TuesdayHighlights• Research Institute and Pharmacotherapy Open House (8–10 a.m.)

• Advancing Clinical Pharmacy Practice: Innovative Models (10:15–11:45 a.m.)

• Issues in U.S.–Based International Research (10:15–11:45 a.m.)

• PRN Focus Sessions (1:30–3 p.m.)

• PRN Focus Sessions (3:15–4:45 p.m.)

• PRN Business Meetings and Networking Forums (6–9 p.m.)

WednesdayHighlights• Scientific Poster Presentations (7:30–9:30 a.m.)

• Late Breakers in Pharmacotherapy (8–9:30 a.m.)

• Innovations in Pharmacy Education (9:45–11:15 a.m.)

• Closing Ceremony and International Awards (11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.)

Continued on Page 6

2015 ACCP Global Conference News

®

Hilton San Francisco Union Square San Francisco, California October 17–21, 2015

ISSUE 4TUESDAY, OCT. 20

#ACCPGC15

Michael S. Barr, M.D., MBA, MACP, opened his Monday morning keynote address with

some terms he admitted are not pop-ular.

“Medical home. Meaningful use. Merit-based incentives. Alternative payment models. Many of us don’t like to hear about these or talk about these,

The University of Minnesota team (from left, Fei Tang, Andrew Radzak, and Rebecca Pulk), shown here with Clinical Pharmacy Challenge moderator John E. Murphy, took top honors.

A team of student pharmacists from the University of Min-nesota captured the 2015

ACCP Clinical Pharmacy Chal-lenge championship Monday in fi-nal round competition with a team from Thomas Jefferson University Jefferson College of Pharmacy. The victory is the second by a Uni-versity of Minnesota team, which also took the title in the 2010 inau-gural Clinical Pharmacy Challenge.

The team from Jefferson College of Pharmacy led the match after the trivia/lightning round, but students from University of Minnesota began to close the gap in the clinical case sec-tion. Teams were then presented items in the following jeopardy categories: Cardiovascular Disorders, Endocrinol-ogy, Hematology/Oncology, Infectious Diseases, and Potpourri. Teams em-ployed strategic choices as they navi-gated the jeopardy grid, selecting the item categories they felt matched their own strengths and taking their chanc-es in the Potpourri category, which addressed items in COPD, neurology, and HIV. Ultimately, Minnesota pre-vailed with a strong performance in the Jeopardy-style segment.

The 2016 Challenge began with an initial field of 108 teams, competing in four online rounds. The top teams ad-

Team from University of Minnesota Takes 2015 ACCP Clinical Pharmacy Challenge Cup

vanced to live quarterfinal and semi-final rounds in San Francisco before Monday’s Final Round.

Now in its sixth year, the Clinical Pharmacy Challenge affords teams of three pharmacy students the chance to shine in a “quiz-bowl” type competition. Each round of competition includes trivia-lightning, clinical case, and jeop-

Quality, Teams Driving Healthcare of the Futurebut we’re forced to deal with them,” said Barr, Executive Vice President, Quality Measurement and Research, National Committee for Quality Assur-ance. “Let’s also acknowledge that our patients and consumers are really tired of these phrases, too. They’re really confusing.”

Despite issues with the terminology, Dr. Barr said, these concepts point to-ward a “desired future: improving qual-ity and access while reducing costs. That’s what this is all about,” he said. “We’re trying to figure out how to drive the health system enterprise forward.”

Measuring QualityQuality care is hard to define and

even harder to measure, Dr. Barr said. He quoted Voltaire, “the art of medicine consists of amusing patients while na-ture cures the disease.”

Although the term “amuse” may be inaccurate, he said, “overuse” is not. “A patient says, ‘I’ve got back pain for three days. Can I get an MRI?’ or ‘I’ve got a bad headache. I need medica-tion.’ Absent warning signs, why would you do that?”

Quality health care focuses on the patient, but what is the best way to measure it? Dr. Barr said a number of measurement systems fall short in im-

portant qualities. “Good measurement systems should be relevant and evi-denced-based as well as feasible,” he said. “They also must be actionable.”

“There has been a proliferation of quality measures that don’t always meet the metrics I just described,” he said. From Internet sites with profes-sional ratings to Yelp, as ways in which physicians and other health care pro-viders are measured have proliferated. A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association can be extrapolated to show that about 13 per-cent of patients find these ratings sites useful

“It is very real,” Dr. Barr said. “It’s what people look at. This probably drives to some degree a lot of what people decide.”

Strategy and TacticsMeasuring quality is just the first

step. Improving it requires both strat-egy and tactics. Dr. Barr quoted Sun Tzu: “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”

The National Quality Strategy has established some lofty goals, includ-ing making care safer, involving fami-

ardy-style questions. Items are au-thored and reviewed by an expert pan-el of ACCP members.

To view a complete list of teams tak-ing part in this year’s competition, visit www.accp.com/stunet.

See page three for additional photos from Monday’s competition.

The ACCP On-site Bookstore is a popular place to stock up on the latest releases from ACCP and other publishers.

2 • Tuesday, October 20, 2015 ACCP GLOBAL CONFERENCE NEWS

Critical Care PharmacotherapyEdited by Brian Erstad, Pharm.D., FCCP, BCPS

Critical Care Pharmacotherapy offers the most comprehensive publication on the cutting-edge field of critical care pharmacotherapy.

• Contributions from the most experienced critical care pharmacists in the field.

• More than 40 chapters cover topics in supportive care, infectious diseases, neurocritical care, and more.

• A special foreword on the historical analysis of critical care pharmacy practice.

New from ACCP!

Now available for preorder at the On-site Bookstore!

Continued on Page 4

Take a

Coffee Break

Meet the Series Editors from PSAP and the other ACCP Self-Assessment Programs

7:30 –9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20, in the On-Site Bookstore

with the Editors

As the recognition for clinical pharmacy grows international-ly, the pressure intensifies for

countries to develop their own educa-tion systems and professional degree standards.

Although many pharmacists still look to North America for guidance and as-sistance, it’s clear that countries such as Thailand and Iran are working on the issue. The Sunday afternoon ses-sion “Global Development of Clinical

Clinical Pharmacy Education Is Advancing Around the GlobePharmacy Education” showcased im-provements and challenges that many countries face as they attempt to de-velop professional pharmacy curricula.

ThailandThailand is a case study in how de-

veloping nations can advance clinical pharmacy education. Surakit Nathi-suwan, Pharm.D., BCPS, is co-chair of the U.S.-Thai Consortium Steering Committee and vice president for inter-

national relations, Mahidol University.“In the 1990s, we were expanding

on every front,” Dr. Nathisuwan said. “Patients demanded more and more of quality services. If you looked at the job description, you saw an emphasis on drug distribution, procurement, and even some production. We could try to do it ourselves – the hard way. Instead, we decided to get some help from others who had done it. We traveled abroad to seek help. We went to the United States and Europe to determine who to partner with.”

Dr. Nathisuwan said the issues were obvious: a shortage of pharmacists, who primarily were dispensers; and a shortage of pharmacy degree pro-grams, with just eight in the country.

The consortium tackled short-term goals—like training preceptors and observing best practices—while set-ting the bar high for the long term, at-tempting to train 90 Thai faculty in U.S. schools over a 10-year period. It was not a one-sided effort: U.S. clinical pharmacists also visited Thailand to conduct research and assist with aca-demic pursuits.

Now, two decades later, patient-cen-tered practice is the norm, not the ex-ception, Dr. Nathisuwan said.

Sutthiporn Pattharachayakul, Pharm.D., from Songkla University, discussed post-graduation education and residency practices in the country. Pharmacy residencies and fellowships have been offered since 2002.

The College of Pharmacotherapy of Thailand has developed standards, in-

cluding a board certification process. Challenges remain, but Thailand has ben-efited immensely from the consortium.

Malta/European UnionLilian M. Azzopardi, president, Eu-

ropean Association of Faculties of Pharmacy and professor, Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Malta, discussed what is happening in her country as well as across the EU.

With a push to move clinical phar-macy toward more patient-centered practice, Azzopardi cited the shift in education training. In 1994, only 11 to 30 percent of pharmacists had a back-ground in medical sciences. By 2006, that number had increased to an aver-age of 28 percent.

“We see a shift in emphasis as phar-macy has transitioned to a five-year program,” Azzopardi said. “That allows for a mobility of professionals among the different countries.”

Throughout their training, pharma-cists are encouraged to become em-powered so that they return to their countries and assume leadership roles, Azzopardi said.

SingaporeThe challenges in Singapore might

seem a bit familiar: in 2009, the career pathway for clinical pharmacists meant moving into administration and giving up clinical practice. The country worked to create three distinct paths: profes-Attendees enjoy food, drinks, and conversation as they network during the

Opening Reception on Sunday evening.

Tuesday, October 20, 2015 • 3 ACCP GLOBAL CONFERENCE NEWS

The Certified Geriatric Pharmacist credential is ideal for the

pharmacist who serves older adults.

Only one credential has been established to recognize pharmacists with expertise in the care of older adults and the provision of medication therapy management services to geriatric patients—the Certified Geriatric Pharmacist (CGP), administered by the Commission for Certification in Geriatric Pharmacy.

The CGP examination is computer-based and is offered at test centers around the United States and Canada. The examination is 150 multiple-choice questions, and is offered in four test windows throughout the year. A pharmacist must have a current pharmacist license with two years of experience to be eligible to take the examination.

Visit www.ccgp.org for more information.

Learn more about becoming a journal contributor or the RI programs such

as the Practice-Based Research Network (PBRN), Focused Investigator

Training (FIT), Mentored Research Investigator Training (MeRIT), and

Futures Grants Program.

OPEN HOUSE8-10 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20

Continental Ballroom 4

The Journal of Human Pharmacology and Drug Therapy

Clinical Pharmacy ChallengeFinals Draw A Full House

The Thomas Jefferson University Jefferson College of Pharmacy team (from left, Bridgette Nelson, Andrea Lordan, and Abigail Bertonazzi), seen here with Clinical Pharmacy Challenge moderator John E. Murphy, took second place in Monday’s finals.

4 • Tuesday, October 20, 2015 ACCP GLOBAL CONFERENCE NEWS

Listen to Session Recordings After the Meeting

As a meeting benefit, you can access free recordings of the keynote address, selected core programs, and select PRN focus sessions after November 5 at www.accp.com/myaccount. Registrants for three presymposia can also access recordings of those sessions. ACCP members who are unable to attend the Global Conference will also be able to purchase session recordings. The 21 sessions being recorded are listed in session handouts (available at www.accp.com/gc) and include the following:

SATURDAY

• Research Primer (available to Research Primer registrants only)

• 2015 From Theory to Bedside: Clinical Reasoning Series—Heart Failure: Current and Emerging Management Strategies (available to From Theory to Bedside registrants only)

• 2015 From Theory to Practice: Clinical Reasoning Series in Ambulatory Care Pharmacy—Novel Agents and Management Strategies in Endocrinology (available to From Theory to Practice registrants only)

MONDAY

• Keynote Address: Measuring Quality in Patient-Centered Care—Challenges and Opportunities

• Medication Safety: National and International Perspectives

• Innovations in Practice Technology

• Clinical Administration PRN Focus Session—Patient Monitoring Prioritization and Productivity Measurement to Grow and Sustain Pharmacy Services

• Emergency Medicine PRN Focus Session—High-Risk, High-Reward Interventions in Emergency Medicine

• Endocrine and Metabolism PRN Focus Session—New Tools in the Diabetes Toolbox

• Pediatric PRN Focus Session—A Global Approach to Pediatric Patient Care: Unifying Scope of Practice, Pharmacokinetics/Pharmacodynamics, and Medication Safety

TUESDAY

• Advancing Clinical Pharmacy Practice: Innovative Models

• Best Practices/Dilemmas in Pharmacy Education

• Scientific Author Development

• Adult Medicine PRN and Ambulatory Care PRN Focus Session—Transitions of Care Management: Best Practices

• Ambulatory Care PRN Focus Session—Billing Practices in Ambulatory Care Pharmacy: Developing, Implementing, and Sustaining Ideal Models

• Geriatrics PRN Focus Session—The Beers Criteria: A Focus on the 2015 Update

• HIV PRN Focus Session—HIV Across the Ages

• Perioperative Care PRN Focus Session—Perioperative Care: Balancing the Scales Between Bleeding and Clotting

• Pharmacokinetics/Pharmacodynamics/Pharmacogenomics PRN and Central Nervous System PRN Focus Session—An Update of Psychotropic Pharmacogenomics

WEDNESDAY

• Advances in the Pharmacotherapy of Cardiovascular Diseases

• Optimal Management of Community- and Hospital-Acquired Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Infections

GlobalContinued from page 2

sional, clinical, and research. “We’ve now added a new pathway in educa-tion,” said Camilla Wong, Pharm.D., deputy director, Allied Health Division, Singapore General Hospital.

The country has created residen-cies in a number of specialties and developed an entry to practice com-petency framework. In 2015, it moved to harmonize an advanced competen-cy framework. Within the next year, it will have in place national residencies, plus a PGY-1 and PGY-2 program.

“We do have students training in the States,” Dr. Wong said. “But there are challenges.”

She cited a lack of eligible appli-

cants because pharmacy is a heavily female career in Singapore. “They are less likely to want to leave Singapore because of family obligations.”

Then there are the limits on secur-ing training in the United States or elsewhere. That has driven the need for the country to focus on growing the profession within its own borders,” Dr. Wong said.

Ultimately, it’s about “always re-membering why we’re doing this,” Wong said. “It’s about patients being at the heart of all we do.”

Saudi Arabia“Big achievements start small, but

some institutions have to be the lead-ers,” said Ahmed Al Jedai, Pharm.D., MBA, BCPS, FCCP, director, Pharma-ceutical Care Division, associate pro-fessor, College of Medicine, Alfaisal University and consultant clinical phar-macist, solid organ transplant, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. “Fix your practice first.”

In Saudi Arabia, that has meant a significant emphasis on professional standards and partnerships with for-eign nationals. Dr. Al Jedai notes that about 12 percent of practicing phar-macists are Saudi nationals. However, initiatives are in place to develop more pharmacists from within the country.

IranAlireza Hayatshahi, Pharm.D.,

BCPSA, detailed the country’s six-year training program, which begins imme-diately after high school.

“The hospital pharmacy practice is still a dispensing role,” Dr. Hayatshahi said. “Clinical pharmacy is more ad-vanced, like a specialist. The program needs to be expanded to train more residents and to provide more sites for pharmacy residents.”

Currently, training occurs primarily in university settings, with very little practice in clinical settings.

Dr. Hayatshahi noted that many phy-sicians and surgeons welcome working as a team with clinical pharmacists, but the majority are not exposed to them.

Mark Your Calendar2016 ACCP Annual Meeting

October 23 - 26, 2016Diplomat Hotel and Resort

Hollywood, Florida

Global Conference attendees view new research and talk with presenters at a Poster Session.

“In the 1990s, we were expanding on every front.

Patients demanded more and more of quality services. If you looked at the job description,

you saw an emphasis on drug distribution, procurement, and

even some production.”

– Surakit Nathisuwan, Pharm.D., BCPS

Tuesday, October 20, 2015 • 5 ACCP GLOBAL CONFERENCE NEWS

Duquesne University School of Pharmacy’s Clinical Research Fellowship will help you to develop competency and expertise in the scientific research process, including:

•hypothesis generation and development,

•study design, •protocol development, •grantsmanship, •study coordination,

•data collection, •analysis and interpretation, •technical skills development, •presentation of results, and •manuscript preparation and

publication.

Fellowship applicants must have a Pharm.D. and be eligible for licensure in Pennsylvania prior to the start of the fellowship. PGY-1 residency training is required. PGY-2 residency training is preferred.

Clinical Research Fellowship

Pittsburgh, Pa.duq.edu/pharmacy

Jennifer Elliott, Pharm.D.elliott3@duq.edu 412.396.4990

Contact:

Winning Tweet of the Day for SundayChange in Pharmacy is possible. Leadership is key.

#ACCPGC15 @inspired2leadSI We can do it South Africa.– @reniercoetzee

Committee and Task Force members enjoy a working lunch in San Francisco.

Transforming Clinical Practice Requires Legislative Input

The promise of comprehen-sive medication management (CMM) exists, but important

work remains to be done for CMM to be recognized as a service by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS).

John McGlew, ACCP’s director of government affairs, provided an up-date on that issue, as well as several other legislative concerns, during a Monday morning session.

McGlew cited ACCP’s work with the Patient-Centered Primary Care Col-laborative—a coalition of 1,000 major employers, consumer groups, health plans, unions, medical organizations, government, and other stakeholders—as a key to success.

“This is bringing together all these key stakeholders with ACCP at the ta-ble to discuss the transformation of the healthcare delivery,” McGlew said.

The PCPCC is influencing CMS, but the issue of incorporating CMM into the Medicare benefit structure must be done legislatively.

The introduction of the ACCP Standards of Practice for Clinical Pharmacists and a definition of CMM “are components of the overall prac-tice transformation effort,” McGlew said. “Without the defined practice and the standards of care, it’s hard for us to lobby for this benefit. Clear-

ly the two go hand in hand. We obvi-ously can’t lobby for something if we can’t define it.”

The Benefits of CMMComprehensive medication man-

agement will ensure that a patient’s medications are individually assessed to determine that each is appropriate, effective, safe given comorbidities and other prescribed medications, and able to be taken as intended.

“The importance of not seeking sim-ply coverage for services, but defining what those services are going to be and linking that to patient care needs is important,” McGlew said. “What are we asking Congress to pay for and what services will be covered?”

The ACCP legislative proposal fo-cuses on CMM initiatives with chronic illnesses of major clinical and econom-ic significance: diabetes, cardiovascu-lar, COPD, asthma, and chronic mental illness, according to McGlew.

The goal is to get these patients to clinical or therapeutic goals with their medications. Clinical pharmacists identify and document medication and problems of concern; initiate, modify, and discontinue drug therapies; and educate and engage patients and fam-ilies so they understand the medication regimen.

While the ACCP Research Insti-

tute’s recent $2.4 million grant award to study the impact of CMM in primary care settings will expand it, some data already exist to show the cost savings and care improvements that can come, especially with chronic diseases.

McGlew said that 66 percent of Medicare beneficiaries have two or more chronic diseases; 40 percent have four or more. Eighty percent of healthcare costs are related to chronic disease and complication. Even though drug therapy accounts for 75–80 per-cent of the interventions in chronic care, it accounts for only 10 percent of the costs. And just over half of patients with chronic diseases are on an appro-priate or optimal drug therapy, McGlew said.

The statistics continue to paint a picture: Medicare beneficiaries with chronic illnesses visit an average of 13 physicians annually and have dif-ferent prescriptions filled each year. Beneficiaries account for 76 percent of hospital admissions and are 100 times more likely to have preventable hospi-talizations.

“Yet a primary care physician will spend an average of 49 seconds talking about the new prescription medication,” McGlew said.

All of these add up to dosing errors, inappropriate or ineffective medication, duplicative or interacting medications, and adverse side effects. “That spells out the gaps in care and the conse-

quences of these gaps,” McGlew said.

The Practice of the Clinical Pharmacist

The ACCP proposal defines who can offer these services. There were many questions from the audience about this strategy, which McGlew de-fined as having a Pharm.D. or equiva-lent degree, a collaborative drug thera-py management agreement or granted clinical privileges, together with BPS certification or eligibility for certification.

“We recognize that CDTM agree-ments vary massively from state to state,” McGlew said. “There is no sin-gle approach and we’re aware that in certain states even with this Medicare benefit in place, it would be difficult. We think it’s important that pharmacists own this work and are able to make the changes themselves rather than make recommendations to the physician. CDTM, although imperfect, is the best way to ensure these principles are in place. We’re fairly confident that if this benefit moved ahead, we’d see rapid change across the states.”

Positive Legislative SignsAfter recent action, McGlew sees

positive signs in Congress, citing the founding of the Senate’s Chronic Care Working Group to “explore solutions that will improve outcomes for Medi-

Continued on Page 8

The Best Resident and Fellow Posters and the Best Student Posters will receive awards during

Wednesday’s Closing Ceremony and International Awards Presentations.

Best Resident and Fellow Posters The Best Resident and Fellow Post-

er winner is Kristin Hillman, Pharm.D. Her project is titled “Liposomal bupiv-acaine compared to no local infiltration for postsurgical analgesia in total knee and hip arthroplasty: a randomized, prospective, observational, pilot study.” First runner-up honors go to Calvin Ice, Pharm.D., and his poster “Evaluation of intravenous immune globulin pre-scribing patterns prior to and following a standardized prescribing algorithm at a tertiary care center.” Tony KL Kiang, B.Sc. (Pharm), PhD, ACPR, present-ed the second runner-up poster titled “Development and validation of a us-er-friendly multiple regression equation with increased accuracy and precision for the prediction of free phenytoin con-centration in adult patients.”

The Best Resident and Fellow Post-

er Judging Team were Joanna Hud-son, Kim Tallian, P. David Rogers, and Sunny Linnebur.

Best Student PostersThe Best Student Poster winner is

Anna Bondar, B.S. Her work is titled “Antibiotic Use in San Jose del Ne-grito, Honduras.” The first runner-up poster was “Cost-Effectiveness of My-eloid Growth Factor Prophylaxis Strat-egies for Febrile Neutropenia among Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Patients receiving Curative-Intent R-CHOP Chemotherapy”, presented by Xiao Jun Wang, B.Sc. Nicholas Loh, B.Sc. (Pharm) (Hons) Candidate presented the second runner-up poster titled “Fac-tors influencing medication non-adher-ence: A focus on socioeconomically vulnerable seniors in Singapore.”

The Best Student Poster Judging Team were Deb Barnette, Erica Ernst, Jill Kolesar, and Julie Maurey.

For a complete list of authors and af-filiations, see pages 193-4 of the Glob-al Conference Meeting Guide.

Best Resident and Fellow, Best Student Posters Selected

6 • Tuesday, October 20, 2015 ACCP GLOBAL CONFERENCE NEWS

Visit the On-Site Bookstore forYOUR BEST DEAL

on ACCP Publications

Skip the line and get the same discounts!Order at www.accp.com at any time before midnight Wednesday, Oct. 21.

Open daily at 7 a.m. near the Registration Desk and Cyber Café in the Hilton San Francisco Union Square.

Order any publication and receive:• Our lowest price (member price)• FREE SHIPPING AND HANDLING to any address in the continental U.S.• Shipping and handling discounts of 75% on orders shipped to other

locations*

*Shipping discount not available on PSAP full series Print Packages.

KeynoteContinued from page 1

ly, promoting effective communication and coordination of care, promoting effective treatment and prevention of chronic diseases, working with com-munities to promote healthy living, and making care affordable.

To accomplish this will require pro-motion and advancement of the pa-tient-centered medical home, health in-formation technology, culture change, accountable care models, and team-based care, Dr. Barr said. Although all are important, team-based care stands

out. “That’s what we need to be doing, all of us” he said.

But the reality is that we are a long way from the goal, he said, citing sta-tistics that showed that primary care and specialists do not send information to pediatric specialists 49 percent of the time. Other troubling statistics: 30 percent of patients visit an emergency room without their regular physicians being notified. And 33 percent of adults with chronic conditions leave a hospital without a follow-up plan.

“We need to be looking at how to im-prove on this,” Dr. Barr said. “We didn’t

go into medicine or the other health care professions to generate these kinds of results.”

People with chronic conditions are the most likely to suffer from a lack of coordi-nated care. “Even if individual practices are effective, the systems require coor-dination between them,” he said. “We need to connect the disconnected.”

He urged pharmacists to commit to improving inefficient systems. “If you were to sit down and come with up an inefficiency in your system for just 10 minutes, do you think you could come up with a better way of doing things? I see a lot of shaking heads.”

Although the term “team-based ap-proach” is tossed around a lot, Dr. Barr suggests that the importance of the patient—and the patient’s priorities—should shape that team.

“What are the opportunities to im-prove care or work on the treatment plan?,” he asked. “Do we have defined roles? They don’t have to be etched in concrete, but do we know who is re-sponsible for what?”

He suggested that teams elicit the patient’s priorities, develop a shared understanding, and agree on a man-agement plan and outcome goals.

“What we’d like to see is measuring … the patient’s goals, what they want to achieve in their lives,” he said.

The Near FutureIn the coming years, Dr. Barr antici-

pates continued emphasis on the Triple Aim (access to high-quality care at af-fordable costs) and new programs, as well as on expectations of quality. “Ac-cess to care will continue to be chal-lenging,” he said. “Even though people have insurance, getting into care will be difficult.”

Dr. Barr also anticipates a contin-ued emphasis on generating value—a

quality-over-cost equation. Alternative pay models will drive change, too. Smaller practices will be forced to build networks—perhaps virtually—to better develop their team-based care. “Large groups will need to rethink their deliv-ery systems and act as good neighbors rather than in silos.”

And health IT will continue to bring

“some frustration” for the next few years. Our health systems are definite-ly in a state of change, he said.

“This is really hard,” Dr. Barr said. “There is a lot of activity going on, and not all in the right direction. It’s going to shake itself out. But we, as profession-als, have to push what’s best for both our patients and our professions.”

“There’s a lot of activity going on, not all in the right direction. It’s going to shake itself out. We as

professionals have to push what’s best for our patients and our professions. Sometimes my clinician colleagues feel very

depressed and feel like they’re not being respected. It’s

incumbent upon us to develop that professionalism and

not sink to despair.”

– Dr. Barr

Dr. Michal Barr delivers the keynote address at ACCP’s 2015 Global Conference in San Francisco.

The lineup of specialized focus sessions by ACCP’s Practice and Research Networks (PRNs)

continues today. Open to everyone, these educational programs examine the latest information and topical is-sues in specific therapeutic areas.

Today’s scheduled sessions are as follows:

• Adult Medicine PRN and Ambula-tory Care PRN Focus Session—Tran-sitions of Care Management: Best

PRN Focus Sessions Open to AllPractices

• Ambulatory Care PRN Focus Session—Billing Practices in Ambu-latory Care Pharmacy: Developing, Implementing, and Sustaining Ideal Models

• Critical Care PRN Focus Ses-sion—Drowsy, but Not Dead: Waking Up to New Research and Practice

• Drug Information PRN Focus Session—When Time Is of the Es-sence: Efficiently Finding and Evalu-ating the Evidence to Make Individual Patient Decisions

• Education and Training PRN Focus Session—Maximizing Learner Assessment: Focus on Developing Metacognitive Skills

• Geriatrics PRN Focus Ses-sion—The Beers Criteria: A Focus on the 2015 Update

• GI/Liver/Nutrition PRN Focus Session—Pharmacotherapy Advanc-es and Nutrition in the Management of Patients with IBD and IBS

• Global Health PRN and Health Outcomes PRN Focus Session—Challenges of Global Health: Fos-tering Education and Innovative Research to Advance and Sustain Global Health Initiatives

• HIV PRN Focus Session—HIV Across the Ages

• Pain and Palliative Care PRN Focus Session—Best Practices in Prevention and Treatment of Opioid Overdose

• Perioperative Care PRN Focus Session—Perioperative Care: Bal-ancing the Scales Between Bleeding and Clotting

• Pharmacokinetics/Pharmaco-dynamics/Pharmacogenomics PRN and Central Nervous System PRN Focus Session—An Update of Psy-chotropic Pharmacogenomics

Tuesday, October 20, 2015 • 7 ACCP GLOBAL CONFERENCE NEWS

A “Hollywood Games Night” enlivened Sunday’s Opening Recep-tion. Attendees formed small groups, then enjoyed competing in a party game atmosphere. The event was planned as a fundraiser for the ACCP Research Institute.

A Fantastic and Funny Fundraiser for the ACCP Research Institute

8 • Tuesday, October 20, 2015 ACCP GLOBAL CONFERENCE NEWS

ACCP Is Looking for a Few Good Tweets

Join the Twitter conversation at the 2015 Global Conference by sharing meeting photos, news, and clinical insights and you may win a prize from ACCP!

A panel of judges will review each day’s posts using #ACCPGC15 and select the best Tweet of the Day! Daily winners may choose one of the following prizes:

Clinical Pharmacy in the United States: Transformation of a Profession

Nourishing the Soul of Pharmacy: Stories of Reflection

Resident Survival Guide

ACCP

CODES

$25 ACCP Gift Code to be used at the ACCP Bookstore

Tweet to Compete!

Learn more about the many activi-ties of ACCP’s Research Institute (RI) and Pharmacotherapy jour-

nal at an Open House slated for 8–10 a.m., Tuesday, Oct. 20, in Continental Ballroom 4.

During these informal roundtable chats, representatives from Pharma-cotherapy will be available to discuss special issues and manuscripts of in-terest, how to become a reviewer, or the steps needed to join the journal’s Editorial Board. Additional information for international authors and reviewers will also be available.

Staff from ACCP’s Practice-Based Research Network (PBRN) and its Community Advisory Panel will have information about PBRN activities and ways that you can contribute to re-search that affects your own practice. Faculty from the Focused Investigator Training (FIT) and Mentored Research

Attend Today’s Research Institute, Pharmacotherapy Information Session

Investigator Training (MeRIT) pro-grams can speak one-on-one about these investigator development pro-grams.

Learn about the RI’s 2016 Futures Grants Program, which supports re-search projects submitted by student, trainee, and junior investigators. The Open House is also a chance to net-work with various PRN groups or indi-vidual members and discuss research and scholarship ideas.

For a complete schedule of Open House events and a list of the experts who will be available, check the 2015 Global Conference Meeting Guide.

Members of the EMED PRN in-vite all attendees to join them for “Professor Walk Rounds”

of the Scientific Poster Presentations. Emergency medicine faculty and

experts will exchange ideas and commentary with authors of post-ers whose content is relevant to this area of practice.

Rounds will begin at the start

of each poster session, with tour groups meeting up next to the stage. Group leaders, by session will be:

• Session IV (8–10 a.m. Tuesday) Nicole Acquisto• Special Research in Progress Session (noon–1:30 p.m. Tuesday) Mary Beth Shirk• Session V (7:30–9:30 a.m. Wednesday) Mason Bucklin

PRN Schedules Poster Rounds

LegislativeContinued from page 5

care beneficiaries requiring chronic care. Clearly our Medicare initiative fits in completely with any movement to improve care for chronically ill Medi-care beneficiaries.”

When the group sought stakehold-ers’ input, more than 400 organiza-tions responded. “The working group itself called for improvements around Medicare Advantage programs, mod-ifications to ACOs, or piloted alter-native payment models through the CMS Center for Innovation. Congress doesn’t want to discuss expansion of payment for services.”

If the working group develops a bill this year—which McGlew said is the goal—ACCP will look for ways to in-clude its proposals within it.

Changes to the physician payment system—Sustainable Growth Rate Re-form—was passed earlier this year. It transforms the payment structure and McGlew sees it as “merely the first step in reforming Medicare physician payment.”

It also signals that Congress is “moving away from traditional fee for service,” though McGlew sees a con-tinued need for ACCP to call for chang-es to Medicare Part B payments.

“We feel that there are patients who need this care. We’re evolving toward alternate payment models. If we want to get coverage and payment for these services, we will still be operating in that fee-for-service space for a while to come.”

While both of those initiatives were Senate led, the 21st Century Cures Act is a House bill driven by the Energy and Commerce Committee. “It’s less close-ly associated with our proposal, but it does point to the fact that Congress is willing, and we believe able, to address some fairly weighty healthcare issues.”

The Cures Act is also intended to encourage young and emerging scien-tists through NIH grants.

Related BillsThe American Pharmacists Asso-

ciation (APhA) has its own legislative agenda, seeking payment for pharma-cists for providing primary care ser-vices to underserved populations. “We firmly believe these two initiatives can co-exist,” McGlew said. “Quite frank-ly, I think that when APhA and Wal-greens and Rite Aid spend a lot of time on Capitol Hill talking about payment for pharmacists, it can only helps us. We’ve got a well-thought-out, well-de-fined proposal addressing a serious need. They’re talking about important patient care needs out there.”

“The importance of not seeking simply coverage for services, but defining what

those services are going to be and linking that to patient care

needs is important. What are we asking Congress to pay for and what services will be covered?”

– John McGlew