By Steven C. Anderson, IOM, CAE
NACDS President and CEO
I had the honor of serving as emcee of last night’s Summit Awards Dinner, presented annually by ASAE—the Center for Association Leadership (formerly known as the American Society of Association Executives).
When I was first asked to do this, I figured it would be another good opportunity to advance the brand of NACDS among those who participate in the event: other association leaders, opinion drivers, members of the media and influential people within the government. More than 1,000 such individuals were present at the historic National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. last night.
Then again, sometimes things get even better than they first appear.
As it turns out, one of the six awardees—selected by an independent committee from nominees including national and state organizations throughout the country – was the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin (PSW). The Summit Awards recognize important contributions to society from the trade association and professional society community.
This description of PSW’s award-winning work demonstrates just how deserving it is:
“PSW’s Wisconsin Pharmacy Quality Collaborative (WPQC) is an evidence-based approach to ensure that consumers are prescribed and dispensed medications with regular assessment of desired outcomes. Through the WPQC, pharmacists have provided tens of thousands of healthcare services to Wisconsin consumers, more than 1,000 pharmacists in the state have been certified and nearly half of the state’s pharmacies are accredited program partners. The WPQC program is organized to improve health care quality and reduce health care costs by improving medication use. Focusing on cost-effectiveness improvement alone has yielded a 4:1 return. Providing patients more information about their medications and providing a system that is designed to improve the coordination of their care is a strategy with anticipated long-term results. A goal of the WPQC program is to create a standardized care process for patients who take medications.”
The opportunity to show the flag for NACDS and for pharmacy at this special event would have been a great experience in any case. The opportunity to recognize our friends and colleagues at PSW made the evening particularly rewarding, and particularly effective in advancing the growing recognition that pharmacy is receiving for its amazing work on behalf of the American people as the face of neighborhood healthcare.
