On June 4 and 5, the Primary Care Collaborative (PCC) hosted its annual conference, Scaling What Works for Better Health, convening leaders from across the health care landscape for compelling conversations exploring how innovative new approaches to primary care delivery and payment can successfully be scaled. This event offered opportunities to gain educational experience, network with health care community leaders, and uncover key insights within the industry. Through the Supporting Scholarship Sponsorship, ACCP supported the next generation of clinicians by sponsoring the attendance of 2 primary care clinicians in training, Amy Hu, Pharm.D., and Amanda Murray, Pharm.D.

Hu earned her Pharm.D. degree from Rutgers University in New Jersey. She completed a PGY1 managed care residency at Humana, where she developed population health initiatives through the lens of an integrated pharmacy benefit manager. After residency, she worked on the Pharmacy Stars Innovation team designing clinical programs to improve Medicare Star Ratings. She is currently completing a PGY2 ambulatory care pharmacy residency at the University of Maryland to learn more about the clinical and operational nuances of patient care and work toward her mission in improving the health care experience.

Murray is a 2024 graduate of St. John’s University in Queens, New York, with interests in ambulatory care and community advocacy. Murray recently completed a PGY1 community-based pharmacy residency with Riverside Health and will be continuing postgraduate training at VCU School of Pharmacy as a PGY2 ambulatory care pharmacy resident. Murray has experience working with patients in both primary and memory care settings and has previously supported remote patient monitoring initiatives for chronic disease states such as hypertension, heart failure, diabetes, and COPD.

We asked Hu and Murray about their experience when attending the PCC conference, and they had this to share:

What new learnings or perspectives did you gain from the conference?

Hu: Attending the Primary Care Collaborative conference was a unique and enriching experience that deepened my understanding of the collective effort required to advance primary care. With representation from providers, payers, health tech companies, and advocacy groups, the conference offered a well-rounded perspective on the theme of scaling what works for better health. My biggest takeaway was the urgent need to accelerate payment reform in primary care. This insight left me inspired to further explore how policy and advocacy can support sustainable, value-based primary care.

Murray: As I reflect on the incredible time at the 2025 Primary Care Collaborative conference, some perspectives that continued to shine throughout the conference were the idea of “grass roots” advocacy and that “no one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” As clinical pharmacists, we are positioned well to be integrated into every primary care practice across the nation through the focus on team-based care. As more and more patients begin to see their pharmacist alongside their primary care provider in the community, we have high potential to influence positive change on the model of care for family medicine and beyond.

How has this experience influenced your goals or approach to your residency training and future work?

Hu: This experience has significantly influenced my goals and approach to post-residency by reinforcing my commitment to bridging the gap between payers and providers. Having worked in both patient care and managed care, I’ve gained a unique perspective on the challenges faced by each group—from time constraints and reimbursement hurdles on the provider side to data reporting and scalability concerns on the payer side. As I move forward in my career, I am driven to leverage my background to advance population health initiatives in ambulatory care, particularly through sustainable reimbursement models. Additionally, I aim to support the expansion of medical billing for pharmacist services to ensure the longevity and integration of pharmacy in team-based care.

Murray: This experience has strengthened my goal to continue working within primary care in addition to influencing my approach to collaboration. Yes, it is important to work with other pharmacists to promote the work we do, but this conference exemplified the importance of pharmacy presence amongst primary care and other providers. As I move into this next residency year and continue my professional journey, a primary focus of mine will be on building relationships outside of the pharmacy world to expand advocacy efforts for clinical pharmacy at large.

ACCP looks forward to providing this sponsorship opportunity again if PCC continues to offer it in the coming years. Invitations are extended to pharmacy residents according to their area of interest (ambulatory or primary care), current ACCP membership status (resident or residency program director), and ability to travel to Washington, D.C., for the 2-day conference. We would like to thank Drs. Hu and Murray for taking the time away from the last month of their busy residency programs to participate in this unique opportunity with the PCC.