Patients and practitioners alike benefit from the invaluable clinical learning experiences. We are pleased that interest in this advanced training remains strong.

ASHP has long supported residency programs for the first-class training they provide to the pharmacy workforce. That’s why we were delighted to see the Accreditation Services Office and Commission on Credentialing work diligently this year to reduce administrative burdens for residency programs. Efforts included harmonizing postgraduate year 1 (PGY1) competency areas, goals, and objectives; streamlining and reducing the number of annual survey questions; and further leveraging PharmAcademic as the electronic platform to support the residency documentation process.

These efforts support the work that is underway to streamline and simplify the overall accreditation and re-accreditation survey processes. We look forward to sharing more about these enhancements this spring.

We also continue to advocate for protecting federal funding for pharmacy residency programs. ASHP has been warning about threats to residency funding since 2019, when the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) began clawing back Medicare funding from PGY1 residency programs, particularly those residencies hosted by multihospital health systems.

ASHP has strongly advocated for ways to safeguard these vital programs. Last year, we developed a residency toolkit to help programs complete a successful CMS audit. We also worked closely with Congress and others to develop the Rebuild America’s Health Care Schools Act of 2025. Recently reintroduced in Congress, this legislation would clarify the requirements hospitals must meet when providing advanced clinical training. Use ASHP’s action alert and urge your members of Congress to pass this legislation.

As we plan for next steps, candidates who did not match in Phase I are encouraged to participate in Phase II and to review ASHP’s Match Day resources, including the New Practitioner Forum’s Residency Guide: Preparation for Phase II of the Match.

We also invite Phase II participants to join us on March 20 for a Phase II virtual roundtable to get valuable advice from new practitioners and for mentors and preceptors to use Phase II and the Scramble Candidate Discussion Guide.

New residents are encouraged to use ASHP’s resident resources, our new practitioner resources, and the AJHP Residents Edition, a respected peer-reviewed platform dedicated to pharmacy residents.

Residency is an exciting step in a pharmacist’s professional journey. Congratulations to all! We wish you the very best throughout your careers as you advance pharmacy practice and become the future leaders of our profession.

Thank you for all you do for your patients and our profession.

Sincerely,

Paul

Posted on March 19, 2025