At the September 17 meeting of the Joint Commission of Pharmacy Practitioners (JCPP), ACCP invited colleague pharmacy organizations to endorse draft legislative language that would establish Medicare coverage for comprehensive clinical pharmacy services. The legislation is intended to address the more than $500 billion annual US expense associated with medication-related morbidity and mortality. ACCP’s goal is to seek introduction of a bill bearing this language in the 120th Congress, beginning in 2027. The organizations were asked to indicate by October 15 their willingness to share ACCP’s legislative initiative with their respective boards of directors.

In his formal communication to JCPP CEOs, Executive Director Michael Maddux wrote:

1. This initiative is driven by 40 to 50 years of collective effort by the pharmacy profession to foster a credible pharmacist specialist workforce that would be well prepared to work both effectively and efficiently in patient-centered, team-based settings. In doing so,
   1. Beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, the academy pursued reengineering the professional degree curriculum to produce graduates with greater pharmacotherapeutic and clinical practice knowledge and experience—ready to enter practice and/or pursue formal postgraduate education/training. In particular, it was AACP’s “Commission to Implement Change [in Pharmacy Education]” and its series of Background Papers I-IV that were so influential in setting the stage and leading this transformation.
   2. ACPE kept pace and helped lead these efforts as it advanced its standards for professional degree programs that ensured coherence and quality across programs during what was a fairly tumultuous period for pharmacy education.
   3. Beginning in the 1960s, ASHP developed accreditation standards for postgraduate residency training programs, thereby leading the growth and advancement of a new generation of postgraduate trainees capable of leading health system pharmacy practice innovation and pursuing specialized/advanced clinical practice. Importantly, ASHP facilitated and led the emergence of today’s PGY1 and PGY2 residency configuration. Today, we have reached a tipping point where almost all graduates who wish to pursue postgraduate training can now secure a residency position.
   4. In the 1970s, APhA established the Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties (now the Board of Pharmacy Specialties) through the visionary efforts of leaders who recognized the future potential of pharmacist specialists to contribute to improved patient care (albeit a distant vision at the time). Within a similar time frame, ASCP pioneered development of consultant pharmacist certification, which served as the precursor to today’s BPS certification in geriatric pharmacy practice. These efforts have led to another tipping point, resulting in 16 recognized BPS-certified specialties and more than 60,000 active certified pharmacists worldwide.
   5. ACCP and other JCPP member organizations (including AAPP, APhA, ASCP, ASHP, and HOPA) have collaborated to support specialty petition development and/or offer recertification opportunities for specialist pharmacists over the past 20-30 years.
2. Based on the foregoing, the promising prospects for the adoption of the ECAPS and the Main Street Pharmacy Access Act, and the “tipping points” described above, ACCP believes this is an opportune time for the profession as a whole to unite and advocate for the inclusion of the patient care services provided by this well-qualified cadre of pharmacist specialists across the profession as a covered Medicare Part B benefit. Indeed, one question we would ask your boards to consider is “Why not support this effort?” The profound investment of the pharmacy profession’s time and resources to create alignment of the professional degree program, postgraduate training, and specialist certification was conceived with this end in mind…. The next step is to codify the effort by launching legislation … an effort that will be much more likely to succeed if we have your support. From our perspective, the time is now. We hope that you will join us.

Going forward, the College’s professional and government affairs staff will continue to work with key members of Congress, CMS, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (also known as the CMS Innovation Center), and medical societies to promote the benefits of comprehensive clinical pharmacy services provided in team-based settings. The College’s staff will report to the ACCP membership the extent to which the JCPP organizations unite behind this effort.