Last year, legislation (H.R. 6000, known as “Cures 2.0”) was introduced on Capitol Hill that included a provision to cover payment for qualified clinical pharmacists delivering “pharmacogenetic consultations.”

Working with colleagues at the Colorado Pharmacists Society and the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, ACCP has since been engaged in an ongoing series of meetings with staff members from the lead congressional offices driving the legislative proposal.

ACCP’s goal is to consolidate support for the initiative by educating Capitol Hill on the potential for pharmacogenetic/pharmacogenomic (PGx) testing to allow for precisely specified and delivered medical care according to the unique characteristics of an individual patient’s genetic profile plus the patient’s lifestyle and environment.

Get Involved!

Now your help is needed. To accomplish the College’s overall goal of helping patients achieve medication optimization, members of Congress need to hear directly from clinical pharmacists about the importance of PGx testing and the emerging world of precision medicine.

Contacting the offices of your elected officials is simple. ACCP has prepared a letter for you to review and edit. Simply click here and follow the instructions to send your message to Capitol Hill.

Please take the time to personalize your letter by providing additional information about your practice and the patients you care for. As policy-makers assess the strengths and weaknesses of the nation’s health care infrastructure at this critical time, it is vital they hear about the collaborative work of clinical pharmacists.

Opportunities for Clinical Pharmacists

By specifying that “qualified clinical pharmacists” should be the health care team member responsible for delivering PGx consultations, Congress is deliberately recognizing clinical pharmacists’ unique contributions to the growing field of precision medicine. ACCP applauds Congress’s increased understanding of the advanced approaches to the treatment of complex conditions provided by qualified clinical pharmacists.

In this legislative proposal, pharmacogenetic consultation refers to a consultation furnished to an individual with respect to a genetic or genomic test requested by a physician, under which provision qualified clinical pharmacists would be delivering advice and recommendations regarding the dosage, safety, and efficacy of particular drugs, biologics, and other treatments on the basis of the individual’s PGx result.

However, precision medicine is not limited to genetic testing. ACCP also recommends that Congress explore opportunities to expand the definition to ensure precision medicine and pharmacotherapy are available to a broader range of patient populations. Oncology pharmacists, for example, examine protein expression in cancer cells to provide better information about a specific type of cancer, the best treatment to use, and how well a treatment works.

Want to Learn More?

Much of ACCP’s advocacy work is performed through the multi-stakeholder Get the Medications Right (GTMRx) Institute. Register as a GTMRx signing member to stay on top of exciting developments related to this work in Washington, D.C., and across the country.

Contribute to ACCP-PAC!

Members of ACCP’s political action committee (PAC) launched its 2022 election effort by attending a small fundraising event for Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) on Capitol Hill. The event, which was hosted at the offices of ACCP’s long-serving consultant lobbyist, Paul Kelly, provided an opportunity to present a check for a PAC contribution approved by the ACCP-PAC Governing Council.

How Does ACCP Decide Which Candidates Receive ACCP-PAC Support?

All decisions related to PAC activities are made by the member-led ACCP-PAC Governing Council. ACCP-PAC is nonpartisan and contributes to candidates who understand and support the College’s issues – regardless of their political party affiliation.

The Governing Council considers established criteria when making decisions related to candidate support:

• Position on key health care committees in Congress
• Proven support for pharmacy and health care–related issues
• Previous health care experience

Click here to support your PAC today!