In 2019, three Pharmacy Accreditation Reviewers pursued and achieved significant certifications. Dan Bramy and Heather Valiton are now “Certified Specialty Pharmacists.” This certification, offered by the National Association of Specialty Pharmacy (NASP), is the only certification specifically designed to validate professional experience and expertise in Specialty Pharmacy.
As the Specialty Pharmacy industry has grown over the past several years, so has the recognition of this certification. Many specialty pharmacies require pharmacists to earn the Certified Specialty Pharmacist (CSP) recognition as an employment requirement. In addition, some payers require a pharmacy to employ at least one CSP as a network participation requirement. As a result our pharmacy team has interacted with many CSP’s during accreditation reviews.
Dan and Heather shared that they wanted to pursue this recognition to elevate their interactions with URAC applicants. With Dan and Heather achieving this recognition, we now have 3 CSP’s working at URAC, as Jenn Richards also achieved this recognition in 2018. The certification requires that a pharmacist complete at least 30 hours of Specialty Pharmacy specific continuing education in the past 2 years, have more than 3,000 hours of experience in Specialty Pharmacy practice within the past 4 years, and successfully pass the rigorous CSP exam which covers both clinical and operational aspects of Specialty Pharmacy.
In the fall of 2019, Bruce Karns decided to pursue board certification offered by the Board of Pharmacy Specialties in Compounded Sterile Preparations. This certification recognizes pharmacists who have demonstrated experience and compliance with quality standards the preparation of sterile compounds including clinical, safety, environmental, and regulatory practices. With the launch of URAC’s infusion pharmacy programs in 2019, the role of sterile compounding has become a bigger focus in the URAC review process. Given Bruce’s extensive experience in infusion pharmacy, he felt this recognition was a good fit as we move into reviewing infusion pharmacies. To achieve this board certification, pharmacists must have 4,000 hours of practice in compounded sterile preparations pharmacy and pass the rigorous certification exam which covers regulatory, operational, patient care, and quality management practices.
Please join me in congratulating Dan, Heather and Bruce for achieving these prestigious certifications.
