Moving the Pharmacy Practice Model Initiative forward within a state affiliate.

PURPOSE: Efforts to advance the ASHP Pharmacy Practice Model Initiative (PPMI) in the Michigan Society of Health-System Pharmacists (MSHP) are described. SUMMARY: After the Pharmacy Practice Model Summit in November 2010, the board of directors of MSHP began to strategize ways to help health-system pharmacists in Michigan achieve the vision and concepts envisioned by the PPMI. The ultimate goal was to develop a process for acting on recommendations developed by the PPMI to advance the practice of health-system pharmacy in Michigan. A task force was formed and reviewed the 147 national recommendations from the ASHP Pharmacy Practice Model Summit and grouped them into related areas of focus. Six focus areas were identified: acute care, ambulatory care, education and training, organizational affairs and leadership, pharmacy technicians, and technology and information systems. A PPMI Michigan conference was arranged in which focus groups would assess these six areas. Each focus group was limited to six or seven participants, with a member of the task force serving as the facilitator for the group. Individual focus groups then formulated recommendations MSHP could develop into actionable strategies to address the key issues identified during the morning session. A total of 56 recommendations were submitted by the focus groups for consideration by all conference participants. Over 80% of the recommendations were deemed to be high impact/high feasibility. CONCLUSION: A process for acting on recommendations of the ASHP PPMI to advance the practice of health-system pharmacy within the state of Michigan was developed.

Report of the ASHP Task Force on Caring for Patients Served by Specialty Suppliers.

Task Force recommendations are discussed in more detail in eAppendix A (available at www.ajhp.org). What follows is a brief summary of those recommendations. In very abbreviated terms, the Task Force suggested that ASHP: 1. Consider creating and maintaining a Web resource center on ASHP's website to provide information about restricted drug distributions systems (RDDSs), risk evaluation and mitigation strategies (REMSs), risk assessment and minimization plans (RiskMAPs), and specialty suppliers and products. 2. Provide comprehensive education to members, other health professionals, regulators, third-party payers, patients, and other stakeholders about RDDSs, REMSs, RiskMAPs, and specialty suppliers and products. 3. Develop policies to advocate that a. Pharmacists serve as the institutional leaders in compliance and utilization challenges of safely managing externally supplied medications and related drug administration devices, b. Agencies, organizations, and associations that influence the distribution, sale, and dispensing of medications under these alternative distribution models address issues these models create in continuity of care, reimbursement, and patient safety, c. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Joint Commission develop standards and interpretations that accommodate hospital use of these products and devices when currently available technology (e.g., cold-chain storage, e-pedigree) is used to ensure patient safety, d. Group purchasing organizations negotiate contractual arrangements for specialty pharmaceuticals for both acquisition costs and distribution arrangements, and e. Information technology (IT) be used to resolve issues created by alternative distribution models and that ASHP work with IT vendors to ensure that programs are designed to meet the needs of these evolving models. 4. Quantify through research, perhaps in cooperation with entities such as the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Institute of Medicine, and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, the impact of alternative distribution models on financial, safety, clinical, and humanistic patient outcomes. 5. Develop multidisciplinary tools and best practices that assist health care practitioners address the challenges created by alternative distribution models, from patient intake and referral to hospital discharge.