SDTP Chair Messages
The Chair's messages, delivered three times annually, offer key updates on section goals, highlight member-related activities at ASHP events, meetings, and conferences, and showcase notable achievements within section working groups and committees. The Chair can be reached at [email protected], throughout the year.
Lisa Stump, MS, RPh, FASHP
Chair (2024-2025)
October 2024
We have entered the digital age and, as pharmacists, we remain leaders in advancing health and quality of life and ensuring that medication use is optimal, safe, and effective for all people at all times. Digital tools and telehealth capabilities open new avenues for early detection of illness, real-time alerting of changes in health conditions, connecting patients with resources and research, and alleviating the stress and burn out on the care team. As we launch the Section of Digital and Telehealth Practitioners (SDTP), our mission is to be the home for pharmacy professionals who focus on integrating digital health and telehealth into patient care, and to provide a community where members can learn, grow, and contribute to optimizing health outcomes for all through the effective use of digital and telehealth technologies.
To achieve our mission, we will center around four primary goals:
- Advance patient care through digital health and telehealth
- Support the integration of digital and telehealth solutions in pharmacy operations
- Prepare the pharmacy workforce for a digital future
- Support the pharmacy profession to lead in digital innovation
As our section matures, and with the help of ASHP member volunteers, we aim to meet key practice needs for our profession within digital health and telehealth. This includes alignment on standard definitions for digital health, telehealth, and remote patient monitoring to create a common language; evaluating the benefits, risks and appropriateness of digital tools in their application to clinical care; discussing the development and expansion of digital and telehealth programs; exploring the role and competencies of the pharmacist in digital and telehealth; and bolstering education for pharmacy clinicians, staff, and leaders on novel technologies.
As we stand on the brink of a new era in healthcare, the potential for digital and telehealth solutions to revolutionize our field is boundless. By embracing these innovations, we can not only enhance patient care but also empower our pharmacy workforce to lead with confidence and creativity. Let us seize this opportunity to shape the future of pharmacy, where technology and compassion work hand in hand to deliver unparalleled health outcomes. Together, we can transform challenges into triumphs and pave the way for a brighter, healthier tomorrow.
I invite each of you to join us on this exciting journey. The Section of Digital and Telehealth Practitioners is seeking volunteers to serve as subject matter experts for projects, educational programs, resources, and other activities related to digital health and telehealth. Get involved, share your insights, and be a part of the transformation by applying today.
As Paul W. Abramowitz, CEO of ASHP, once said, "Telehealth is an opportunity for the pharmacy profession to extend its reach to patients, to provide optimal medication management and complex patient care." Let us be the bridge and lead the way to a healthier future. Together, we can make a lasting impact on the future of healthcare.
February 2025
In recent months, the SDTP Executive Committee has had many discussions aimed at serving our members and providing much-needed resources. We connected with some of you during the ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting & Exhibition, where we participated in roundtable discussions, learned from our speakers and faculty colleagues, and explored key developments in digital and telehealth practice shaping our section’s strategic efforts.
Central to our discussion was the ongoing work to establish a consistent glossary of terminology related to digital and telehealth — derived from reputable sources but tailored to our section’s scope. Having a shared language will help us streamline communications and enhance alignment across our many initiatives, ultimately benefiting each of you as you discuss and implement digital health concepts within your own settings. In partnership with the ASHP Section of Pharmacy Informatics and Technology, we are pleased to release a new resource, the Glossary of Pharmacy Informatics and Digital Health Terms, housed on ASHP’s Digital Health and AI Resource Center as well as ASHP’s Pharmacy Informatics Resource Center.
We also devoted considerable time solidifying our educational priorities for the coming year. Recognizing members’ needs for practical resources and clear guidance, we plan to expand our focus on areas such as remote patient monitoring, patient-generated health data, telehealth regulations, and digital therapeutics. In support of these goals, we launched four new working groups to tackle different facets of digital transformation in pharmacy:
- Working group on evaluating the impact of digital health tools in practice and patient care
- Working group on developing a telehealth implementation framework
- Working group on drafting digital health and telehealth competencies
- Working group on defining the role of the pharmacist in digital transformation
You can follow the scope and leadership of our working groups by visiting the SDTP Working Groups page, or join the efforts to advance resources and knowledge in digital health and telehealth by volunteering.
Lastly, as part of our commitment to maintaining thought leadership in the emerging space of artificial intelligence, we discussed the proceedings from the recent ASHP Summit on Artificial Intelligence in Pharmacy Practice. We focused on the translation of those recommendations into tangible resources for our members, and plan to further examine best practices, gather relevant case studies, and provide ongoing education. We encourage you to submit your case studies and success stories with AI within your organization. We also encourage you to visit our member-only Education and Resource libraries for AI, where you can access ongoing content on AI in pharmacy.
We remain incredible excited about the potential for digital and telehealth to transform pharmacy practice and are committed to the work that we have ahead of us. Thank you for your continued support and engagement in our section’s work—together, we are shaping the future of pharmacy practice.
July 2025
Message will be posted in July.
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