Embracing the Changing Season: Quantifying Pharmacy’s Role in Improving Medication Quality and Safety

As a profession, pharmacy is experiencing its own changing season. The health care industry's capacity for addressing pharmacy's role in medication quality and safety is becoming more favorable. State pharmacy associations continue to expand pharmacists' scope of practice, and ASCP and other national pharmacy associations are united in their push for the passage of the Equitable Community Access to Pharmacist Services (ECAPS) Act (H.R. 1770/S. 2477) legislation. These forward-looking policy priorities are creating a climate that is ripe for change in pharmacy. Further, the need for team-based approaches to address the soaring costs and increasing complexity of medication therapies could not be more apparent. Undoubtedly, pharmacists and pharmacy team members are essential in improving medication quality and safety, especially in the older population, but accurately and consistently quantifying the impact of pharmacists remains complex and challenging.