Searching for Solutions

Suicide is a global public health concern and a priority of the World Health Organization (WHO) since 2014. It has a devastating impact on communities and families. Psychiatric pharmacists implement evidence-based suicide risk mitigation interventions and are a key part of suicide prevention strategies.

Access to specialized mental health and crisis professionals for children and adolescents is severely limited contributing to the growing youth mental health crisis. This issue brief outlines how psychiatric pharmacists are part of the solution to achieve both early intervention and optimization of medications to improve outcomes.

Both methadone and buprenorphine are considered first-line medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) with a demonstrated reduction in morbidity and mortality associated with opioid use disorder (OUD).

Substance use disorders (SUD) are a major public health crisis impacting families, communities and society.

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Psychiatric pharmacists are highly trained, advanced practice clinical pharmacists accessible in many practice settings. They improve patient outcomes by delivering comprehensive medication management.

Psychiatric pharmacists improve access to care, optimize medication outcomes and reduce health care costs. There are approximately 1500 Board-certified Psychiatric Pharmacists in the US. Leveraging 340B savings is an important means to sustain and expand access to high quality psychiatric pharmacy patient care services, including comprehensive medication management.

Congress should take action on permanent telehealth reform. Remove restrictions on medicare beneficiary access to mental and behavioral health services provided via telehealth. Remove restrictions on the location of the patient and provider. Allow telephonic (audio-only) services for mental health and substance use disorder services. Continue payment parity for telehealth services.

AAPP details the policy changes needed to enable psychiatric pharmacists to be key professionals helping to bridge care gaps and enhance care integration for people with multiple co-occurring medical and psychiatric conditions and complex medication regimens in both primary care and behavioral health settings. Medicare enhancements, inclusion of psych pharmacists in the collaborative care model, and financial support of PGY2 residencies are among the policy recommendations.

The AAPP Board and Government Affairs Committee have identified policy priorities which reflect the identity of our organization, help us work on behalf of our patients, serve our members’ interests, and create an action plan for best targeted impact. The advocacy fact sheets below support these policy priorities.