August 8, 2023
The UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy hosted a roundtable in Aurora, Colorado on July 21 with a focus on transforming community-based pharmacy practice.
The Community-Based Pharmacy Practice Roundtable was supported in part by Walgreens and led by Stefanie Ferreri, Pharm.D., BCACP, FAPhA, chair of the Division of Practice Advancement and Clinical Education at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. It brought together the Pharmacy Deans Research Group (PDRG), representing the top 25 R1 pharmacy schools in the U.S., CEO Deans, community-based practice leads, Academia Community Transformation Pharmacy Collaborative Champions and Walgreens to explore challenges and opportunities within community-based pharmacy.
“I have loved the PDRG discussions during my time as Dean. I hoped bringing us together for a focused discussion on this issue and sharing best practices would help address the complex issues facing community-based pharmacy practice across our states,” said Dean Angela Kashuba, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. “I saw a wonderful opportunity to move the practice forward through collaboration, innovation and education. I believe our discussions and next steps will carry us toward true transformation.”
The event included roundtable discussions to identify challenges and opportunities for patient care in the community, to create solutions for the biggest industry challenges and to select key initiatives to transform community-based pharmacy practice to improve patient outcomes.
“The creative solutions, potential partnerships and synergistic energy focused on community-based practice transformation during the meeting will bring great opportunities for our students, schools and the profession. I am excited for this group to continue the work we started,” said Ferreri.
Sixty-two people participated in the roundtable event. Next steps include partnerships to incorporate patient care services into community-based pharmacy workflows, convening multidisciplinary meetings with pharmacists, payers and providers to identify services to improve community health, and collaboration on a national campaign around the role pharmacists play in the development and optimization of medication therapy for patients. Additionally, the School is looking forward to further collaborations with the PDRG and industry leaders.
“I’m so proud of how we all came together at this event to discuss ways to solve some of our industry’s most pressing challenges in an ever-changing health care landscape,” said John L. Colaizzi, Jr., Pharm.D., Vice President of Pharmacy Services and Delivery at Walgreens. “The most interesting observation I had was the pharmacy of the future isn’t coming – it’s here. And our path forward is to combine the strengths and expertise of academia, employers and pharmacy associations to help members of our communities live long and healthy lives.”
You can read a full report on the roundtable here.
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