Steven M Burghart, DPh, MBA, BCPP
CPNP President
“However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.” - Winston Churchill
It was wonderful to see so many of you in Tampa, Florida for the College of Psychiatric and Neurologic Pharmacist's 18th Annual Meeting, April 19-22. This four-day conference hosted 656 attendees and featured nearly 30 hours of cutting-edge scientific presentations, one industry supported symposium, three product theaters and 186 scientific posters. I am pleased to report there were a record number of attendees and poster presentations. Congratulations to Saklad Award winner, Carla Cobb and the CPNP Research Award winners, Melissa Brewster, Kyle Burghardt, Lindsey Peters, and Ian McGrane.
In this issue of Perspectives, we replay the topics presented at the Forum on our Future that were originally presented at the Annual Meeting in Tampa. This President’s letter also provides a mid-point report of our progress towards our three-year strategic goals. Below are the five pillars of our strategic plan and a brief summary of our progress.
We will actively promote inclusion of neuropsychiatric pharmacists as an important component of the healthcare team and advocate for those living with mental illness.
Progress: CPNP is gaining momentum in Governmental Affairs. CPNP has endorsed comprehensive medication management (CMM) as the preferred patient care model and, under the active leadership of Carla Cobb, the Government Affairs Council participates in the CPNP - ACCP coalition to secure CMM as a covered benefit under Medicare Part B. While progress has been slow at the Federal level, I am encouraged by recent developments in the States. For example, in April, the Washington state legislature passed a bill that would require insurers in that state to pay pharmacists who operate within their license and scope of practice for services that would otherwise have been eligible for payment to physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants.
In January, CPNP published a position paper, “Improving medication-related outcomes for patients with psychiatric and neurologic disorders: Value of psychiatric pharmacists as part of the health care team.” The paper was well received both inside and outside of CPNP. I wish to congratulate the authors of the paper, Lisa Goldstone, Bethany DiPaula, Joshua Caballero, Susie Park, Cristofer Price, and Magdalena Zasadzki Slater for their outstanding work. In an extension of the position paper, a task force has been formed to author a position paper recommending the optimal curriculum in psychiatric and neurologic pharmacy as well as an additional article on the value of the psychiatric pharmacist in the primary care setting.
The Substance Abuse Task Force (SATF) has developed and published NALOXONE ACCESS: A Practical Guideline for Pharmacists and is in the process of widely distributing it. CPNP is now a member of the steering committees of the Clinical Support System for Opioid Therapies (PCSS-O) and For Medication Assisted Treatment (PCSS-O). SATF has conducted outreach to the senior legislative assistant to Senator Thomas Udall. Senator Udall as sponsor for the TREAT act, a bill to allow buprenorphine prescribing by NPs and PAs. CPNP is working to get qualified pharmacists included in the TREAT act. In April, members of the SATF met with the Office of National Drug Control Policy and a meeting was scheduled with SAMHSA in May.
We will advance our various educational products to remain innovative and to provide the best value to our members.
Progress: On March 30, 2015, CPNP submitted a strong proposal to BPS to continue as the BCPP recertification professional development provider for the next five years (2016-2020). CPNP has developed a five year plan for recertification products and is committed to exploring at least one new recertification product over the contract period. CPNP was pleased to learn that we were the only proposal submitted for BCPP continuing professional development. We look forward to a response on our proposal from BPS by June 1.
This year, the programming committee also completed a five year planning process and developed a plan to continue the high level of educational quality we enjoy at the CPNP Annual Meeting. The ongoing success of the Annual Meeting is evidence of the efforts of the programming committee. I look forward to seeing everyone at CPNP 2016 at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs.
We will maintain a fiscally and operationally effective organization as well as cultivate new leaders, improve committee structures, and enhance the member and volunteer experience through involvement and participation.
Progress: CPNP membership is up 55% since 2011. Our area of strongest growth is among students and residents, the future of our specialty. We now have 17 active student chapters. The nominations committee continues to look at ways we can cultivate the future leaders of CPNP.
CPNP continues to enjoy a strong financial position. For the past five years we have had a positive net income. Ongoing industry support has made it possible to keep membership, product and meeting costs reasonable. Our reserves are now over two million dollars which has provided us with the resources to explore new products, services, expand our governmental affairs initiatives and publish the Mental Health Clinician through Allen Press.
We will focus on connecting members with the peers and resources most important to them through a mobile-friendly website, networking, and sharing of member-driven content on the web site.
Progress: The current CPNP website has been active for a number of years. We expect to launch a mobile friendly version of the website in 2016.
CPNP Communities have been created to accommodate members’ common areas of interest. The communities allow for networking, online resource sharing and dialogue. There are currently nine active communities. More information is available at cpnp.org/community
We will improve our visibility by establishing the Mental Health Clinician (MHC) as a respected peer-reviewed journal.
Progress: Starting with the January 2015 issue, the MHC has taken the next step to a professional, online, peer- reviewed journal. MHC has partnered with Allen Press to provide a completely peer-reviewed, open access publication and streamlined workflow. I encourage you to contribute as an author or as a peer reviewer. The MHC may be viewed online at mhc.cpnp.org.
In conclusion, CPNP has made strong progress on our 2014-2016 strategic planning goals. It has been my honor to serve the members of CPNP as president during this exciting time for our organization. As always, I invite you to share your comments and concerns with me.