Clinical Pharmacy and Capitol Hill: ACCP Submits Comments to Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs

After a December 3, 2025, Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs (VA) hearing on Medication Management in VA Healthcare, ACCP submitted comments to the Senate Committee highlighting key studies showing clinical pharmacy practitioners in the VA improving access, clinical outcomes, and cost-effectiveness in the delivery of team-based care.

Related to the Senate hearing, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a study titled “Status of Key Recommendations Related to Mental Health and Medication Management.” The study focused on mental health treatment plans and opioid safety risk mitigation strategies. Click here to read the GAO study.

ACCP’s comments focused on the VA National Pharmacogenomics Program, Clinical Pharmacy, Mental Health and Substance Abuse Disorder, and Optimizing Medications Through Telehealth: Protecting Veteran Access to Telemedicine Services Act of 2025.

Click here to read ACCP’s comments.

ACCP has close ties with this Senate Committee, where Mikayla Harris, Pharm.D., a former Congressional Health Policy Fellow, currently serves on staff.

After completing her fellow year, where she served in the office of Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Harris now serves as a legislative assistant in the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs.

Harris provided the following reflection on her time as the 2024-2025 American College of Clinical Pharmacy/American Society of Health-System Pharmacists/Virginia Commonwealth University (ACCP-ASHP-VCU) Congressional Healthcare Policy Fellow:

Pharmacy practice and the legislative world are very different. That being said, the experiences from working in clinical settings bring an invaluable perspective when considering implications of potential legislative policy. Pharmacy professionals have so many transferable skills that make them so versatile, so don’t be afraid to step outside of your comfort zone. Your voice is needed.

The fellowship program, directed by VCU School of Pharmacy Associate Professor Kristin Zimmerman, was founded in 2006 under the leadership of ACCP’s C. Edwin Webb, Pharm.D., MPH, FCCP. Over the years, it has produced a distinguished cohort of fellows who have gone on to make impacts in the field of health care policy.