PHARMACIST PARTICIPATION IN HEALTH POLICY DEVELOPMENT

To advocate that pharmacists participate with policymakers and stakeholders in the development of health-related policies at the national, state, and community levels; further,

To develop tools and resources to assist pharmacists in fully participating in health policy development at all levels.

Rationale

Health policy developed at the federal, state, and local levels increasingly impacts medication use, particularly as payment and delivery models require the interprofessional healthcare team to collaboratively deliver care to meet quality and outcomes measures. The perspective of the pharmacy workforce practicing in hospital and ambulatory care settings is essential to the development of health policy. At the federal level, policy development includes drug development, distribution, and control; coverage for medication therapy; interoperability of health information; and all aspects of patient safety. Those federal issues also exist at the state and local level, but also include the full range of scope of practice issues.

The absence of pharmacy workforce perspectives in health policy development leads to suboptimal public policy, inefficient use of resources (public and private), and the potential for suboptimal patient care at the individual patient level and with specific patient populations. Furthermore, poorly developed public policy results in the pharmacy workforce being unable to practice at the top of their licenses. Full engagement of the pharmacy workforce in health policy development will require support from employers and schools to allow pharmacist, pharmacy technician, and student participation in professional advocacy (e.g., time off for advocacy, etc.).