ETSU honored for practice transformation
While the grant funding for Flip the Pharmacy ended in 2024, the
program’s impact will continue to be felt across the region for years to come..
East Tennessee State University Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy’s impact on the transformation
of community pharmacy was recognized with a prestigious national award to the Greater
Appalachian Transformation Effort (GATE), an effort the college has helped lead since
its inception.
At the October annual meeting of the National Community Pharmacy Association in Columbus,
Ohio, GATE won the 2024 Flip the Pharmacy (FtP) Team of the Year Award. GATE is one
of several teams across the country selected to participate in the Flip the Pharmacy
initiative, which was established in 2019 to help equip community pharmacies across
the country with the tools, resources and coaching they need to adapt from point-in-time,
prescription-level care processes to outcomes-based, patient-level care models.
While the grant funding for Flip the Pharmacy ended in 2024, the program’s impact
will continue to be felt across the region for years to come.
The college’s faculty helped lead GATE: Dr. Jessica Robinson, assistant professor
of Pharmacy Practice, served as lead coach; Dr. Katelyn Alexander, director of Experiential
Education, served as a coach; Dr. KariLynn Dowling-McClay, assistant professor of
Pharmacy Practice, served as program consultant; and Jeff Gray, associate professor
of Pharmacy Practice, served as a coach and program administrator.
Together with GATE leaders, they collaborated closely with the Community Pharmacy
Foundation, the Community Pharmacy Enhanced Services Network (CPESN® USA) FtP Coordinating
Center; CPESN ® local community pharmacy networks; and a team of coaches across East
Tennessee, Southwest Virginia and Western North Carolina to oversee the implementation
of practice transformation efforts in more than 200 pharmacies in South Central Appalachia.
GATE was the only multi-state team to compete for funding and the only team to achieve
funding in all four funding cycles, achieving unprecedented success in the number
of community pharmacies reached and in creating alternative revenue opportunities.
“The success of this program is due to the hard work of our partner pharmacies who
together envision a new frontier for community-based pharmacy practice. Their willingness
to challenge the status quo of health care is opening new doors for pharmacist-provided
patient care services,” said Robinson, who graduated from ETSU Gatton College of Pharmacy
in 2017 and later became a faculty member.
She attributed her time as a student as critical to her understanding of the need
for pharmacy practice transformation.
“I wanted to be an independent pharmacy owner when I came here, but the more I learned,
the more I realized we needed to transform the way we care for patients to remain
competitive in a rapidly changing market,” said Robinson, who is also the lead network
facilitator for the Community Pharmacy Enhanced Services Network (CPESN®USA) in Tennessee.
“I could see that health care trends were pointing toward a different model of care
that focused on value and outcomes and felt that I could be a resource for pharmacists
approaching this new frontier.”
The impact extends beyond pharmacies, as students are now trained to “operate at
the top of their license,” according to Robinson. She highlighted a dual approach
with the college’s curriculum enhanced to prepare students to be practice- and business-ready.
“ETSU has positioned itself to be a resource for not only students but also for our
preceptors and alumni, as well,” said Robinson. “We want to be a resource so these
community pharmacists don’t feel alone – that they’ve got somebody they can call.”
It’s a fitting commitment for a college that was founded to address a critical shortage
of local pharmacists – professionals who would train, and remain, in rural and underserved
communities here and across the region.
“I think ETSU has become synonymous with community pharmacy practice transformation
in the Southeast U.S.,” said Robinson.
ETSU Gatton College of Pharmacy offers many options for students to tailor their training,
including an emphasis on independent pharmacy ownership. Learn more at etsu.edu/pharmacy. To learn more about the Flip the Pharmacy initiative at the ETSU Gatton College
of Pharmacy, check out the newest edition of GattonRX Magazine at http://bit.ly/3ZlI3zH.
East Tennessee State University was founded in 1911 with a singular mission: to improve the quality of life for people in the region and beyond. Through its world-class health sciences programs and interprofessional approach to health care education, ETSU is a highly respected leader in rural health research and practices. The university also boasts nationally ranked programs in the arts, technology, computing, and media studies. ETSU serves approximately 14,000 students each year and is ranked among the top 10 percent of colleges in the nation for students graduating with the least amount of debt.
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