The Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS) has approved a three-component professional development program, to be developed and delivered by the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP), for the recertification of Board Certified Ambulatory Care Pharmacists (BCACPs).

The three components will provide BCACPs who elect to recertify by continuing education with opportunities for more than the 100 hours of continuing pharmacy education (CPE) credit required over a 7-year period. Beginning in 2012, ACCP will record and report directly to BPS the recertification credit earned by BCACPs in each component.

The three components, available annually, are as follows:

1. Ambulatory Care Self-Assessment Program (ACSAP)
2. Updates in Therapeutics^®: The Ambulatory Care Pharmacy Preparatory Review and Recertification Course
3. From Theory to Practice: Clinical Reasoning Series in Ambulatory Care Pharmacy

Each component covers the domains, tasks, and knowledge statements as delineated by the BPS Specialty Council on Ambulatory Care Pharmacy and published in the Content Outline for the Ambulatory Care Pharmacy Specialty Certification Examination. BCACPs may select from among these annual components to earn the required number of hours during their certification cycle. Each component, priced separately, includes a Web-based posttest. A description of each program component follows.

ACSAP is an online study program that provides BCACPs with previously unpublished material on contemporary topics related to the Ambulatory Care Pharmacy specialty. ACSAP online books (available as PDFs) will be released twice a year starting in January 2013.

ACSAP will provide a minimum of 20 recertification hours annually. BCACPs who wish to earn recertification credit must read the instructional materials and successfully complete the Web-based posttest by the deadline for each ACSAP module. Only completed tests are eligible for credit; no partial or incomplete tests will be processed.

Note: BCACPs may use as many ACSAP modules as they need to attain the required CPE credits during their 7-year certification cycle.

2013 ACSAP Availability
The first ACSAP book will be released in January 2013. The full schedule of ACSAP books - with release dates – will be posted at www.accp.com in the fall of 2012. Tables of contents, learning objectives, sample chapters, faculty, posttest submission deadlines, and available CPE will be updated as this information becomes available for each book.

The Ambulatory Care Pharmacy Preparatory Review and Recertification Course will provide a comprehensive review of ambulatory care pharmacy topics within the scope of services provided by ambulatory care pharmacists. The Ambulatory Care Pharmacy Preparatory Review and Recertification Course will be offered live every April and will be available for home study in various formats including an online program and a workbook and CD-ROM package. Home study materials will be released around June 1 each year after the live offering. The program will first be offered for recertification credit in spring 2012 in conjunction with the Updates in Therapeutics^® 2012.

A minimum of 20.0 hours of recertification credit will be available for participants each year. To earn recertification credit from the Ambulatory Care Pharmacy Preparatory Review and Recertification Course, BCACPs must either attend the live program or complete the instructional materials for home study and successfully complete the Web-based posttest by the deadline. Only completed tests will be eligible for credit; no partial or incomplete tests will be processed.

Note: The Ambulatory Care Pharmacy Preparatory Review and Recertification Course may be completed for recertification credit, either in live or home study format, up to two times, in nonconsecutive years, during the 7-year certification cycle.

2013 Course Availability
Updates in Therapeutics^® 2013: The Ambulatory Care Pharmacy Preparatory Review and Recertification Course will be held April 19–April 23, 2013, in Reno, Nevada. The home study version of the course will be available beginning on June 1, 2013, both as an online/Web-based version and as a CD-ROM and workbook package. Both the live and home study formats of the course include access to a Web-based posttest. BCACPs who take the course and successfully complete the posttest will earn 27 hours of recertification credit. The Web-based posttest must be submitted by September 1, 2013, to be eligible for recertification credit.

For more information on Updates in Therapeutics^®: The Ambulatory Care Pharmacy Preparatory Review and Recertification Course, click here.

The Clinical Reasoning Series in Ambulatory Care Pharmacy is a live education series that explores cutting-edge, contemporary therapeutic topics and develops scientifically sound clinical reasoning and decision-making skills. The program employs active learning exercises designed to advance the skills and abilities of BCACPs to critically evaluate scientific evidence and clinical trials and effectively incorporate significant findings into daily practice, leading to effective and safe patient care. The From Theory to Practice: Clinical Reasoning Series in Ambulatory Care Pharmacy will be presented live each year in conjunction with the ACCP Annual Meeting. The program was first offered for recertification credit in fall 2012.

A minimum of 6.0 hours of recertification credit will be available for participants each year. To earn recertification credit for the Clinical Reasoning Series, BCACPs will be required to attend the live program and successfully complete the Web-based posttest. Only completed tests are eligible for credit; no partial or incomplete tests will be processed.

Note: BCACPs may participate in the Clinical Reasoning Series in Ambulatory Care Pharmacy as many times as they wish throughout their 7-year certification cycle to attain the required recertification credit.

2013 Program Availability
The Clinical Reasoning Series in Ambulatory Care Pharmacy will be held Saturday, October 12, in conjunction with the 2013 ACCP Annual Meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico. To be eligible for recertification credit, BCACPs must attend the live program and successfully complete the Web-based posttest by November 30, 2013.

The Clinical Reasoning Series program agenda, learning objectives, faculty, and registration details will be available July 2013 at www.accp.com

The new BPS-approved professional development program has been designed to provide BCACPs with substantially more than the required 100 hours of CPE credit over a 7-year period. Each of the three program components will provide recertification credit annually. BCACPs may select from among these components to earn the required number of hours during their certification cycle.

The table below summarizes the minimum recertification credit hours offered, per year, by each program component beginning in April 2012 (which marks the first Updates in Therapeutics®: The Ambulatory Care Pharmacy Preparatory Review and Recertification Course) and continuing through 2018. In total, the program will offer a minimum of 302 credit hours toward BCACP recertification. Of these 302 hours, a minimum of 202 will be available to individual BCACPs. Factored into the total minimum eligible hours is a limitation on the use of the Ambulatory Care Pharmacy Preparatory Review and Recertification Course, which may be used no more than twice and not in 2 consecutive years.

Please note that while this program affords BCACPs who elect to recertify by continuing education options to earn the required 100 recertification hours, BPS will only accept up to 50 hours of recertification credit earned during the first 3 years of the 7-year certification cycle. For more information on BPS requirements, click here.

For more information, please contact ACCP at (913) 492-3311 or send an e-mail to accp@accp.com.