NISPC Invites Involvement of National Pharmacy Organizations

Progress continues in development of the newly formed National Institute for Standards in Pharmacist Credentialing (NISPC). The chief elected officers and senior staff of a number of national and state pharmacy associations will meet with the leaders of NISPC’s founding organizations on October 5 in Washington, D.C.

The purpose of the upcoming meeting is to focus on continuing efforts to expand the scope and involvement of other pharmacy organizations in NISPC activities, and to further guide the development of standards for disease specific examinations utilized in the credentialing process.

NISPC was jointly established in June, 1998, by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP), the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) and the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA).

The Institute’s activities represent a coordinated approach for creating the standards that form the foundation for examinations to credential pharmacists in specific disease states.

Since its establishment, the founding members of NISPC have responded to a request by the American Pharmaceutical Association (APhA) and invited APhA to join the NISPC Board of Directors. NISPC is awaiting APhA’s formal acceptance.

In its first three months of operation, interest in the disease state management examinations developed by NABP has been very high among practitioners, colleges of pharmacy, prescription drug manufacturers and payors.

NABP already has developed examinations for asthma, diabetes and dyslipidemia (high cholesterol). On September 14, NISPC representatives met to discuss standards for measuring competencies for anticoagulation (blood thinning) disease state management.

All four disease state management examinations will be made available to state boards of pharmacy for administration on uniform test dates, beginning October 28 and 29, 1998.

NABP also has established a data base of pharmacists who have passed specific disease state exams. The data base is accessible to practitioners, payors and others through NABP’s Pharmacist and Pharmacy Achievement and Discipline ™ (PPAD ™) database.

Since its formation, NISPC activities have been carried out by a working group comprise of staff representatives from each of the founding organizations.

Those pharmacy groups invited to participate in the October 5 NISPC meeting include the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy, American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, American College of Apothecaries, American College of Clinical Pharmacy, American Pharmaceutical Association, American Society of Consultant Pharmacists, American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Minnesota Pharmacists Association, National Council of State Association Executives, and the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association.

The members of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) and the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA, representing independent pharmacies) collectively operate more than 50,000 community pharmacies and provide practice settings for more than 125,000 pharmacists. These pharmacists are responsible for dispensing more than 90 percent of the 2.7 billion outpatient prescriptions filled annually. The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) is the independent and impartial association that assists its member boards in developing, implementing, and enforcing uniform standards for the purpose of protecting the public health.