News and Insights for Psychiatric Pharmacists

Recognize change-makers who have impacted patient access to care and/or the profession of psychiatric pharmacy through their advocacy with policymakers and/or decision-makers. Nominations close 10/1/2025.

Stand out by achieving the highest honor in psychiatric pharmacy by applying for AAPP Fellowship. Applications for FAAPP consideration close 10/1/2025.

"Better Together: Pharmacists and Laboratorians Advancing Care" is available free to all members through 9/18/25. This on-demand session explores how collaboration between pharmacists and laboratorians transforms patient care. Register now!

The American Association of Psychiatric Pharmacists (AAPP) Nominations Committee is pleased to announce the slate of 6 candidates for 3 positions on the 2026-2028 Board of Directors. AAPP active members will have the opportunity to select one President-Elect candidate and two Member at Large candidates through an online voting process starting September 8.

Click the button to view the article recently published in the Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment.

Click the button to learn more about this addiction policy forum.

Advancing Patient Care Award application window is now open. Let’s recognize excellence in increasing patient access to high quality mental health care.

This study examined trends in medical and nonmedical prescription stimulant use patterns.

Recognize a lifetime of impact and excellence by nominating a senior psychiatric pharmacy practitioner who has achieved a level of professional distinction and demonstrates a continuing dedication to the practice of psychiatric pharmacy. Nominations close 10/1/2025.

BPS is requesting applicants to serve as panelists for standard setting for the specialty certification in Pain Management Pharmacy (BCPMP) examination. Standard setting is the process by which the passing standard (cut score) for the examination is set. Along with the results of statistical analysis, the expertise of subject matter experts in the practice area is critical for establishing a meaningful and fair passing standard. If selected, participation will consist of one 7-hour meeting (on November 4, 2025) via web conference in which you will engage in a review exercise with a representative form of the BCPMP examination, along with a panel of around fifteen other standard setting judges. If you are interested in participating, please submit your application by September 30, 2025. All selected volunteers will be notified after this date.

New practitioners, residents, fellows, and students have an opportunity for grant funding up to $10,000! Applications are due by Sept. 4 for consideration.

114 organizations from across the United States signed onto the letter.

This study piloted CM at a novel transitional pallet shelter community for HEVs and assessed the intervention's feasibility and acceptability.

Calling all psychiatric pharmacist rising stars. Nominate yourself or others for the AAPP Early Practitioner Award designed to recognizes future leaders within AAPP and Psychiatric Pharmacy. Nominations close 10/1/2025.

Calling all psychiatric pharmacist rising stars. Nominate yourself or others for the AAPP Early Practitioner Award designed to recognizes future leaders within AAPP and Psychiatric Pharmacy. Nominations close 10/1/2025.

Registration is now open for the 2025 AAPP Summit, a two-day virtual event on October 2–3 that will deliver timely, evidence-based insights into emerging areas of psychiatric pharmacy, including migraine treatments and GLP-1 receptor agonists. Attendees can earn up to 10 hours of ACPE and BCPP recertification credit across eight expert-led sessions, plus an additional hour from a bonus symposium. All registrants will also receive extended access to session recordings to support ongoing learning and credit completion. Submit your educational request and mark your calendar to participate in this high-impact professional development opportunity.

Nominate living legacies for the Saklad Award. Recognize a lifetime of impact & excellence by nominating a senior psychiatric pharmacy practitioner who has achieved a level of professional distinction.

The Indian Health Service (IHS), an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services, provides comprehensive health care to around 2.8 million American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) across 37 states belonging to 574 federally recognized tribes. The federal government established a special relationship with these tribes in 1787 to provide health services and raise their overall health status to the highest level.

Kaitlyn Q. Weslosky, PharmD, BCPP discusses why we overcommit, how to avoid overcommitment, and how to manage existing commitments in this What I Wish I Knew article. #WIWIK #residents #newpractitioners #psychpharmacy

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently renewed the declaration that was set to expire on March 21, for 90 days. After more than 114,000 people died of overdose in 2023, the number fell to 84,000 in the 12-month period ending October 2024.

The 10/31/24 #JournalClub article 2 presented "Efficacy and safety of the muscarinic receptor agonist KarXT (xanomeline-trospium) in schizophrenia (EMERGENT-2) in the USA." The recording is available free to all AAPP members.

Outside of conversations around suicide, disease progression, death, and dying are not commonly discussed in psychiatric practice. Palliative care for patients with mental illness is not typically considered beyond the context of terminal medical illness. While patients with SPMI (severe and persistent mental illness) would not routinely be considered terminally ill, many individuals who live with SPMI do not achieve adequate control of their symptoms and live with significant, distressing, and impairing problems.

Consider referring patients to Mental Health America (MHA) for mental health support. Explore the MHA website to view available resources!

Help AAPP recognize excellence in patient care through your nomination for the Advancing Patient Care award recognizing individual member efforts and accomplishments in increasing patient access to high quality mental health care in exceptional and distinctive ways. Nominations close 10/1/2025.

This free list of treatment guidelines includes anxiety and related disorders, bipolar disorder, depression, medication-induced movement disorders, schizophrenia, seizure disorders, sleep-wake disorders, and substance use disorders.

Improve your peer review skills! Discover the components to evaluate, the role of the peer reviewer, the skills necessary to critically evaluate a manuscript, and how to provide feedback to authors and journal editors.

Applications for AAPP Awards and Fellowship are now open! Nominate yourself, a colleague, mentor, and/or rising stars as we spotlight pharmacy excellence.

AAPP has committed up to $250,000 to support a project that will generate a high-quality, large sample size (n) data set that evaluates the impact of integrating psychiatric pharmacists into team-based mental health care in a study with multiple research sites and investigators. Download the RFP and submit your application by the Oct. 1, 2025, deadline.

As a growing specialty working in a profession where there are exponentially more and more patient care needs, the importance of attracting and training pharmacy students to the field has never been greater. AAPP members are critical in supporting this growth through precepting and educating students and/or by advising an AAPP Collegiate Chapter. This special edition of the AAPP Perspective demonstrates the impact of Collegiate Chapters and the numerous ways members are incorporating students into their practice, not only by educating them in psychiatric pharmacy but also in enhancing their understanding of those living with mental illness.

AAPP is pleased to be an official supporter of ASHP’s "We’re Your Pharmacist," a national public awareness campaign bringing visibility to pharmacist contributions to patient care and public health across practice settings and specialties. We are excited to be a part of this effort to share pharmacist stories, educate the public about critical pharmacist patient care roles, and inspire the next generation of pharmacy professionals. Be sure to like, share, and comment on our social media posts promoting this exciting campaign!

HHS announced a $100M pilot funding opportunity to prevent, test for, treat and cure Hepatitis C (HCV) in individuals with substance use disorder (SUD) and/or Serious Mental Illness (SMI). This program is particularly designed to support communities severely affected by homelessness and to gain insights on effective ways to identify patients, complete treatment, cure infections, and reduce reinfection by Hepatitis C (a liver disease caused by the Hepatitis C virus).

Long-time AAPP member and the current AAPP Foundation President-Elect, Clayton English, PharmD, BCPS, BCPP, BCGP, FAAPP, is part of a team of SoP faculty researchers at the University of Washington School of Pharmacy that has been awarded a $200,000 Tier 3 pilot research grant from the UW Population Health Initiative. The team’s work aims to address the rise in opioid overdose deaths, increasingly driven by fentanyl. This work is vital to public health. Help us congratulate Dr. English!

Each 30-minute webinar offers a dynamic, peer-driven discussion focused on complex substance use disorder cases. Free to AAPP members! Click the link to learn more and register.

Two $25,000 grants are available to support quality improvement projects that support the integration of psychiatric pharmacists into mental health care teams. Projects like these are critical for the advancement of the psychiatric pharmacy profession. Download the RFP and submit your application by the Oct. 1, 2025, deadline.

The 11/14/2024 #JournalClub (1 of 2) presented "Enhancing immigrant families' mental health through the promotion of structural and community-based support." The recording is available free to all AAPP members.

Get equipped to advocate for and contribute to systemic changes that enhance mental health care delivery in this complimentary webinar! Earn 1.0 ACPE contact hours of CE and put your best foot forward. #CE #psychpharmacy #SDOH #LAI #virtual

Burnout is a well-documented occupational phenomenon that has emerged as a significant concern within the health care field. Characterized by three domains including emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalization (DP), and reduced personal accomplishment (PA), burnout can have serious consequences on professional performance and personal well-being. Previous studies have identified prevalence rates and risk factors for burnout among other clinical pharmacy specialties, however none to date have evaluated burnout among psychiatric pharmacists. This study addresses this gap by evaluating burnout among Board-Certified Psychiatric Pharmacists (BCPPs) in the United States.

AAPP Student Chapters: This is your chance to get funding for your activities! Apply by Sept. 30 to receive up to $6,000.

Julie Thiel, BS Pharm, PharmD shares questions to ask before accepting a job and what to do if you discover the job is not a culture fit.

Thanks to our partnership with Current Psychiatry (CP) published through Quadrant Healthcom Inc., another Savvy Psychopharmacology article was featured in the January 2020 edition of Current Psychiatry. The goal of this section is to present an evidence-based discussion to guide safe, effective prescribing of psychotropic medications. Eva Studer, MD, Tawny L. Smith, PharmD, BCPP, and Smitha Murthy, MD, authored this article on Valproic acid-induced hyperammonemic encephalopathy.

The AAPP Annual Meeting typically hosts presentations on topics related to psychiatric pharmacotherapy. Expert speakers are often BCPPs, psychiatrists, or advanced psychiatric providers. This year’s session on Contraceptive Care in Psychiatry was unique in that it provided members education on a non-psychiatric topic that is nonetheless frequently encountered in psychiatric practice environments. Given patients with mental illness often face barriers in accessing multiple treatment services, psychiatric pharmacists need to be knowledgeable on how to initiate contraception for patients and/or engage in discussions with patients and prescribers on how to confidently determine the optimal contraceptive option based on an individual’s treatment goals. Familiarity with the advantages and drawbacks of different contraceptive methods enables pharmacists to consider multiple factors when choosing the most suitable options for patients with psychiatric conditions.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) released the results of the 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), which shows how people living in the United States reported their experiences with mental health conditions, substance use and pursuit of treatment.  This year marks the first year since 2020 in which there are at least four years of comparable data for key NSDUH outcomes to enable reporting of trends.

AAPP provides an up to date listing of Psychiatric and Neurologic Pharmacy Fellowships. Take a look at available opportunities!

Recognize change-makers who have impacted patient access to care and/or the profession of psychiatric pharmacy through their advocacy with policymakers and/or decision-makers. Nominations close 10/1/2025.

As I prepare the President’s column for this edition of the AAPP Perspective, I am fresh out of a virtual fall retreat with the AAPP Board concentrated on our strategic plan progress. As a reminder, our current strategic plan was approved in late spring of 2021. It is regarded, by far, as the most aggressive strategic plan AAPP has ever adopted and launched us into an entirely new area of profession advocacy. With your help as volunteers and members and your amazing work in your day jobs, AAPP has been scaling these proverbial strategic plan hills and mountains with great passion ever since.

During this complimentary, grant-funded webinar, participants will learn about the potential benefits and drawbacks of available PPD treatments – including newer NAS medications. Register today and earn 1 hour of ACPE credit upon webinar completion.

Join Dr. Robert G. Sise, MD, MBA, MPH for this webinar: Impact of Social Determinants of Health on Psychotropic Long-Acting Injectable Access and Administration. Get ready to advocate for your patients! #CE #psychpharmacy #SDOH #LAI #virtual

The Clozapine in Practice toolkit has recently been updated to reflect the discontinuation of the REMS and to describe current information on monitoring guidelines. A special thanks to lead author Jonathan Leung and co-authors Robin Hieber, Jenna Stearns, and Greg Deardorff for their work to update this important toolkit.

The mock exam is composed of 150 questions based on the content domains and knowledge statements included in the BPS content outline. Register today and practice, practice, practice!

The 11/14/2024 #JournalClub (2 of 2) presented "Impact of sex on antidepressant discontinuation in groups of similar cytochrome P450 phenotypes." The recording is available free to all AAPP members.

The European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee has recommended easing routine blood count monitoring for patients on clozapine, citing new data that show that the risk for severe neutropenia and agranulocytosis declines significantly after the first year of treatment. Under the updated guidelines, monitoring for patients without a history of neutropenia can be reduced to once every 12 weeks after the first year, and to once annually after 2 years. In addition, absolute neutrophil count (ANC) will now be the sole parameter used for hematologic monitoring, replacing the previous requirement to also measure white blood cell count. The revised recommendations are supported by a joint expert statement from the European Clozapine Task Force, published this year, which called for changes to the monitoring protocol due to the very low incidence of late-onset agranulocytosis.

Registration is now open for the 2025 AAPP Summit, a two-day virtual event on October 2–3 that will deliver timely, evidence-based insights into emerging areas of psychiatric pharmacy, including migraine treatments and GLP-1 receptor agonists. Submit your educational request and mark your calendar to participate in this high-impact professional development opportunity offering 10 hours of ACPE and BCPP recertification credit.

AAPP member Steve Saklad co-authored the study that highlights key considerations for optimizing the use of aripiprazole monohydrate LAIs in clinical practice to enhance treatment outcomes in patients with schizophrenia and BP-I. Funding was provided by funding by Otsuka Pharmaceuticals Europe Ltd & H. Lundbeck A/S.

Registration is now open for the 2025 AAPP Summit, a two-day virtual event on October 2–3 that will deliver timely, evidence-based insights into emerging areas of psychiatric pharmacy, including migraine treatments and GLP-1 receptor agonists. Attendees can earn up to 10 hours of ACPE and BCPP recertification credit across eight expert-led sessions, plus an additional hour from a bonus symposium. All registrants will also receive extended access to session recordings to support ongoing learning and credit completion. Submit your educational request and mark your calendar to participate in this high-impact professional development opportunity.

Social media is a lifeline and a liability for today’s youth. Join us to explore how psychiatric pharmacists can navigate the digital landscape to protect and support young minds. #2025AAPPSummit #psychpharmacy #aapp

During this complimentary, grant-funded webinar, participants will gain insight into the barriers to effective psychotropic LAI use and explore current research. Register today and earn 1 hour of ACPE credit upon webinar completion.

With the availability of various non-combustible tobacco products such as e-cigarettes, nicotine pouches, and heat-not-burn products, clinicians should understand their potential risks as well as their potential to reduce the use of combustible cigarettes. This session during the 2025 AAPP Summit aims to educate psychiatric pharmacists on the emerging evidence surrounding non-combustible products.

We are cross promoting this event being held by the Smoking Cessation Leadership Center. They will dive into the neurobiology of nicotine addiction in individuals with serious mental illness (SMI), review promising evidence-based interventions and discuss how tobacco treatment can be effectively integrated into psychiatric and behavioral health systems. The session will support clinicians, public health professionals and behavioral health leaders in advancing tobacco-free recovery. CEUs are available for this event.

Ashley Maister, BS, PharmD, BCPP provides insights on the layered learning model, a way to differentiate instruction to accommodate for different skills and abilities.

The treatment of cannabis use disorder, special populations and co-occurring disorders as well as harm reduction strategies are also addressed in the toolkit.

There are significant disparities in the diagnosis of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia among different ethnic groups. This session aims to bring awareness and educate psychiatric pharmacists to better ensure individuals receive evidence-based care for serious mental illness, regardless of their racial or ethnic background. Join us! #psychpharm #2025AAPPSummit #bcpp #aapp

What another exceptional year for our AAPP student chapters! Fifty-two collegiate chapters submitted an annual report presenting an overview of their 2022-2023 academic year. The Membership-Marketing Subcommittee of the Student Committee reviewed the reports for highlights of the year, noting significant community service, campus activities, research, and professional growth. Throughout the year, student pharmacists exhibited a great passion for mental health awareness in their selection of community service and chapter activities on campus. The chapters also maintain a commitment to professional development in the field of psychiatric pharmacy.

How about some trivia? How many meetings does a chapter need to hold each year to maintain its status as a recognized AAPP collegiate chapter? The answer to this and many other chapter requirements can be found in the Student Chapter Formation Manual from the Student Chapter Hub.

The Kaiser Family Foundation has prepared a summary describing the health care provisions in the law (described as the Senate-passed bill) in four categories: Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, Medicare and Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).

Hawai’i has passed SB 1245, an advancement that will recognize pharmacists as health care providers under Hawai'i law and ensure health plan reimbursement for services they provide within their scope of practice.

Collaborative care models with clinical pharmacist integration have demonstrated improved patient outcomes for hepatitis C virus screening and treatment. Get prepared to help underserved patient populations during this session, offered at the 2025 AAPP Summit. #psychpharm #bcpp #aapp

President Jolene Bostwick and Executive Director Brenda Schimenti had the opportunity to discuss the vital role of board-certified psychiatric pharmacists (BCPPs) in integrated care teams. The interview highlights psychiatric pharmacist expertise in comprehensive medication management, the role of collaborative practice agreements, the psychotropic stewardship model, and how psychiatric pharmacists improve outcomes for patients with psychiatric disorders. The interview closes by addressing significant policy barriers, including lack of reimbursement and federal recognition, that limit broader implementation and growth of the profession.

Given the expanding role of GLP-1As in psychiatric treatment, psychiatric pharmacists should recognize appropriate patients for this medication class and explain both its benefits and risks. This session will discuss the differences in GLP-1As for weight loss treatment, risks, and creation of a treatment plan when using these agents in the setting of an eating disorder. #2025AAPPSummit #psychpharm #aapp #bcpp

The 1/9/25 #JournalClub article 1 presented "Comparative safety of in utero exposure to buprenorphine combined with Naloxone vs Buprenorphine alone." The recording is available free to all AAPP members.

Long-time AAPP member and the current AAPP Foundation President, Clayton English, PharmD, BCPS, BCPP, BCGP, FAAPP, is part of a team of SoP faculty researchers at the University of Washington School of Pharmacy that has been awarded a $200,000 Tier 3 pilot research grant from the UW Population Health Initiative. The team’s work aims to address the rise in opioid overdose deaths, increasingly driven by fentanyl. This work is vital to public health. Help us congratulate Dr. English!

This 2-hour webinar focuses on developing appropriate techniques for answering standardized questions more accurately, identifying common issues in testing that may be hurting your performance, and analyzing your testing performance to improve accuracy, pacing, and endurance. Level up your test-taking skills!

Psychiatric pharmacists need to understand where novel treatments like inhaled loxapine, dexmedetomidine sublingual film, or intranasal olanzapine fit into the treatement of agitation in high-risk patients. This topic will be presented during the 2025 AAPP Summit. Join us! #psychpharm #bcpp #aapp

Updated Post: AAPP Urges Insurers to Maintain Vaccine Coverage

Other than clozapine, there are no clinical trials that clearly establish the superiority of one antipsychotic medication over another. Novel mechanisms help address gaps in care! Join us for this session during the 2025 AAPP Summit. #psychpharm #bcpp #aapp

The Lancet Psychiatry - Absolute neutrophil count and adverse drug reaction monitoring during clozapine treatment: consensus guidelines from a global Delphi panel

AAPP surveys show that at least 90% of successful BCPP candidates purchase the Review Book as their primary study tool. 100% of survey respondents indicate that the Review Book was their primary study resource and a key tool to their certification success! Get your book today and start studying!

OIG surveyed behavioral health providers who actively served Medicare and Medicaid patients to assess whether they could make new patient appointments for enrollees in 2023. Some findings of the review include: 1) forty-five percent of surveyed providers reported that they were not available to treat new patients enrolled in traditional Medicare, Medicare Advantage, and Medicaid managed care, and 2) among the providers who were available to treat new patients enrolled in Medicare or Medicaid, about a quarter reported wait times of more than 30 days for an appointment. This report illustrates that enrollee access to needed behavioral health care is hampered by the inability of active providers to treat new patients.

AAPP is continuing its membership in the Get the Medications Right Institute (GTMRX) in 2025. GTMRX is focused on advancing recognition among providers and payors of the importance of systematic, evidence-based approaches to medications and their rationale use and the urgent need for payment and policy reform to advance access to and payment for person-centered CMM services.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is revising the labeling of all extended-release stimulants to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder to warn about the risk of weight loss and other side effects in patients younger than 6 years. The agency is requiring a “limitation of use” section in the prescribing information of all extended-release stimulants to include a statement on higher rates of adverse reactions in these young children. Extended-release stimulants are not approved for children below 6, but doctors can prescribe them “off label” to treat ADHD. The agency said it assessed data from clinical trials of extended-release formulations of amphetamine and methylphenidate for ADHD treatment, finding that, compared to older children, patients younger than 6 have higher levels of the drug in their bodies as well as higher rates of side effects. For these reasons, the benefits of extended-release stimulants may not outweigh the risks in patients younger than 6, according to the regulator.

As we enter into the season of pumpkin spice, football, and falling leaves, it’s my pleasure to reach out and say hello as your new AAPP President. On behalf of your AAPP Board of Directors, I’d like to take a few paragraphs to reflect on some of the progress we made this summer.

This free medication database provides a list of generic and brand name medications.

"As pharmacists, we have opportunities every day to be an advocate for our patients and a champion for our profession." Learn how Dr. Tanya Fabian is advocating for psychiatric pharmacists! #WIWIK #psychpharmacy #AAPP #advocacy #yourvoicematters

In this cross-sectional study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, researchers analyzed data from the 2021-2023 National Survey on Drug Use and Health and found that past-month cannabis use among U.S. adults ages 65 and older rose from 4.8% to 7.0%. The greatest increases were among people with higher incomes, more education and chronic diseases and those living in states with legalized medical cannabis.

In this Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), emergency department (ED) data from October 2020 to March 2024 show that rates of suspected fentanyl-involved nonfatal overdose visits rose steadily across most demographic groups through mid-2023 before declining slightly. The increase highlights both the ongoing public health burden and the critical role of ED-based interventions.

Using cross-sectional data from national surveys and prescription records between 2019 and 2022, this study found that among U.S. adults ages 18-64 who used prescription stimulants, 25.3% reported nonmedical use and 9.0% met criteria for prescription stimulant use disorder (PSUD), with highest prevalence linked to amphetamine use, highlighting the need for PSUD screening and treatment regardless of reported use patterns.

This systematic review and meta-analysis of real-world data connects cannabis use with an increased risk of major adverse cardiovascular events, including stroke (RR 1.20), acute coronary syndrome (RR 1.29) and cardiovascular death (RR 2.10), highlighting the need for routine screening of cannabis use in patients with serious cardiovascular conditions.