Healthcare Policy Fellow Stephanie Hammonds (second from left) poses with ASHP’s Brian Meyer (far left), VCU’s Gary Matzke (to the right of Hammonds), and ACCP’s C. Edwin Webb (far right).

Did the March signing of President Barack Obama’s health care reform bill change Stephanie Hammonds’ job?

Yes and no.

Hammonds has experienced a bird’s-eye view of health care legislation and policy decisions during her nearly 2-year term as a Congressional Healthcare Policy Fellow based in Washington. She began her time on Capitol Hill in the Majority Health Policy Office of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. At the time, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) was in charge.

“I met Senator Kennedy twice,” she said. “His passing away was extraordinarily difficult for all of us. When Senator [Tom] Harkin of Iowa took over, he asked us all to stay.” Although the two senators “come from different places,” as Hammonds said, they share an extraordinary commitment to the cause.

Hammonds’ fellowship is the result of collaboration between ACCP, the VCU School of Pharmacy, and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. Gary Matzke, Associate Dean for Clinical Research and Public Policy at VCU, is the program’s founding director.

Hammonds earned her Pharm.D. degree at Purdue University School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. When she arrived in Washington in September 2008, she said, “We were working on a fact-finding mission.” After much input from innumerable sources, Congress wrote the health care proposals (as opposed to 1993–1994, when the White House handed a proposal to Congress).

Once it came to instilling ideas from both sides, Hammonds said, “There were some glaring differences and some similarities. So we got into a bit of a stalemate. A lot of adverse messaging was going out. But the president increased his outreach efforts.” According to Hammonds, “The House had a good bill” and thought perhaps it could pass as a separate bill to reconcile some of the issues … or start over. “But we didn’t have time for that,” she said. “One of the options was passing the Senate bill and then a separate reconciliation bill to negotiate fixes for the House.”

Talks continued. Laughing, Hammonds added, “[The reconciliation discussion] was all happening way above my pay grade.” At that point, she said, “We were sort of in this waiting-game limbo. I’m still actually working on what I was before … but I have a lot more confidence now in being able to provide talking points.”

That’s partly why she was happy her fellowship was extended last fall. “We weren’t done yet. There were some parts I felt personally invested in, and I didn’t want to walk away from that.” Some of Hammonds’ colleagues have suggested that watching legislation grow is akin to childbirth. Because of this experience, she can relate. “It was like this was my baby.”

Fast-forward to the health care reform bill—aka the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act—which was passed by the House on March 21 and signed by the president on March 23.

“We did it!” exclaimed Hammonds by phone, shortly after the signing. So, has her job changed now? Yes, in that part of the “waiting game” is over. No, in that many items need reauthorization, and then there’s the committee’s next big push: food safety.

It’s clear Hammonds finds her job exhilarating. Although she previously worked at three medical centers and as a community pharmacist, the Healthcare Policy Fellowship has confirmed her interest in policy as a career. “I don’t see myself going back to fulltime clinical practice,” she said. “That prepared me for a managerial track, but I knew I wanted to do policy at the legislative level. I think this is where I will hopefully stay, maybe on the Hill or in an agency.”

Because her fellowship ends in August, Hammonds said, she has the luxury of looking for post-fellowship jobs. Among her potential opportunities is a job working with a French national health insurance medicines policy group “to see how it could inform our work here.”

Wherever she lands, Hammonds said, her decision to pursue such a career is a testament to the Congressional Healthcare Policy Fellow program. “I know the applicant pool expanded greatly this year,” she said. “I’m sure the health-care reform issues also brought attention to it. It’s been great!”

Please click here for more information on the Congressional Healthcare Policy Fellow program.