Debbie Duckworth

Her Story

Dr. Debbie Duckworth, PharmD, CSP graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy in 1984, and has had a diverse experience having practiced in retail and hospital pharmacy prior to becoming a 20 year owner-operator of a Medicine Shoppe pharmacy with a compounding center and a durable medical equipment company. Following the sale of the businesses, Debbie joined her alma mater as AD of Ambulatory Pharmacy Services, focusing on expanding the University of Kentucky's retail pharmacy footprint to five retail locations and a specialty pharmacy. She transitioned to the Director of Specialty Pharmacy in 2015, helping lead an effort to become the 8th academic medical center to achieve URAC accreditation, soon followed by ACHC accreditation for Specialty Pharmacy in 2017. Debbie was promoted to Senior Director of Specialty Pharmacy and Infusion Services at that time, as the need to incorporate specialty infused medications, address site of care issues. She became a Certified Specialty Pharmacist in 2018.

Facility

UK HealthCare is an academic medical center and integrated delivery network located in Lexington, Kentucky. The health system includes flagship facility Albert B. Chandler Hospital as well as the Kentucky Children's Hospital and Good Samaritan Hospital, with a combined capacity of 1,269 beds. UKHC houses over 80 specialized clinics accommodating over 1.9M patient visits in 2019, operates over 140 outreach programs, and partners with many of the smaller health systems throughout the Commonwealth. Chandler Hospital has designations as a Level 1 Trauma Center and a Level 4 NICU, is home to the Markey Cancer Center, an NCI designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, and actively manages the St. Claire Medical Center and Eastern State Hospital.

Recent Significant Projects

Most recently, Dr. Duckworth has been working to complete the design and construction of a new 30,000 sq. ft. off campus site including sterile compounding capabilities for its new ambulatory infusion center co-located with the expanded new UK Specialty Pharmacy Call Center space and automated Distribution Center. The UK Specialty Pharmacy teams have been expanded in order to provide support for the "Total Care" initiative, now numbering over 85 staff. Similar to the exceptional service and care provided to specialty pharmacy patients, this team will provide proactive refill management, clinical support,  prior authorization, financial assistance, and fulfillment services to patients seeing UKHC providers for any medication in any clinic. Also included in the facility is a training center, administrative offices, and innovative workspaces.

Along with the opening of this new facility, UK Specialty Pharmacy is preparing for site surveys with ACHC and URAC for accreditations in Infusion Pharmacy, Ambulatory Infusion Center, and Home Infusion Therapy scheduled later this year.

Dr. Duckworth also takes the lead on Pharmacy Contracting with all PBMs on the behalf of the University, and has been active in consulting on and advocating for legislative changes at the state level for PBM oversight with the UK College of Pharmacy, KSHP, and KPhA, all of which she is a member of. Debbie is also involved in the Vizient Specialty Pharmacy Outcomes and Benchmarking Workgroup, the Vizient AMC Ambulatory Pharmacy Development Committee, and the Health-System Specialty Pharmacy Outcomes Research Consortium.

Initial Involvement in ASHP

Currently Debbie has been an ASHP member since the introduction of the Section of Specialty Pharmacy Practitioners (SSPP), serves on the Section Advisory Group on Business Development, and has been a member of the Specialty Pharmacy Survey Development Committee. She attended her first ASHP meeting this summer in Boston, and enjoyed meeting colleagues that she had only met through teleconferencing previously. Dr. Duckworth precepts PGY1 and PGY2 HSPAL and SPAL residents.

Why did you become involved in ASHP?

Once ASHP introduced the SSPP, I felt like this was the premier organization to be able to create a forum for the health system specialty pharmacies to collaborate, address concerns, and share ideas freely.

Advice for Someone New to Specialty Area

This is a dynamic and exciting area of pharmacy, that I contend is a best practice model, delivering high quality care in a way that offers the greatest outcomes in the most efficient and productive way possible. Although practicing in the Specialty Pharmacy field can be challenging, it is also highly rewarding.

Never lose sight that patient care is your ever present motivation, and realize that we are all still relatively new to this practice, as Specialty Pharmacy is still a young field. The best resource is your colleagues and peers. Participation in the various groups dedicated to the advancement of Specialty Pharmacy allows for "iron to sharpen iron" as we exchange the knowledge we've gleaned from both our failures and our successes. Most everyone I've met or called has been a source of inspiration and the comradery is wonderful.

How would you explain the value of ASHP to a friend or colleague?

The colleagues and professionals that I've had the privilege to work with through ASHP have provided a wonderful sense of community and partnership. I've found the open sharing and discussions of how each has handled shared challenges, opportunities, or situations to be most helpful. The collective knowledge working together on a project that has meaning to everyone creates some really meaningful deliverables, all facilitated through ASHP.

What is the value of ASHP for the profession?

An organization with such a profound history and significance as ASHP possesses, has the ability to draw upon the various talents and gifts of the collective membership to enact meaningful and tangible improvements to the issues facing the health system specialty pharmacies. The reputation and presence of ASHP can be utilized to create a platform addressing the various concerns.

ASHP represents the concerns of the health system, the pharmacists and technicians who work in those health systems, and ultimately the patients of those health systems. Giving support and providing this type forum for "iron to sharpen iron" assures that our profession continues to advance, and therefore the health care that we provide to the patients that we serve advances as well.