Board of Directors Meeting, July 8–9, 2010, Seattle, WA

1. Roll Call

President Jeffrey N. Baldwin welcomed the Board and staff members present at the Sheraton Seattle at 9:00 a.m. on July 8^th following an executive session on finance. The following board members participated in the discussion: John A. Bosso (Council of Faculties), J. Chris Bradberry (Council of Deans), Rodney A. Carter (President-elect), Sudip K. Das (Council of Sections), Shane Desselle (Council of Sections), Barbara Hayes (Council of Deans), Keith N. Herist (Treasurer), Patricia Kroboth (Council of Deans), Lucinda L. Maine (Executive Vice President), Patricia A. Marken (Council of Sections), Gary Matzke (Council of Faculties), John A. Pieper (Speaker of the House), Julie E. Szilagyi (Council of Faculties), Victor A. Yanchick (Immediate Past President).

AACP staff included: Jennifer L. Athay, Daniel J. Cassidy, Melinda D. Colón, Barbra A. Gustis, Robert Kerr, Will G. Lang, Allan L. Lee, Rebecca M. Morgan, Jennifer M. Patton, Cecilia M. Plaza and Sibu Ramamurthy.

Guests included Brian L. Crabtree (President-elect designate), R. Lee Evans (Council of Deans chair-elect designate) and Virginia “Ginger” Scott (Council of Faculties chair-elect designate). Associate Editor for AJPE Gayle Brazeau attended representing Editor Joseph DiPiro. Robert Bachman, President of the American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education attended as a guest on July 9^th. Representatives of the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education attended from noon until 2pm on July 9^th, including Heidi Anderson, ACPE President, and ACPE Board members Robert Beardsley, Barbara Burch and Stephanie Gardner. ACPE staff guests included Greg Boyer, Peter Vlasses and Jeff Wadelin.

2. Additions to the Agenda

President Baldwin installed Shane Desselle as chair-elect of the Council of Sections (COS) to fill the COS seats on the Board of Directors following the resignation of Michelle Kalis.

3. Conflict of Interest Declaration

President Baldwin read the conflict of interest statement and requested Board members to identify any real or perceived conflicts of interest with any items on the agenda. No conflicts were identified.

4. Approval of March 2010 Board of Directors Minutes

On MOTION (Hayes, Yanchick) the Board approved the minutes of the March 27 minutes as distributed.

5. Online Assessment & Accreditation System/Institutional Research

Jennifer M. Patton, Director of Institutional Research, provided an update on the development and testing of the Assessment and Accreditation Management System (AAMS), the joint project of AACP and ACPE with technical collaboration with Liaison International. There are six pilot schools working from July to early Fall to beta test the system and four of these schools will receive training in Seattle. The system should be available to all schools later in Fall 2010. AACP has secured the domain name http://aamspharm.org to use for this on line service for AACP member institutions. It was suggested that it would be timely to submit a Viewpoint to AJPE on the system and its significance to schools' work in assessment and accreditation readiness. A demonstration of the system will be included in the November Board meeting agenda.

Jen also provided a review of the Institutional Research Program surveys and how staff, with assistance and input from the Institutional Research and Assessment Committee (IRAC) review the currency, validity and reliability of all surveys on a rolling basis. Minor changes are implemented with limited input from IRAC and any major or difficult changes are studied by the committee and tested prior to wide scale implementation. It was suggested that an “AACP Institutional Research 101” program might be included as a special session in the 2011 Annual Meeting Program. It was further suggested that staff should look again at the timing of when surveys are open for input and use by schools as there are some continuing timing issues to try and resolve.

6. Update on Experiential Education Portfolio of Products and Services

Vice President of Academic Affairs Robert “Buzz” Kerr offered an overview of several priorities in the experiential education arena, including progress to reach preliminary consensus through a Delphi study on 11 core performance domains for student pharmacists to achieve prior to entering advance pharmacy practice rotations. Some discussion of the recently released ACPE policy on the inclusion of simulation as a component of introductory pharmacy practice experiences noted that while this is a positive step in liberalizing the use of simulation ACPE is still too restrictive in defining the IPPE 300 hour minimum criteria. Buzz clarified that the next steps in maturing the performance domains is to provide the academy, largely through the sections, the opportunity to comment on the 11 domains and then to identify a number of tools that can be used by schools to appropriately assess the core competencies by domain. The Board will be asked to approve the performance domains in November. Buzz emphasized that no single tool was likely appropriate to use given the diversity of activities represented in the domains. The Board requested an agenda item for the November meeting that provides an opportunity to look comprehensively at assessment of students at the end of their didactic curriculum (i.e., mile marker exams) especially in the context of current accreditation standards.

Vice President Kerr announced that an experiential education directors' workshop was scheduled for September in San Antonio, TX. The program will have material for new directors as well as a focus on the development of skills to conduct scholarly activities in experiential education for more experienced EE leaders.

7. Faculty Recruitment and Retention

Rebecca Morgan, Director of Communications, presented several new resources that will be part of the American Pharmacy Educator Week toolkit sent to each institution in celebration of the October 25–29, 2010 APEW celebration. She also shared a new cube which is being sent to each individual AACP member reminding them that our publications have gone digital and providing instructions on how to access these resources. She reviewed membership outreach strategies for current and prospective members and unveiled the concept of an “AACP store” where a range of logo-bearing products can be purchased by using an on line vendor.

The Board raised key issues associated with our outreach to the graduate student population and outreach to directors of graduate studies. This could build upon our current collaboration with the American Association of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Shane Desselle raised the question of focusing additional faculty recruitment and retention strategies on the retention side. It was noted that the Department Chair Development priority of the Council of Faculties was in part aimed at this objective.

8. Global Pharmacy Education

EVP Maine provided a summary of recent activities in the priority area of Global Pharmacy Education, including a draft document which was the result of a March 2010 conversation with Ton Hoek, Executive Vice President of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) that outlined a potential collaboration in three components, bringing AACP and FIP into closer alignment around the support of quality pharmacy education around the world. Pros and cons of the proposal were discussed and the Board requested that a conference call be scheduled in late July or early August to provide everyone a focused opportunity to discuss the status of our global work in the context of the actions of the House of Delegates on the AACP strategic plan and the dues increase proposal.

9. Primary Care Update

The Board acknowledged the very significant work that had been done by AACP 2009–10 standing committees to critically examine the current and future contributions of pharmacists to primary health care. Additional discussion on this priority occurred as part of the Standing Committee Reports agenda item.

10. Report of the Finance Committee

Treasurer Keith Herist and COO Dan Cassidy delivered the Finance Committee Report and led the discussion about financial matters for fiscal years 2010 and 2011. The Association's financial position continues to grow with a 6% rise in assets from 2009 to 2010. AACP investments grew at a combined rate of over 12% through March 31 (the last reported performance information). The receivables balance fell significantly on partial payment of monies due from TEVA and Merck for Crystal Apple (note: Merck continues to owe AACP $163,500 which staff is working diligently to collect). Cash is slightly below prior year because $600,000 was transferred into investments earlier in the fiscal year and institutional dues billings were mailed at a later date.

The year-end forecast calls for revenues of $11,070,000 and expenses of $10,705,000 resulting in net revenue of $365,000, which is significantly ahead of the initial annual budget projection. Strong financial performance was the result of across the board increases in programs such as meetings, PharmCAS and PCAT as well as individual membership renewals. Embedded in the year-end forecast is nearly $250,000 of cost reductions from such items as conversion of print publications to electronic, banking and investment fees and legal and travel as well as employee medical plan premium which was held constant from a proposed 17% increase.

Dan Cassidy reviewed the proposed 2011 budget and the new program initiatives for New Investigator Program, PEAS, global alliance website, AJPE expansion and new technology / webinars. Proposed revenues total $11,628,000 and expenses $11,243,000 with the budget balanced on account of the $10 increase in supplemental PharmCAS application fees resulting budgeted net revenue of $385,000. On Motion, (Carter and Bradberry) the Board approved the 2011 budget as submitted.

Included in the 2011 budget is $150,000 to re-establish the New Investigators Program after a one-year absence when funding from AFPE was eliminated. Recognizing the need to reinstate this valuable program and reach a broader audience, the Board discussed rebranding the program and possible funding scenarios. On Motion, (Carter/Das) the Board approved the New Investigators Program be fully funded by AACP in the event AFPE is unable to provide the expected resources for the coming fiscal year. Further discussions about the institutional dues increase were moved to another section of the agenda.

11. Approval of the AACP Strategic Plan

On MOTION (Bradberry/Carter) the Board approved the strategic plan as distributed to delegates and referred it to the Bylaws and Policy Development Committee for action by the House. EVP Maine summarized the next steps regarding the operational planning process to be the distribution of action planning templates to staff and leaders for completion by mid-August. The operational plan will be included in the November Board agenda for review and approval.

12. Requests for Institutional Memberships

AACP received one additional request for institutional membership following the June 2010 ACPE Board of Directors Meeting. On MOTION (Pieper/Bradberry) the Board approved a resolution for institutional membership from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine – Georgia School of Pharmacy.

13. Report of the 2009–10 Bylaws and Policy Development Committee (BPDC)

Speaker Pieper and EVP Maine reviewed the business before the House of Delegates and noted that the original (April 2010) version of the BPDC report will be updated for distribution to delegates at check in on Sunday. The July 11 report will include the additional membership resolution (Item 12), two minor Bylaws amendments and the board resolution to approve the new strategic plan.

14. Implementation of Standing Committee Recommendations

EVP Maine noted that all the recommendations and suggestions from the 2009–10 standing committees had been collated as an attachment to agenda item 14. Board members were asked to identify any of these recommendations they felt needed clarification or about which they had concerns. Several of the recommendations had been incorporated into objectives in the draft operational plan and the full set of recommendations will be forwarded to the 2010–11 planning committee for their consideration and integration, as appropriate, into the AACP plan.

It was noted that activities associated with Recommendation 2 of the Research and Graduate Affairs Committee report should involve members of the Experiential Education Section. The Board then agreed that Recommendation 3 of the Special Committee on Substance Abuse should be forwarded in an appropriately worded resolution to the Bylaws and Policy Development Committee. On MOTION (Carter/Das) the Board approved the following policies for consideration by the House of Delegates:

AACP advocates the inclusion of substance abuse and addiction issues in the ACPE Accreditation Standards, the NAPLEX competencies and examination, and the practice standards of professional organizations.

AACP advocates increased continuing education programs that address practitioner needs in the area of addiction and substance abuse.

The Board requested that the issue of drug testing be placed on the November agenda for Board discussion.

15. Awards Review Subcommittee Update

Patricia Marken presented a summary of the awards review workgroup which analyzed key questions for all major AACP awards. While the criteria for the newer community service awards should remain unchanged, the report provided several suggestions on procedural issues that can be incorporated in future cycles of review and presentation. On CONSENSUS, the Board determined that the 2011 awards should be presented at the Annual Meeting rather than the Interim Meeting in Savannah.

On MOTION (Marken/Matzke) the Board approved changes in the Volwiler Research Achievement Award monograph to make it more broadly and explicitly inclusive of the full range of pharmaceutical and clinical science disciplines. In addition, the Board asked that a footnote be included in the Dawson Award description identifying areas of research included in the broad term “biotechnology”. They also approved adding “and clinical related to” to the description to read “documented impact on the pharmaceutical and clinical sciences related to biotechnology”.

On MOTION (Marken/Das) the Board approved criteria for the AACP Distinguished Service Award noting that selection of a recipient should be by unanimous affirmative vote by written ballot.

On MOTION (Marken/Matzke) the Board requested the 2010–11 AACP Finance Committee charge would include a critical examination of the funding status of the awards program with recommendations to the Board related to a) whether the awards should continue to provide a monetary stipend and, if so, at what level and b) should there be any stipulations placed on the use of such funds. They agreed that all awards presented at a national meeting should continue to provide a travel stipend.

16/17. Dues Discussion and Candidate Programs for New Member Services and Revenue Services

The Board spent considerable time during the Finance Committee report discussing the feedback received from delegates and others on the proposed dues increase and felt that there were appropriate answers to the questions that had been raised during these valuable member conversations. It is clear that, while there is some support for a dues increase, members also expect AACP will identify additional non-dues revenue generating programs and services. An extensive list of potential value-added programs was generated in a brainstorming session and the list will be examined by the 2010–11 Strategic Planning Committee for prioritization in the context of the July 2010 Strategic Plan.

18. American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education Update

AFPE President Robert Bachman distributed a summary of awards made by AFPE for predoctoral fellowships and faculty development in 2010. The Foundation is no longer able to support the New Investigators Program or the Gateway to Research Program due to difficulties in corporate development. President Bachman presented a letter to President Baldwin regarding AFPE's position and requirements related to potentially establishing a new synergistic relationship with AACP. The goal of such a change would be to decrease AFPE operating costs and strengthen fund development in order to continue the important support AFPE provides to help develop future pharmaceutical scientists for academia and industry. Board members asked President Bachman for information regarding the provision of feedback from the Board of Grants to those submitting proposals to the Foundation and for additional insights as to the failures in fund raising efforts. These conversations will continue as AACP responds to the AFPE letter of July 8, 2010.

19. Visit with the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education

President Baldwin welcomed the members of the Board and staff of ACPE for the annual discussion of key accreditation issues. The topics covered included: “one size fits all” vs. mission-based application of accreditation standards; new ACPE Board policy on simulation as a component of IPPEs; feedback on ACPE draft newsletter article on a decade of progress in pharmacy education; and an update on the AACP/ACPE AAMS.

20. Outreach

EVP Maine reviewed a summary of the outreach visitation program initiated in 2007–08. Approximately half the colleges and schools of pharmacy have been visited to date. Additional schools will be visited in 2010–11 as part of the outreach effort on research and graduate education to be managed by Rosalie Sagraves in her role as Interim Chief Science Officer. The Board encouraged staff to develop objective measures of the benefits of outreach in order to evaluate the return from investing significant staff and leader time in visitation.

21. Priorities and Status of AACP's Policy Agenda

Will Lang, Vice President of Policy and Advocacy, noted that the health reform legislation passed by Congress acknowledges the important role of faculty, interprofessional education and practice, patient-centered team based care and medication therapy management services. Opportunities for the academy exist within the prevention and wellness provisions, in accountable care organizations and patient centered health homes. Faculty should also work toward proposals for consideration by the Center for Medicare/Medicaid Innovations within CMS.

22. PharmCAS Update

Jennifer Athay, Director of Student Affairs, presented the details of the financial decisions made via electronic balloting in April related to PharmCAS fees for the 2010–11 application cycle. This includes a $10 increase for each supplemental application to cover the increased cost of further implementation of the criminal background check process as an option for participating schools. Jen also mentioned that the Finance Committee had affirmed the appropriateness of allocating additional funds from this increase to the fee waiver program, increasing available funds from $40,000 to $80,000 for this cycle.

There will be 92 participating schools with a few additional schools potentially beginning in January 2011 once they receive a site visit approval for pre-candidate status evaluation from ACPE in January. A group of representatives from schools which admit from high school (0–6 programs) is working to create a “sister admissions system” using PharmCAS to facilitate these admissions with an aim to launch in Fall 2011 for the Fall 2012 class of freshmen.

23. Journal Update

Gayle Brazeau, Associate Editor of AJPE, provided an overview of the continued progress being made by the editors as the Journal grows to 10 full issues in this volume. Submissions of quality manuscripts remain high with an acceptance rate of almost 50%. Readership of the on line contents approaches 25,000 unique visitors each month with significant readership from international visitors.

The editors planned to host an author's workshop during the Seattle meeting and anticipated 40–50 participants, many of whom had submitted a working title for their paper to facilitate matching them with coaches with subject matter expertise. The Journal staff are working with AACP staff on a plan for a new web design and additional features for 2011 and beyond.

24. Council Reports

The chairs of the councils of deans, faculty and sections each provided an overview of their written reports of the work of committees and task forces in 2009–10. These reports will be submitted to the House of Delegates and published in the annual supplement in AJPE.

25. 2010–11 Committee Charges and Members

President-elect Rod Carter provided a synopsis of the charges for each standing committee and a chart identifying committee appointees for 2010–11.

Following a roundtable session of sharing updates on professional and organizational matters the meeting was adjourned at 4:10 p.m. on July 9, 2010.