students for various practice settings. <b>Conclusion:</b> The methodology described here provides a feasible and efficient approach to analyzing current workforce expectations and mapping them to educational outcomes.<br>

New pharmacy accreditation program.

What is the Center for Pharmacy Practice Accreditation (CPPA)? CPPA is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization that was established in 2012 by the American Pharmacists Association, the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. The three partner organizations identified a need for an accreditation body within the pharmacy profession to achieve the goal of providing the public with specific, predictable, and measurable pharmacy-based patient care services. Recognizing the breadth and complexity of the medication-use process, these organizations wanted a single, integrated accreditation body, one with strong medication-use knowledge and experience with the medication-use process, to accredit pharmacy practice in various healthcare settings. CPPA was established to develop and implement comprehensive programs of pharmacy practice site accreditation and to manage the process leading to the use of consensus-based standards for pharmacy practice accreditation. The mission of CPPA is to serve the public health by raising the level of pharmacy-delivered patient care services through accreditation of the pharmacy practice. The voluntary accreditation programs offered by CPPA recognize pharmacy practices that promote practice innovation and empower pharmacists to practice at a higher level as a means to continually improve the safety and quality of patient care services.

Gaining momentum: Pharmacists recognized for health care contributions

Gaining momentum: Pharmacists recognized for health care contributions

Roles for Pharmacy Technicians in Community Pharmacy Practice Accreditation

Objective: To review community pharmacy accreditation and identify opportunities for pharmacy technicians to help community pharmacies meet accreditation standards. Data Sources: Articles were identified through MEDLINE/PubMed (2001–2012) using search terms designed to locate English-language articles describing the role of the pharmacy technician, community pharmacy accreditation, and health care reform. Additionally, resources on community pharmacy accreditation and health care reform were used from the Institutes of Medicine, American Pharmacists Association, Council on Credentialing in Pharmacy, Center for Pharmacy Practice Accreditation, and Utilization Review Accreditation Commission. Study Selection and Data Extraction: Articles describing the role of the pharmacy technician, community pharmacy accreditation, and health care reform were included. Data Synthesis: Pharmacy technicians can help community pharmacies meet accreditation standards by taking on specific roles under 5 main domains: practice management, patient counseling, patient care services, technology, and quality improvement. Technicians can help by engaging in management-related tasks; improving communication between pharmacists, patients, and providers; and collecting and analyzing pharmacy data. Further, with proper training, pharmacy technicians can take on an expanded role to aid pharmacists with advanced patient care services and quality improvement measures. Conclusions: Pharmacy technicians can play a vital role in helping pharmacies meet standards necessary for community pharmacy accreditation.

Community pharmacy accreditation standards: A vision in progress

When it comes to predicting the future, it’s difficult to get it exactly right. But with a single statement describing how pharmacists will practice, the 2015 Vision for Pharmacy Practice adopted years ago by the Joint Commission of Pharmacy Practitioners hit the nail on the head: “Pharmacists will have the authority and autonomy to manage medication therapy and will be accountable for patients’ therapeutic outcomes.”