WASHINGTON — The Center for Pharmacy Practice Accreditation (CPPA) is seeking review and comment on newly released draft standards for community pharmacy practice accreditation.
CPPA, a partnership of the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) and the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP), said the draft standards are designed to facilitate the delivery of quality pharmacy services to patients and spur innovation in community pharmacy practices.
The accreditation draft standards can be reviewed and comments submitted online at http://cppa.pharmacist.com. The deadline for submissions is Aug. 15.
"Input from pharmacists, health care system stakeholders, consumer groups and patients — the ultimate recipients of pharmacist services — is vitally important to the establishment of consensus standards for community pharmacy practice accreditation," Thomas Menighan, CPPA president and chairman, said in a statement.
"The draft standards being released today are the product of months of consideration by a broad group of stakeholders. Yet this draft is only a start," explained Menighan, who also is APhA’s chief executive officer. "Ultimately, the standards and process will be as good as the input we receive. Well-developed and -implemented standards can create the specificity, measurability and predictability that are required for broad adoption of pharmacists’ services as the norm in health care."
CPPA noted that an examination of recent health care trends shows a sharper focus on establishing mechanisms to identify providers and practice sites that can deliver quality health care, improve patient outcomes and use resources more effectively. CPPA said it has contracted with APhA to develop the standards for community pharmacy practice accreditation.
The voluntary practice accreditation program will focus on accrediting community pharmacy practices to recognize quality, enhance patient safety and provide a way for top-notch community pharmacy practices to distinguish themselves, according to CPPA.
The CPPA Standards Development Oversight Committee and APhA’s Standards Development Working Committee will review and consider industry comments and suggestions for revision as they work toward a final version of the standards. The standards will then be submitted to the CPPA board of directors for final approval.
It’s expected that the final standards will be publicly available and that full implementation will begin in 2013.
