The Revolution Continues
It is hard for me to believe that it has been 12 months since I stood before you as your 2009-2010 president, encouraging you to explore opportunities, expand our educational and professional horizons, and ‘‘Lead the Revolution’’! I described several major initiatives that would be priorities during my presidential year. These were: * Faculty recruitment and retention and assessment services as issues ‘‘Z-1’’ and ‘‘Z-2’’; * Curricular reform and global pharmacy education as issues ‘‘Y-1’’ and ‘‘Y-2’’; and * Primary care as issue ‘‘X.’’ I will quickly summarize the progress that the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) has made over the past year on our strategic agenda as we worked to expand our horizons in academic pharmacy and healthcare. First, having sufficient numbers of well-qualified faculty members will always be a priority for our members and for AACP. Building upon our successful regional and national meeting exhibit program, AACP rolled out ‘‘American Pharmacy Educator Week’’ during American Pharmacists Month in October. Each college or school of pharmacy received a kit filled with resources to help you host events, mentor or adopt a student pharmacist and communicate that academic pharmacy is an excellent and exciting career choice. By all accounts, events and programs were well received and appreciated by faculty, staff and students alike. I am pleased that the AACP Board of Directors has unanimously agreed to continue with the program and the second annual ‘‘American Pharmacy Educator Week’’ will be held during the last week of October 2010. I hope that your college or school will actively participate this year, and that you will continue these and other efforts to stimulate many of our doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) and graduate students to consider academic pharmacy as their career. I selected the issue of primary care as the highest priority area for new activity within AACP’s agenda this past year. With health reform decidedly on the horizon, my goal was to have several key committees examine the contributions pharmacists could make to expanding access and improving the quality of primary care services for our patients. What an exciting journey it turned out to be at an opportune time in history! With the passage of reform legislation in March, more than 30 million people will soon have access to care that was not previously possible. However, all acknowledge that our current care systems are not ready to accommodate this bolus of patients with primary care needs. The Professional Affairs Committee was charged to examine the evidence for pharmacists’ integration into primary care practice and provide analysis of current and potential care delivery models. In response, the committee, chaired by Dr. Seena L. Haines, conducted an extensive literature search that revealed more than 150 articles that were then analyzed to depict each article’s connection to academic pharmacy, practice setting, onsite health providers, outcomes observed, and standard demographics. The analysis provides a firm demonstration to the Academy and others that the pharmacist’s role in primary care is evidence-based; the committee used the findings to describe pockets of excellence for pharmacy as the nation looks toward the future of the PatientCentered Health Home. Finally, the report builds upon the 1994 Professional Affairs Committee policy statements that pharmacists are essential figures in primary care and puts forth several recommendations for the Academy to serve as the leader for the research agenda for pharmacists in primary care. The second committee charged in studying primary care was our Advocacy Committee, chaired by Dr. Nancy DeGuire. They addressed our ability to align education to support and enhance the strategic goals of the federal government’s agencies focused on meeting the public need for primary healthcare. Evidence generated by faculty members at dozens of colleges and schools of pharmacy led to the inclusion of medication therapy management (MTM) in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Faculty members responded to a call for research related to improved health outcomes through increased access to MTM. The evidence helped convince congressional staff members that MTM is an essential tool for improving the quality of care. MTM can be found in a number of provisions American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 2010; 74 (8) Article 153.