APhA looks back on 2013, forward to 2014 as group aims for provider status for pharmacists

WASHINGTON — Serious discussion about the possibility of officially granting healthcare provider status to pharmacists is among the achievements that a pharmacy professional group cited as it welcomed the new year.

In a statement released on New Year's Day, American Pharmacists Association EVP and CEO Thomas Menighan wrote that while a proposed amendment to the sustainable growth rate bill in 2013 to grant pharmacists provider status wasn't introduced or approved, "we can officially say that the topic of provider status for pharmacists is being discussed in the Senate."

Menighan wrote that the APhA would continue pushing for provider status for pharmacists and developing a standard patient care process, noting that the profession has been lacking in that area, unlike standardized processes for medicine and nursing. "[But] we're poised to fix that," he wrote, adding that the group is also working with the Joint Commission of Pharmacy Practitioners to develop a vision statement to further define the future of pharmacy practice.