HOPA 2018–2019 Publications Committee

Ashley Glode, PharmD BCOP, Editor

Megan Dillaman, PharmD BCOP, Associate Editor

Christan Thomas, PharmD BCOP, Associate Editor

LeAnne Kennedy, PharmD BCOP CPP FHOPA, Board Liaison

Jessica Auten, PharmD BCOP

Lisa M. Cordes, PharmD BCOP BCACP

Jeff Engle, PharmD MS

Karen Fancher, PharmD BCOP

Craig W. Freyer, PharmD BCOP

Sarah Hayes, PharmD BCOP

Sarah Hoffman, PharmD BCOP

Kasey Jackson, PharmD BCOP

Emily Kathol, PharmD BCOP

Abby Kim, PharmD BCOP

Houry Leblebjian, PharmD BCOP

Remee McAlister, PharmD

Sarah Newman, PharmD

Candice Wenzell, PharmD BCOP

View PDF of HOPA News, Vol. 16, no. 3

Board Update: Summer Reflections

Susanne Liewer, PharmD BCOP FHOPA
HOPA President (2019–2020)
Clinical Pharmacy Coordinator, Stem Cell Transplant and Hematologic Malignancies
PGY2 Oncology Pharmacy Residency Director
Nebraska Medicine
Clinical Associate Professor
University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Pharmacy
Omaha, NE

I hope that all of you have taken time over the course of the summer to recharge and spend time with your friends and family. HOPA is grateful for the many hours that you, our members, dedicate to ensure that the organization can represent the high ideals that you all establish in your chosen roles. This year’s annual conference was a great launching pad for our activities, but it was only the beginning of the work HOPA members will complete over the coming months.

In late May and early June, the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting provided multiple points of engagement for HOPA’s leaders and members. During the conference we were able to connect with a number of new and existing supporters and sit down with several collaborative partners, including the Oncology Nursing Society and the National Community Oncology Dispensing Association. I hope that if you were at the meeting, you had the chance to attend HOPA’s member meet-up at City Winery on the Chicago Riverwalk. It was a great time to catch up with old friends and meet new ones. I am thankful to my fellow board members and committee leaders who gave so many hours to ensure that this meeting was productive.

In late May we also learned that our request to develop a preparatory and recertification course was granted by the Board of Pharmacy Specialties. We are very excited for the opportunity to build on our offerings of Board Certified Oncology Pharmacist (BCOP) education. Our goal is to have in place by the time of our 2020 annual conference a course that will open a clear path for early-career professionals to achieve BCOP status while also giving established professionals the credits they need to recertify and maintain their standing. Our dedicated group of HOPA volunteer leaders and HOPA staff members will ensure that the new preparatory course meets the high expectations of our members.

In June we partnered with the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy to develop and launch “A Value of Cancer Care Forum: Pharmacy’s Call to Action” in Washington, DC. The forum provided a platform for pharmacists seeking to engage with other healthcare professionals, concerned parties in industry, and members of the payer community to advance the delivery of value-based care at their institutions. A white paper now in development will document best practices and ideas that emerged from the forum. While in DC, HOPA members also attended our annual HOPA Hill Day, an all-day advocacy event where our members help deliver important information on pharmacy issues to their legislators on Capitol Hill. More than 30 HOPA members and staff members delivered key messages supporting the concept of oral chemotherapy parity, illustrating the problem of drug waste and its associated financial burdens, and educating legislators on patients’ need for access to biosimilars.

In July, I was able to take some time to be with my family on beautiful Table Rock Lake in the Ozarks—a family vacation tradition that we all look forward to. It is during times like these that I can recharge and reflect on what is important. Those of us in clinical practice know how important it is to take care of ourselves and how often that seems to be low on our list of priorities. I encourage you to think about it this way: unless we take care of ourselves, we can’t be the best providers of high-quality care to our patients.

For many of us, patients are at the center of everything we do. Cancer doesn’t take time off, but we hope to give our patients the opportunity to live better lives with this diagnosis. To that end, HOPA has continued to build on the relationships that we have initiated with patient advocacy organizations and other professional societies. Development of our Time to Talk Immuno-Oncology initiative is well under way, and the process includes participants from Cancer Support Community (https://www.cancersupportcommunity.org), the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (https://www.sitcancer.org/home), the Oncology Nursing Society (https://www.ons.org), and the Advanced Practitioner Society for Hematology and Oncology (https://www.apsho.org). I encourage you to take advantage of the extensive resources that these organizations offer to improve patient care. I also ask you to stay tuned for the release of a comprehensive toolkit that will bring many of the most effective tools together in one place.

I can’t say this often enough, but in closing I thank you all again for your strength of conviction and the service that you provide in your position and as a member of HOPA. HOPA is a great example of how an engaged membership and the power of collaboration can truly make a difference.