CSHP Legislative Update – March 2021
Submitted by Steph Luon, PharmD, and Cory Heck PharmD

We want to say THANK YOU to the members who provided oral testimony, submitted written testimony, and or spoke to your colleagues in support of RB 895 An Act Concerning Changes to Various Pharmacy Statutes. To review the testimony submitted for raised bill 895 click here. Each of you provided thoughtful examples to help legislators understand why this is so important to streamline our practice and enable us to care for even more patients. During the public hearing, no one spoke against this Bill, so we are hopeful it will be reviewed favorably by the house and senate and signed by the governor into law.

This legislative session we are pursuing minor modifications to facilitate practice within CDTM agreements. We are collaborating with the Connecticut Pharmacists Association, the Department of Consumer Protection and others on advancing pharmacy practice within CT. Recently, we met with leadership from the two major health systems in Connecticut to begin discussions surrounding the further advancement of pharmacy practice and work that needs to be done before the following legislative cycle. We plan to focus on the transition from patient-specific collaborative practice agreements to population health-based agreements. This would enable pharmacists to contribute to the provision of high quality patient care on a broader level for patients in CT. We also plan to pursue reimbursement strategies in the outpatient settings to make provision of these services more sustainable.

We are seeking members to join CSHP's Legislative Committee. We need your assistance! We will provide training; No experience is necessary. As a member of this committee, you have the opportunity to be involved in:

• Communicating with multidisciplinary health care colleagues
• Contributing ideas to further advance the profession of pharmacy through legislation
• Communicating with your legislators
• Testifying verbally and/or in writing for  proposed legislation
• Sharing patient experience stories
• Advocating for your profession
• Encouraging your colleagues to get involved
• Writing newsletter articles

 If you are interested in joining out committee and have not already done so, please email Steph.Luon@ynhh.org. We will be holding our first meeting within the next several weeks. We look forward to working with you!