According to the Washington Post, from 2006 through 2012,
76 billion prescription pain pills were manufactured and shipped to pharmacies all over the country, fueling a public health epidemic that killed 100,000 Americans.
Central to ACCP’s vision for the clinical pharmacy profession is the belief that pharmacists must be accountable for engineering and overseeing a fail-safe medication use system.
As policy-makers and health care leaders grapple with the scale of America’s opioid crisis and how to address it,
ACCP has actively been partnering with key allies to highlight areas in which clinical pharmacists can uniquely support these efforts.
Most recently, the Post published a letter to the editor written by ACCP President Suzanne A. Nesbit in response to the newspaper’s ongoing investigative series into America’s opioid epidemic.
In her letter, Nesbit calls on Baltimore and other communities to develop a comprehensive strategy to combat addiction – including a team-based approach to care that fully uses clinical pharmacists,
the health professionals best suited to optimize medication use.
Click here to read Dr. Nesbit’s letter in full.
Relevant Programming at the ACCP Annual Meeting
National Academies of Medicine Forum on Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders
ACCP participates in a nationally recognized, structured forum to promote data, policies, practices, and systems that affect the diagnosis and provision of care for mental and substance use disorders,
including substance-related and addictive conditions.
In this capacity, ACCP helps lead the dialogue on a range of issues,
including coordination and integration of clinical pharmacists’ services in primary and specialty health care delivery systems and standardization of data collection to enable data matching, aggregation, and sharing.
Click here to learn more about the NAM Forum on Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders.
American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM)
ACCP is currently partnering with ASAM, a professional medical society representing over 6000 physicians, clinicians, and associated professionals in the field of addiction medicine,
to promote joint educational programing and other collaborative activities related to addiction medicine. Click here to learn more about ASAM.
Coalition to Stop Opioid Overdose (CSOO)
Earlier in 2019, ACCP signed on as a member of CSOO, a coalition of local, regional, and national groups committed to advancing meaningful legislative and regulatory policies in response to the opioid overdose epidemic.
The coalition seeks to address the U.S. opioid overdose epidemic by engaging policy-makers, public health leaders, chronic pain and addiction specialists, individuals in and seeking recovery,
and family members so that legislation and policies receive the support and funding needed. Click here to learn more about CSOO.
Recommendations to HHS Pain Management Taskforce
The HHS Pain Management Best Practices Inter-Agency Task Force issued a call for stakeholder recommendations on best practices and issue recommendations that address gaps or inconsistencies for managing chronic and acute pain.
In response, ACCP submitted comments calling for the integration of clinical pharmacists as essential team members into the multidisciplinary approach to chronic pain that focuses on the patient’s medical condition,
comorbidities, and medication management services, including medication-assisted treatment (MAT) services for those with a dual diagnosis of chronic pain and opioid use disorder.
Click here to read ACCP’s comments in full.
Legislative Opportunities – Recognition of CDTM in Warren/Cummings Language
Currently before Congress, the Comprehensive Addiction Resources Emergency (CARE) Act,
introduced by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Representative Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD), would provide states and communities with $100 billion in federal funding over 10 years,
including more than $800 million a year directly to tribal governments and organizations.
Of importance, the CARE Act includes a minor but potentially significant provision that specifically recognizes pharmacists providing care under recognized collaborative practice structures.
Although the bill is unlikely to advance in its current format, ACCP will continue to work with congressional allies to advance payment for clinical pharmacists’ services delivered through team-based structures.
Click here to read more about the CARE Act.
Opioid Issue Strategy and Outlook
ACCP’s top advocacy priority is focused on helping achieve medication optimization in the treatment of chronic diseases through comprehensive medication management (CMM).
Of importance, ACCP fully recognizes that the scale of America’s addiction problem goes well beyond simply “getting the medications right.”
Addressing the opioid crisis that has developed in the 21st century will require meaningful and comprehensive system-wide policy changes that support evidence-based prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and recovery support services.
In partnering with groups like NAM, CSOO, and ASAM, ACCP adds clinical pharmacy’s voice and resources to those working to increase access to comprehensive, evidence-based outpatient treatment for patients with opioid use disorders;
expand programs to treat substance use disorders – including medication-assisted treatment (MAT); collect public health data; implement other evidence-based prevention strategies;
encourage data sharing between states; and support other prevention and research activities related to controlled substances, including education and awareness efforts.
Thus, although ACCP does not believe it appropriate to seek opportunities to advance the College’s CMM effort through legislation specifically targeting opioid abuse,
the College asserts that clinical pharmacists are essential team members in the multidisciplinary approach to chronic pain that focuses on the patient’s medical condition, comorbidities, and medication management services,
including MAT services for those with a dual diagnosis of chronic pain and opioid use disorder.
In keeping with the organizational vision that ACCP will drive positive changes in health care as the professional organization most influential in advancing
clinical pharmacist roles and responsibilities to optimize pharmacotherapy in the prevention and treatment of disease,
ACCP’s Board of Regents continues to support committing staff time and resources to help ensure the profession demonstrates appropriate leadership amid a recognized public health crisis.
Now Accepting Applications – ACCP/ASHP/VCU Pharmacy Policy Fellow Program
Launched in 2006 under the guidance of Dr. Ed Webb, the Congressional Healthcare Policy Fellow Program is a collaborative effort of ACCP,
the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Pharmacy, and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.
Pharmacists who participate in the program have the opportunity to gain real-world insight into health care policy analysis and development via immersion in the congressional environment.
Fellows are actively mentored in legislative evaluation, policy development, research, and writing while integrating practical experience with theory.
The 2019–2020 fellow, Dr. Kyle Robb,
currently works on the minority staff of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP).
The program provides a unique health care policy learning experience designed to demonstrate the value of pharmacy-government interaction and to facilitate practical contributions
to the effective use of scientific and pharmaceutical knowledge in government policy development.
Fellows spend the first 2 months of the program with each of the professional organizations as members of their respective government and professional affairs staff.
In September of the fellow year, fellows begin working in a legislative environment requiring health care input on the staff of an individual senator or representative or a relevant congressional committee.
Fellows typically seek congressional office placement with one of the committees that predominantly deals with health issues such as the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee and
Senate Finance Committee or the House Ways and Means or Energy and Commerce Committees.
Applications for 2020–2021 Pharmacy Healthcare Policy Fellow Program
Learn more about the Healthcare Policy Fellow Program by attending the Professional Placement Forum at ACCP’s upcoming Annual Meeting, where you can meet Dr. Robb and ACCP staff to discuss the program in person.
Interested candidates should also visit the Pharmacy Healthcare Policy Fellow website for more information and instruction on submitting an application.
Don’t Miss the Exciting Advocacy Session in New York City!
Navigating Regulatory and Payment Barriers to Medication Optimization: Advocating for Business Models That Sustain Clinical Practice (Saturday, October 26, 9:45 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. Nassau Room)
The key to securing ongoing, sustainable revenue streams from public and private payers lies in demonstrating value, outcomes, and savings.
The profession has made great strides in developing consistent language around the process of care, but the absence of clear definitions around statewide protocols, collaborative practice,
and scope of practice remain barriers to building sustainable, scalable business models and revenue streams to support clinical practice.
The goal of this session is to discern how legal structures that regulate clinical practice can help establish a common understanding and set of expectations for patient care across the entire health care spectrum,
including public and private payers. The attendee will gain knowledge related to how federal laws and regulations – including the Social Security Act, the Affordable Care Act (ACA),
and implementation of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) – can advance clinical pharmacy practice through team-based approaches to medication optimization.
The session will also present effective strategies to optimize your advocacy communications with key stakeholder groups, including Congress, Medicare, and Medicaid policy-makers and in outreach to private insurance plans.
Faculty
Moderator:Kathy Pham, Pharm.D., BCPPS, ACCP Director of Policy and Professional Affairs
Speaker: Curtis E. Haas, Pharm.D., FCCP, Director of Pharmacy, University of Rochester Medical Center
Speaker: Jon Easter, Director of the Center for Medication Optimization, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy
Speaker: Paul T. Kelly, President, Capitol Advocacy & Government Affairs, LLC
Program
- Getting the Definitions Right: Why Statutory Terminology Matters
- Building the Business Model by Meeting the Metrics: CMM in Value-Based Payment and Delivery
- Legislative and Regulatory Advocacy and Communications
- Question and Answer Session with Speaker Panel