Let me express my appreciation to each of you, delegates, alternates and interested others, who make participation in the work of AACP’s democracy a priority for this annual meeting. Recognizing that there are so many other ways you could use your precious and limited hours today, this week or this month, deciding to help AACP establish the bedrock upon which we stand through the actions of this House is an important decision and one that I hope enriches both your meeting and your experience as a member of AACP and the Academy. We certainly have a lot to accomplish this morning, so my remarks will be brief.
I am using the theme of “Doing Things Differently” in framing this report. There are several reasons why I am drawn to that as you will appreciate in just a few minutes.
First, before we conclude this session of the 2018 House, BPDC Chair Bzowyckyj and Speaker Manolakis will ask you to vote on a revised set of House Rules of Procedures. The revision isn’t revolutionary, but instead is an attempt to keep our rules consistent with the evolution of our work as AACP’s policymaking body. Yet there is a significant component to the revision that I hope won’t escape your attention. It relates to our ability to engage the delegates in doing things differently.
Last year as I embarked upon the development of the script for the 2017 House, I began revising the 2015 session scripts. Why the 2015 and not the 2016, you might wonder? Simply because we only elect a Speaker-elect every even numbered year, so to incorporate the words and the sequence of House business in a non-election year, you need to go back two years vs one year and begin working with that script as your template. I was struck by the redundancy of our agendas year after year after year.
You are all aware that the agenda for both the first and second House sessions are included in our Rules of Procedure. I began to think about the timing and the process of making a change in the business of the House should that be needed in a given year. It dawned on me that a change in the agenda would need to be anticipated at least a year in advance. If not, new activities engaging delegates that substantively changed the agenda would require a suspension of House Rules for the purpose of asking delegates to approve a different agenda from that included in our Rules. Not impossible but sort of old school.
Speaker Manolakis and I agree that we aim to have our democratic body liberated to do something differently when it is in the best interest of AACP and the Academy; hence, the proposed House Rules revision takes the static agenda for each session out of the rules document. Instead, we pledge to present an agenda for each session adequately in advance of our July work for delegates’ preparation, with room for interesting and important changes that arise as we approach our important work.
One somewhat subtle change that Speaker Manolakis and I have discussed is the use of what we might call a Consent Agenda to expedite the conduct of some of our business. Given the high level of participation in our delegate webinars and the Open Hearing, it seems that the items of policy that receive limited suggestions for change might be grouped together for a single vote. We thought of introducing that this morning but realized that we should not throw chaos into our crowded agenda. The monkey is now on our back, Michael, as we work toward some meaningful change for the 2019 House in Chicago. Delegates, stay tuned!
Before you conclude your business today, you will also be asked to approve the 2018 AACP Strategic Plan. Does this fit in the theme of doing things differently? After all, the eight strategic priorities from the 2016 plan remain the same in the updated plan. The 2017-18 Strategic Planning Committee, chaired by President-elect Allen, was asked to review our progress on the 2016 plan and identify modifications that are warranted based on members’ current priorities and needs. We haven’t yet reversed the downturn in the applicant pipeline (Priority 1) but the decline in number of applicants has leveled out; we are poised to launch a national media campaign (Priority 2) to help the public better appreciate how our graduates are prepared to address some of the significant shortcomings in our current US health care system. I hope that many of you will actively engage with us in getting our message out to target audiences in your communities and across the country. As I shared with the firms that were finalists for our agency of record contract, I have been waiting to do this campaign for 40 years!
Further, we haven’t yet sufficiently accelerated the transformation of pharmacy education and practice (Priority 3) so that the public has the best chance of accessing the patient care services that will be described vividly in our campaign activities. Todd Sorensen, our incoming president-elect, and I have had the beginnings of a thoughtful conversation about this. Todd wears several hats that focus on enabling practitioners to lead and engage in expanded patient care services aimed at improving medication use and patient outcomes. He has gained deep insights into how and why practice change can happen and equally deep insights into why it does not. To be honest, the latter beats out the former in way too many practice advancement projects and research efforts (Priority 4).
AACP articulated the case for practice change driven by changes in education decades ago and communicated those recommendations in countless studies and reports – Elliott, Millis, Janus just to name a few signature contributions. And without a doubt, change has occurred and those outside the profession have taken notice. The most recent blogpost by the AMA on the positive benefits of pharmacists practicing in Oregon medical clinics is evidence of this.
But we simply haven’t progressed rapidly enough such that all of our graduates who entered our programs on the promise that their careers would be ones that have maximal impact on patients and populations can find positions that allow this level of practice. Many think time may be running out. I’m not yet convinced that this is true but I do think about it.
So this year, we will be thinking about doing some things differently with a heightened focus on Strategic Priority 3 in the 2018 plan. Todd will chair this year’s Strategic Planning Committee that will focus on doing things rather than simply studying them – again. AACP has consistently put forth the perspective that our member institutions and your faculty are leaders in innovation, and we can point to so many examples of this. Our questions will explore how to accelerate and scale and sustain those practice models you incubate as we work to significantly change the standard of practice in medication management for all those patients and practitioners in need. They need us, the profession, to do some things differently.
In closing, I’ll share that I’m acting on my own theme. My doing things differently, which I’ve shared with some of you, is taking the month of August off! This Friday evening, after I participate in an important meeting on an opioid action collaborative convened by the National Academy of Medicine, I will turn off lmaine{at}aacp.org. My August plans include several weeks in New England at the shore, some unstructured time in Virginia, and end with travel to London and Scotland and the FIP meeting. I do this with full confidence that you will be preoccupied with the beginning of your busy school years and that our amazing staff (who will also be taking vacation after this record-breaking meeting) are absolutely capable of meeting members’ needs in my absence. The most common response to my sharing this plan is – That is GREAT! Thanks again, delegates, for your commitment to the work that will now begin. Let’s all think about how future House activity might align with my doing things differently theme.
- © 2018 American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy
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