Anticipating 5 Key Themes for ASHP Midyear 2017

We at PipelineRx are eager to join 25,000 of our colleagues at the 2017 ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting in Orlando. Given the key role that pharmacists play in the U.S. healthcare system, expectations for—and the potential impact of—pharmacists has never been greater. We expect to see five key themes emphasized at this year’s Midyear meeting:

1. Opioids and pain management — With the opioid epidemic making daily front-page news, the pharmacists’ role in helping to solve a major complex problem has never been greater. We expect policy, the role of the pharmacist, and technological innovations to be major topics of discussion.
2. Antimicrobial stewardship — The Joint Commission’s antimicrobial stewardship standard went into effect on Jan 1st of this year, but many hospitals still do not meet the eight core elements of the standard. We anticipate extensive discussion of emerging practices and effective models for pharmacists to play in collectively addressing this key healthcare challenge.
3. Genomics and personalized medicine — As genomic profiles have become increasingly available, the ability of pharmacists to consider the clinical and therapeutic implications of a patient’s personal profile has increased significantly. The pharmacists’ resulting impact on patient outcomes has also increased, and we expect this to be a major topic at the Midyear meeting.
4. Pharmacy beyond acute care — With steady financial pressures inducing systems to provide patient care at the lowest-cost site, we expect the role of the pharmacist to adapt accordingly. Health-system pharmacists will need to learn new skills and develop new workflows in order to ensure that patient therapies are managed appropriately, regardless of setting.
5. Telepharmacy expansion — We have witnessed rapid expansion of the definition of telepharmacy from remote order entry to clinical services and new technology platforms and applications. We anticipate healthy dialogue about best practices and learnings, and the ways in which the use of technology can amplify the impact of pharmacy.

Kevin Jones, RPh, MBA, is VP of Pharmacy Services at PipelineRx. He has over 25 years of experience as a pharmacist and pharmacy manager in the hospital, institutional and home care settings, including serving as Director of Pharmacy at Denver Health Medical Center.