Chelsea M. Maier, PharmD, CSP ([email protected]), is the specialty pharmacy manager at the University of Louisville (UofL) Health in Louisville, Kentucky. She obtained her PharmD from Sullivan University and completed PGY1 pharmacy residency training at the Robley Rex Veterans Affairs Medical Center. She has served in the specialty pharmacy at UofL Health as a staffing pharmacist, clinical pharmacist, and then manager since its establishment in 2017. She has assisted with the opening of multiple 340B eligible hospital clinics and initiation of pharmacist professional billing within the health system. In her current role, she is responsible for maintaining URAC and ACHC accreditations, optimizing pharmacy services through quality improvement, enhancing the specialty pharmacy’s role through identification and initiation of new initiatives to support the health system, and serving as chair of the UofL Health Quality Management Committee. She is also a preceptor for the PGY1 community-specialty pharmacy and the PGY2 ambulatory care residency programs as well as a course coordinator for the specialty pharmacy elective at Sullivan University College of Pharmacy. She is currently pursuing further education through the 2023-2024 ASHP Pharmacy Leadership Academy.
Maier’s ASHP involvement includes serving as a member, vice chair, and currently as chair of the Section of Specialty Pharmacy Practitioners Advisory Group on Accreditation and Compliance. She also currently serves as chair of the Awards and Nominations Committee for the Kentucky Society of Health System Pharmacists and as an alternate delegate from Kentucky to the ASHP House of Delegates. Additionally, she has coauthored publications in AJHP (2023,2024).
Specialty pharmacy services have become a cornerstone of patient care and health system sustainability. As the specialty pharmacy medication market expands at a rapid pace, we must be ready to meet the operational, clinical, and financial challenges that arise to care for our patients and support our institutions. Facing these exciting changes head on will require pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, patient access specialists, and pharmacy leaders to collaborate to create unique care models allowing health system specialty pharmacies to maintain a superior quality of care. As advanced clinicians, we must continue efforts to standardize patient outcomes and demonstrate the value we provide to large PBMs and ensure increased access to health system pharmacy care.
Over the past three years, I have been amazed by the efforts and successes of this Section. Each section advisory group has contributed to a vast number of applicable initiatives including improving pharmacy education on specialty pharmacy practices, developing new business models, reviewing patient outcomes, and advocating for our profession and patients. I plan to utilize my experiences with developing teams, integrating specialty pharmacy services into multidisciplinary clinics, and supporting the pharmacy benefits plan of our health system to further the advancement of our section, profession, and patients.
I am grateful for the support and education I have received from the members of this Section. I would be honored to serve as director-at-large and have the opportunity to serve a community that has propelled the advancement of our practices and the care of our patients.