practice advancement
ASHP Releases PAI 2030 Recommendations
Every decade ASHP releases initiatives for the next 10 years, and in January 2020, the Practice Advancement Initiative (PAI) 2030 recommendations were released. The PAI 2030 categorizes their recommendations into five different sections: 1) patient-centered care, 2) pharmacist role, education, and training, 3) technology and data science, 4) pharmacy technician role, education, and training, and 5) leadership in medication use and safety. Highlights of each section include a need for pharmacists to lead medication management in all healthcare settings, a focus on changing the definition and role of the pharmacist within the healthcare team, increasing the use of technology in healthcare delivery, refining definitions of technicians and a push to increase utility, and further encouragement for a pharmacist to be involved in healthcare leadership and decision making.
HIV Project Expansion to include Hepatitis C Testing
In conjunction with the Iowa Department of Public Health’s Bureau of HIV, STD and Hepatitis, IPA is partnering with community-based pharmacies across the state in offering HIV testing with plans to add Hepatitis C testing in 2020. Based on statistical data from the Iowa Department of Public Health’s epidemiology report, additional Hepatitis C testing is needed in Greene and Appanoose counties. The project launched in January of 2019 and includes two cohorts of twelve pharmacies that are currently offering free HIV screenings. With the goal of 40 sites providing HIV screenings, IPA is looking to gain more interest in offering HIV testing in the following counties: Palo Alto, Pocahontas, Calhoun, Webster, Humboldt, Kossuth, Clarke, Decatur, Wayne, Lucas, Monroe, Appanoose, Wapello. These are areas of the state that the Iowa Department of Public Health considers focus areas based on their epidemiology reporting. To participate in the project or to learn more, please contact Kellie Staiert, IPA’s Lead Project Manager at kstaiert@iarx.org.
CDC Continues to Work with Pharmacists to Control BP & Diabetes in Iowa Throughout 2020, IPA will continue to work with the Iowa Department of Public Heath (IDPH) to achieve the goals and objectives of the CDC 1815 grant focused on controlling blood pressure and diabetes in high-
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risk communities around the state. Throughout this initiative, IPA and IPDH hope to increase pharmacist engagement with promotion and delivery of selfmanagement and medication management services related to these disease states. IPA will be working throughout 2020 to reach out to pharmacists to assist in initiating new referral processes for diabetes self-management education/ support (DSME/S) and CDC-recognized diabetes prevention programs (DPP). Watch for communications from IPA to seek your interest in this initiative.
Free Narcan Opportunity for Hospital ERs The Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH), in collaboration with the Iowa Hospital Association (IHA) and the Iowa Healthcare Collaborative (IHC), have been working to resolve the issue of opioid misuse in Iowa, including preventing the deaths of Iowans struggling with an opioid use disorder.
As part of their ongoing Opioid Initiatives, IDPH is teaming up with IHA and IHC to help prevent fatal overdoses by offering free naloxone (Narcan nasal) kits to hospital emergency departments, to be distributed free of charge to persons being released from the emergency department following an opioid overdose. In addition to the Narcan kit, participating hospitals will be asked to distribute referral information provided by IDPH to help connect individuals with local treatment services. The distribution of the Narcan kits should be done in accordance with established hospital policies. All orders placed by hospitals are to be for the projected annual need, based on the number of prior opioid overdoses treated in 2019. Hospitals needed to submit their requests for kits by April 6, 2020.
Join the Hepatitis C ECHO Initiative
The Iowa Primary Care Association (PCA) is facilitating a Hepatitis C (HCV) ECHO initiative. This program is intended for primary care providers (and other providers) interested in learning more about HCV and how to treat/care for patients with HCV. Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) is a movement to de-monopolize knowledge and amplify local capacity to provide best practice care for underserved people all over the world. This interactive web-based program provides community-focused primary care clinicians an opportunity to become experts in the delivery of Hepatitis C care through a mentoring-based initiative. Project ECHO, developed by Dr. Sanjeev Aurora at
