NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 21, 2007

NINE NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS BRING PHARMACISTS' MESSAGES TO STATE LEGISLATORS

WASHINGTON, DC - Over 1,000 state legislators and other decision makers experienced the value today's pharmacists provide to patients across all settings in our health care system at the Annual Meeting of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). Nine national organizations recently collaborated to demostrate ways pharmacists can improve healthcare quality and decrease costs by reducing problems associated with medication use. The collaboration, known as the "Alliance for Pharmaceutical Care" consists of the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP), American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP), American Pharmacists Association (APhA), American Society of Consultant Pharmacists (ASCP), American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS), National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA), and National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations (NASPA). 

For the eleventh consecutive year the Alliance for Pharmacuetical Care exhibited at the NCSL meeting, August 5 - 8, 2007, in Boston, Massachusetts. The exhibit demostrated how pharmacists are providing patient care services designed to improve health outcomes through better medication use and reduced costs associated with the estimated $177 billion spent each year within the healthcare system on drug related problems. The exhibit emphasized collaboration among pharmacists and other providersm and reminded legislators that pharmacists are a knowledgeable resource on medication use and health care issues.

Over 1,000 legislators, legislative staff and other decision-makers participated in health evaluations and screenings in the area of cholesterol, diabetes, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, osteoporsis, healthburn and body composition analysis. Practicing pharmacists and student pharmacists were on hand to counsel and educate attendees on their screening results and to discuss how pharmacists are serving the healthcare needs of patients in their communities. In addition to live demostrations of pharmacists providing patient-care services, the exhibit provided legislators with the opportunity to talk to pharmacy practitioners and pharmacy organization representatives about the various healthcare issues legislators are currently dealing with.

In particular, these health policy discussions focused on two key practice areas in which pharmacists are providing important patient care - immunization services and Collaborative Drug Therapy Management (CDTM). Forty-five states now allow pharmacists to administer immunizations. Forty-four states have approved CDTM guidelines or protocols which allow pharmacists and prescribers to work collaboratively and authorize pharmacists to initiate, modify or continue drug therapy for a specific patient.

The Alliance had the opportunity to thank lawmakers from Florida and Rhode Island who recently passed legislation to authorize pharmacists to adminster immunizations, and Delaware law makers who authorized CDTM for patients in their state.

Currently Alabama, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, and Oklahoma are the only states which have not passed collaborative practive agreements. Maine, New York, Vermont, and West Virginia have yet to authorize pharmacists to adminster immunizations.

New year's NCSL meeting will on July 22 - July 26, 2008 in New Orleans, Louisiana.  If you are interested in volunteering for the 2008 meeting or viewing other information or pictures from 2008 meeting, go to the Alliance for Pharmaceutical Care website at: www.pharmacist.com/AllianceforPC 

Fact Sheets Distributed to State Legislators:
›› Collaborative Drug Therapy Management
›› Your Pharmacist Serves You and Your Community
›› Pharmacists Administer Immunizations and Provide Education
›› Pharmacists: The Medication-Use Experts
›› The Pharmacist's Role in Medicare MTM Services
›› What You Can Do to Increase Patient Access to Pharmacist Services