The Evolution of Flip the Pharmacy
and Practice Transformation
This past month there has been a buzz about a new initiative—the NCPA Innovation Center/CPESN Community Pharmacy Fellowship (
See article below
). As Director of Practice Development for Flip the Pharmacy,
I have been asked by CPESN pharmacists what is the difference between the Fellowship and Flip the Pharmacy and should they choose one over the other.
My response is based on my own professional career, the experiences that I have had in practice transformation, and providing training to residents for the past twenty years.
Flip the Pharmacy and the new Community Pharmacy Fellowship are not mutually exclusive. In fact they are very complementary to each other in the following way.
Flip the Pharmacy is about practice transformation—creating the capacity of the practice to support the provision of enhanced services.
Creating the capacity is moving the pharmacy from the focus on product dispensing to provision of patient care services. This requires that the pharmacists have the time and resources to do this—which is why we have the six domains of practice transformation as part of Flip the Pharmacy—each practice site makes the necessary changes within the practice (medication synchronization, patient monitoring, optimal use of non-pharmacist personnel, maximizing the use of technology, creating collaborative working relationships with other providers, and developing a new business model for payment. It’s all about the practice.
The Fellowship, on the other hand, is about the individual—the fellow.
Once site has the capacity, it many times takes a trained “change agent” to develop, implement, and evaluate enhanced services.
The program which is focused on developing the skills and knowledge of the fellow to be successful in practice transformation, management, and patient care. Fellows will have the opportunity to develop their knowledge and understanding in practice guidelines, disease state management, and behavioral health. How to ensure patients’ medications are optimized so that they are achieving therapeutic outcomes with safe and effective medications. It’s about developing the knowledge and skills sets of the fellow—who becomes the change agent for the practice.
One initiative (e.g. Flip the Pharmacy or Fellowship) without the other may not maximize practice transformation and the delivery of enhanced services.
In fact, I have witnessed first-hand practices that have transformed—creating the capacity (including time) to support patient care services—but the current staff was not sure what to do in this new environment. Contrary to this situation, I also have trained residents to be change agents—but if they are put into a practice environment that has not, and will not, transform to support their initiatives—they become frustrated and become disengaged. When these two initiatives are combined—the outcomes of practice transformation and patient care are maximized and the practice elevates to the highest level of advanced practices focused on patient care and delivery of enhanced services.
It is exciting to see what CPESN USA has become in a few short years. Flip the Pharmacy has created a tremendous movement of practice transformation and now we have the NCPA Innovation Center/CPESN Community Pharmacy Fellowship—which will create a cohort of change agents to help lead the way!
