I’m pleased to announce that in 2021, ASHP achieved a new milestone, reaching 60,315 members. This represents an impressive 5% growth across all membership categories, including pharmacists, new practitioners, student pharmacists, and pharmacy technicians.

ASHP is your organization, and our continued growth represents the combined efforts of you, our members, working together to advance patient care and pharmacy practice. To borrow a phrase from ASHP President Dr. Linda Tyler, the profession of pharmacy is changing at “maximum velocity,” reinforcing the need for high-value, relevant membership offerings that can support the expanding and evolving roles across the pharmacy workforce. For example, ASHP offers 11 sections and forums, which provide a home for members to share best practices, network, and promote professional development. In 2021, we created a new Pharmacy Administration and Leadership Residents’ Collaborative to serve as a home within ASHP for unique offerings for the Health-System Pharmacy Administration and Leadership (or HSPAL) resident community.

ASHP continues to introduce new and innovative initiatives to keep pace with our members’ needs and remain a steadfast advocate and voice for the pharmacy profession and the patients we serve. ASHP’s Pharmacy Executive Leadership Alliance, or PELA, provided extensive knowledge sharing in 2021. PELA has convened multiple summits with healthcare leaders to provide insightful reports and recommendations on timely topics, including telehealth innovations, hospital at home and alternative sites of care, and shifting from COVID-19 recovery to reimagining healthcare.

We also continue to support the well-being, resilience, and professional engagement of the pharmacy workforce. In addition to our work on the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-being and Resilience, ASHP was recently awarded a  three-year, $2.3 million grant from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and Services Administration. The grant is focused on reducing burnout and supporting mental health in our nation’s pharmacy and healthcare workforce. I look forward to keeping you updated as we move forward with this important endeavor.

Over the course of 2021, we took significant steps toward strengthening an inclusive culture for all pharmacy practitioners by implementing recommendations from the ASHP Task Force on Racial Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. We launched the ASHP Inclusion Center, which includes a collection of content, educational programs, awards, and grant programs. We kicked off a seven-part free educational webinar series that highlights best practices and actionable steps pharmacy professionals can use to recognize and combat bias and disparities in care. We also developed a Guided Mentorship Program to connect BIPOC pharmacy students and young practitioners with seasoned practitioners.

As we pass the two-year mark of the global pandemic, ASHP remains dedicated to providing you with the education, tools, and support you need to care for your patients. ASHP’s COVID-19 vaccine webpage and COVID-19 Resource Center continue to be updated frequently. We have been at the forefront of efforts to build COVID-19 vaccine confidence in communities across the country with resources such as our multi-media COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence Toolkit, which helps healthcare professionals build vaccine confidence in their communities. SafeMedication.com provides patients with trusted COVID-19 vaccine information in English and Spanish. And ASHP members have been spotlighted in the HHS-sponsored “We Can Do This,” vaccine confidence media campaign that reached more than 49 million listeners.

Throughout the pandemic, ASHP has worked tirelessly on the advocacy front to ensure the voices of the pharmacy profession are represented throughout all levels of government. Together with our state affiliates, we have made significant progress, such as having the federal government authorize pharmacists to order and administer selected COVID-19 prevention and treatment medications in all 50 states and territories. Pharmacists have also been recognized as providers in Medicaid programs in 40 states.

Last week, ASHP was pleased to announce our support and advocacy for the introduction of new federal legislation, the Equitable Community Access to Pharmacist Services Act, that would ensure patients can continue to access essential pandemic and pandemic-related services provided by pharmacists. This latest bill introduction is yet another important milestone as we build on many other successes we have garnered at the state and federal level supporting the recognition of pharmacists as patient care providers.

A range of other advocacy wins and initiatives also have been advanced this past year, including our longstanding efforts to address vulnerabilities in our drug supply chain, which most recently resulted in the inclusion of ASHP recommendations in a White House drug supply chain report.

Engagement with our wide array of resources also has never been higher. In 2021 alone, we issued 487,730 statements of Continuing Education credit across our multi-media educational offerings. We published 252 episodes of the @ASHPOfficial Podcast, garnering more than 275,580 total downloads. Over 2.3 million users accessed ASHP’s practice resources on ASHP.org, and we saw significant increases in the use of patient-centered content on ASHP’s newly redesigned consumer website, SafeMedication.com.

In the spring, we announced the launch of two exciting new programs to help pharmacists and organizations achieve the highest levels of excellence. Pharmacies that achieve certification through ASHP’s Certified Centers of Excellence in Medication-Use Safety and Pharmacy Practice program demonstrate the highest levels of pharmacy practice, which enhances the credibility and value of a pharmacy’s services across the organization. The University of California San Diego Health recently became the first recipient of this important designation.

Also announced in the spring of 2021, the Certified Pharmacy Executive Leader program, a first-of-its-kind credential offering pharmacy leaders national recognition, signified ASHP’s growing commitment to supporting leadership development for the pharmacy profession. We expect the first cohort of leaders to achieve this important certification in the latter part of 2022.

Throughout the past year we have also maintained our focus on developing world class publications and other educational resources to enhance practice and career advancement. We continued to expand our professional certificate offerings, launching seven new products in 2021, including Opioid Stewardship, Anticoagulation, Crisis and Pandemic Management, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Well-Being and Resilience, and Mental Health Support.

We also broadened our offerings in the area of board certification resources, adding solid organ transplant to our list of specialties. Emergency medicine will be added as a new specialty later this year.

ASHP Publishing issued new editions of important reference texts, including Pharmacy Calculations, Clinical Pharmacokinetics and Extended Stability for Parenteral Drugs; and offered new titles such as “Telehealth: Strategies for Establishing Pharmacy Practice Models in Ambulatory Care Settings.”

For additional details on how our collective efforts have made an impact, I encourage you to view two new infographics that recap ASHP’s 2021 highlights and ASHP’s COVID-19 response and resources.

As we look ahead, we are very pleased to get back to in-person events in 2022. First up, our 2022 Summer Meetings & Exhibition in Phoenix, scheduled for June 11 to June 15. With a theme of “Return, Refocus, Refresh,” it’s sure to be a memorable return to in-person learning and networking. Registration is now open and we hope to see you there. We also can’t wait to welcome you back to the largest gathering of pharmacists in the world: the Midyear Clinical Meeting & Exhibition, which is planned for Las Vegas in December. Registration will open later this summer.

I am immensely proud of all that you have accomplished during such an uncertain time. Our members continue to shine bright and spotlight the very best of pharmacy. We are looking forward to our continued mutual success in the year ahead.

Thank you for being a member of ASHP and for all you do for your patients and our profession.

Sincerely,

Paul

Posted on March 30, 2022