President’s Letter: Important Milestones Achieved

In this month’s presidential column, I am excited to report that CPNP has reached two exciting milestones: Joint Commission of Pharmacy Practitioners (JCPP) membership and completion of a government affairs and policy strategic plan. Both of these achievements will contribute to meeting our mission of escalating CPNP as an organization, our members, and the profession of psychiatric pharmacy, as well as the services we provide for patients afflicted with mental illness. As CPNP members, we should all be excited and proud of these accomplishments, as it has taken years of visionary insight, planning, and dedication by CPNP members, leaders, and staff.

About JCPP

Over the past several years, previous and current Boards of Directors have been interested in the activities and discussions occurring at the JCPP meetings in Washington, DC. CPNP desires involvement in JCPP for many reasons, but most importantly, to fulfill our mission of advancing the reach and practice of psychiatric pharmacy and serving as the voice of the specialty.

JCPP was established in 1977 and serves as a forum on matters of common interest and concern to national organizations of pharmacy practitioners and invited liaison members. JCPP members include: Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP), American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), American College of Apothecaries (ACA), American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP), Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), American Pharmacists Association (APhA), American Society of Consultant Pharmacists (ASCP), American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP), National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA), National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations (NASPA), Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association (HOPA), and now CPNP.¹

The Joint Commission facilitates effective representation of pharmacists on professional, educational, legislative and regulatory issues through analysis, interpretation, communication and exchange of views on relevant issues. Although the Joint Commission has no intrinsic authority to speak for its members, many areas of agreement have been identified and participating organizations have incorporated them into their respective policy and position statements. Where able, the Joint Commission has issued position statements to communicate its position on contemporary issues impacting the profession and health care system. Representatives to the Joint Commission consist of the chief elected and executive officials of the member organizations.¹ To learn more about JCPP, visit www.jcpp.net.

CPNP applied for membership to JCPP in 2015. In turn, JCPP required immediate participation of CPNP Executive Director (Brenda Schimenti) and the CPNP Presidential Officer at each of their quarterly meetings in Washington, DC. Last summer, CPNP leadership provided a presentation to JCPP CEOs introducing JCPP to CPNP’s organizational structure, membership demographics, policy and position statements, financial strength, and products and services. During the August JCPP meeting, I presented to all JCPP membership about the growth of psychiatric pharmacy as a specialty. I am proud that CPNP is now a member of JCPP and believe this validates the continued growth of our specialty and allows us to advocate for our patients with psychiatric and neurologic illness to other pharmacy organizations.

Our Direction in Government Affairs

Over the past several years, CPNP’s Government Affairs Committee (GAC) has worked to represent and serve as the voice of our members regarding rules, regulations, and legislation at the federal level. Because of our growth and successes in Government Affairs (GA), the Board of Directors authorized a GA Audit to evaluate our current impact and structure and to establish a strategic plan. Based on the Audit, the current growth of our profession, and the overall need to represent our members and patients in Washington, DC, CPNP has hired District Policy Group (DPG) at Drinker Biddle & Reath as our DC-based government relations representatives and to assist us in implementing our multi-year strategic plan. Learn more about DPG in a separate article in this edition of CPNP Perspectives.

In 2017, CPNP will work with DPG to focus resources on profile awareness, monitoring, and distribution of comment letters on issues impacting the profession. Some of the specific steps CPNP will take include:

1. Establishing a public policy/advocacy agenda identifying the core issues that CPNP will monitor and hopefully influence by bringing its expertise to policymakers.
2. Outreach to policymakers (in Congress and federal agencies), community stakeholders (e.g., patient advocacy organizations, health professional associations), and coalitions that are of greatest relevance to CPNP’s core issues and engagement in activities to increase our profile and build relationships among those targeted individuals and entities.
3. Preparing written background and advocacy materials and developing messages and collateral materials, specifically for a public policy audience, to present CPNP’s positions and expertise. Such material include issue briefs, organizational introduction pieces, and case studies emphasizing the important role CPNP members play.
4. Monitoring and tracking the federal legislative, regulatory, programmatic, and political landscape for developments that are relevant to CPNP and its advocacy and public policy efforts.

As the CPNP Board of Directors evaluated its strategic direction and established the above goals, it also considered all current activities and decided not to extend the organization’s participation as a member of the ACCP Medicare Coverage Initiative coalition for 2017-2018. CPNP remains committed to the practice and promotion of comprehensive medication management as the gold standard for patient care and supports passage of federal legislation recognizing qualified clinical pharmacists practicing direct patient care. However, with limited government affairs resources, the Board decided to contribute these resources toward increasing our visibility as an organization and as a specialty among legislators and policy makers and in advocating for increased access to mental health care.

Finally, I am looking forward to meeting with old friends and making new ones at the CPNP Annual Meeting on April 23^rd through the 26^th in Phoenix, AZ. Highlights of the meeting include:

• Nearly 30 hours of Continuing Education Programming taught by leading experts in their field.
• Over 225 scientific posters will be presented at the meeting.
• Eight community gatherings to share knowledge and best practices and to make contacts that will endure long after the meeting.
• With 723 pre-registered, we are on pace to break another attendance record offering boundless opportunities to network.

As a reminder, you can still submit your registration at cpnp.org/register! Take care, safe travels, and unlike last year in Colorado, I promise the forecast will not call for a foot of snow at this year’s Annual Meeting in Phoenix!!! I look forward to seeing many of you there!

References

1. www.jcpp.net. Accessed on March 23, 2017.