The National Council for Behavioral Health Medical Director Institute has recommended that the number of Board Certified Psychiatric Pharmacists (BCPPs) be expanded to help meet the growing demand for mental health services. BCPPs currently assist in expanding care access, improving medication-related outcomes, and reducing health care costs by working collaboratively with physicians and other health care providers. However, they are often underutilized, which results in lost opportunities to better address the needs of persons with psychiatric or substance use disorders and to meet these needs in a timely manner.
This paper addresses five key areas in which BCPPs provide evidence-based care and could be more extensively used as a collaborative solution to the mental health and substance use disorder crisis in the United States:
Goldstone LW, DiPaula BA, Werremeyer A, Botts S, Hepburn B, Liu HY, Duckworth K, Young AS, Kelly DL. The Role of Board Certified Psychiatric Pharmacists in Expanding Access to Care and Improving Patient Outcomes. Psychiatr Serv. 2021 May 4. DOI: 10.1176/appi.ps.202000066. PMID: 33940946.