Council of Deans Volunteer Opportunities

The 2024-2025 Council of Deans Mentoring Committee is charged to:

• Monitor and evaluate the 2024-2025 COD Mentoring Program.
• Implement the 2025-2026 COD Mentoring Program.
• Recommend process and any additional changes to the COD Mentoring Program for the 2025-2026 academic year.

Deliverables:

• Select the mentors and mentees for the 2025-2026 COD Mentoring Program.
• Provide a summary report on the 2024-2025 COD Mentoring Program.
• Provide recommendations for the 2025-2026 COD Mentoring Program.
   

The charges of the 2024-2025 Nominating Committee are to:

• Recruit and review candidates for COD Chair-elect (which must be an Assistant/Associate Dean) for the Fall 2025 election.
• Recruit and review candidates for the COD Secretary of Knowledge Management (a 1-year commitment/appointment) for the Fall 2025 election.
• Recruit and review candidates and for the COD Representative to the Administrative Board (a 2-year commitment/appointment) for the Fall 2025 election.

Deliverables:

• Refer a minimum of 2 candidates for the COD Chair-elect position to the AACP Nominating Committee for review and potential slating.
• Determine the slate for the COD Secretary of Knowledge Management and the COD Representative to the Administrative Board positions.

The charges of the 2024-2025 Programming Committee are to:

• Develop topics and speakers for the CEO Deans and Assistant/Associate Deans Networking Session at the 2025 AACP Interim Meeting.
• Develop topics and speakers for the three COD Networking Sessions at the 2025 AACP Annual Meeting.
• Provide suggestions to the COD Administrative Board for the informal COD and CEO Deans Informal Networking Sessions held during the 2024-2025 academic year.

Deliverables:

• In collaboration with AACP staff, select the topic(s) and speaker(s) for the CEO Deans and the Assistant/Associate Deans Networking Sessions held at the 2025 AACP Interim Meeting.
• In collaboration with AACP staff, select the topic(s) and speaker(s) for the COD Networking Sessions held at the 2025 AACP Annual Meeting.

The charges of the 2024-2025 Resolutions Committee are to:

• Solicit and recommend potential resolutions pertinent for current COD and pharmacy academia issues.
• Review the current Council of Deans (COD) Standing Rules of Procedure and determine any updates that are needed.

Deliverables:

• Potential resolutions to be discussed and voted on by the COD
• Potential revision(s) to the COD Standing Rules of Procedures.

Theme: Finances

Taskforce Rationale 

With challenges in finances, there will be more pressure to offset clinical faculty salaries. As more states grant provider status to pharmacists and new value-based reimbursement models emerge this may create opportunities for reimbursement of services by clinical faculty. This work helps to inform the Academy of the changing landscape of reimbursement for patient care services provided by pharmacy faculty and areas to capitalize on these changes.

This taskforce extends the Pilot from the 21-22 AACP Strategic Engagement Committee that was charged to: 
Develop a resource guide for AACP and member institutions to advocate for payment for practice-related services from State and Federal programs. The focus of this charge is on payment for patient care services delivered by faculty employed by colleges/schools of pharmacy. Identify the potential sources of payment through State and Federal program, the current mechanisms for payment, and changes to current laws/regulations/policies that would likely increase payments to faculty (directly or indirectly) for patient care services.

• https://www.cms.gov/medicare/coding-billing/medicare-administrative-contractors-macs/whats-mac
• https://www.cms.gov/files/document/ab-jurisdiction-map03282023pdf.pdf
• https://www.cms.gov/medicare/quality/measures 

Taskforce Charges & Deliverables 

1. Work with AACP Institutional Research and Effectiveness team to review the data from the Pilot of the 2022 Patient Care Payment Models of Pharmacy Faculty Survey.
   1. Create a process to enlist CEO Deans to complete the Patient Care Payment Models of Pharmacy Faculty Survey in 2024-2025 academic year.
   2. Identify exemplar Practice Plans that colleges and schools of pharmacy have implemented for their clinical faculty.
2. Assess barriers to CMS “Incident-to-Billing” by pharmacists among the 12 Medicare Administrative Contractors (MAC) and propose ways to address these barriers.
3. If CMS plans to move toward a “value-based payment” system by 2030, how might the academy address quality-based metrics that will provide pharmacists with the ability to understand, analyze, and expand quality control outcomes associated with drug therapy across all healthcare sectors.
4. Discuss how faculty contracts maybe be constructed in the future given these changes above. 

Deliverable: Provide interim and final reports on their progress and outline any relevant resources on the topic that they discover in their work, so that these materials could be posted to AACP Connect Community libraries. Members will produce a white paper on their ideas.

Theme: Education

Taskforce Rationale 

What are the potential roles and responsibilities that exist for academic pharmacy to support, educate, and train the current and future pharmacy practices to meet societal needs while considering the impact of AI and other pharmaceutical distribution models? Areas to assess include: PharmD degrees, pharmacy technicians who are registered/certified, and impact of internationally trained pharmacists. What visions for tiered practice can be imagined: technicians, CPhT, BSPS (non-pharmacist), PharmD? 

Taskforce Charges & Deliverables 

1. Describe the emerging education and training needed for the future of pharmacy practice, in team-based care.
2. Conceptually articulate the roles that could be delegated under a pharmacist supervision.
3. What if any roles (i.e., training and education) should academic pharmacy be involved with pharmacy technicians or other mid-level pharmacist assistants?

Deliverable: Provide interim and final reports on their progress and outline any relevant resources on the topic that they discover in their work, so that these materials could be posted to AACP Connect Community libraries. Members will produce a white paper on their ideas.

Theme: Training

Taskforce Rationale 

The landscape of post-graduate training is shifting. There is the potential for resident numbers to decrease, concurrent with generational changes of residents’ willingness to participate in Teaching Certificate Programs (TCPs) which many academic pharmacy programs have benefited from. Also, there is a role for interdisciplinary research training in T32s through NIH funded Clinical and Science Translation Awards (CTSAs). There may be an opportunity to provide training programs at academic pharmacy programs to practicing pharmacists. 
Since 2019, CMS has used a change in its auditing procedure to fundamentally shift the requirements for allied health residency programs, but it has never updated its regulations or provided guidance on how residencies can comply. Auditors have begun using a so-called “direct control” requirement (42 C.F.R. §413.85) to disallow funding for everything from off-site clinical rotations at other hospitals within a health system, to the use of a health system’s name on a pharmacy residency program, to use of shared educational resources, and even for use of shared human resources and payroll across a health system, despite the fact the program regulations explicitly allow for such shared services and CMS has provided no guidance to the contrary. 

Taskforce Charges & Deliverables 

1. What impact may these potential changes of pharmacy resident engagement have on PharmD education?
2. How many colleges and schools of pharmacy are currently engaged in T32 training programs? What types of programs are these?
3. Will currently practicing pharmacists look to advance their competence in areas necessitating the creation of mini-residencies/certificate-training programs offered among academic pharmacy (maybe in partnership)?
4. Assess the impact of CMS claw backs on PGY1 residency training programs to the academy. 

Deliverable: Provide interim and final reports on their progress and outline any relevant resources on the topic that they discover in their work, so that these materials could be posted to AACP Connect Community libraries. Members will produce a white paper on their ideas.

Theme: Standards

Taskforce Rationale 

There may be new standards that could potentially move academic pharmacy and the pharmacy profession forward. Likewise, there may be collaborative efforts amongst pharmacy school programs and with AACP (and other associations) to address standards that could be considered.

Taskforce Charges & Deliverables 

1. Review Standards 2025 and identify opportunities to advance academic pharmacy education to prepare graduates for advancements in pharmacists’ scope of practice and to ensure program quality.
   1. For example, Appendix 1 content regarding diagnosis
   2. For example, Standard 1.4.c evaluation of administrators 
   3. For example, the areas which ACPE will have accredited schools submit a report of compliance on after the standards are finalized in June 2024
2. Obtain input from the academy via coffee chats or other mechanisms on proposed ideas.
3. Submit a proposal for the Interim Meeting February 2025.

Deliverable: Programming as outlined above. Committee members will provide interim and final reports on their progress on developing this programming and outline any relevant resources on the topic that they discover in their work, so that these materials could be posted to COF and COD Connect Community libraries. Members will produce a white paper on their ideas.