ASHP Urges Senate to Include Pharmacists in Health Care Reform Proposals
5/21/2009
Health care reform proposals to improve patient care and reduce health care costs could be strengthened by involving pharmacists, ASHP told members of the Senate Finance Committee recently. The Society provided detailed comments to a Finance Committee white paper exploring policy options for transforming health care delivery.
ASHP called on senators to:
- Utilize pharmacists services as members of the care team; including recognition and payment for services,
- Include pharmacists as “qualified non-physician professionals” to provide transitional care services,
- Offer incentives for hospitals that use pharmacists services for discharge counseling,
- Make pharmacists eligible for grants to establish health IT systems, and
- Ensure pharmacist participation in developing comparative effectiveness research and establishing quality measures.
The Society also reiterated its call for funding for second-year specialty residency programs and called for representation for pharmacy on a proposed national health workforce commission.
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