ASHP Announces New Section of Digital and Telehealth Practitioners

New Membership Section Supports Patient Access to Care in a Digital Ecosystem

The ASHP Board of Directors has voted to create a new Section of Digital and Telehealth Practitioners with the goal of addressing the rapidly evolving advances in telehealth and virtual healthcare delivery, data utilization, and digital health technology.

Advances in data utilization and digital health technologies are rapidly changing how pharmacy is practiced and how healthcare more broadly is delivered. The creation of this new section reflects ASHP’s forward-looking support for members of the pharmacy workforce practicing in all patient care settings utilizing telehealth, data assessment, and digital technologies.      

The section provides a unique new membership home within ASHP for pharmacists, student pharmacists, pharmacy residents, pharmacy technicians, and all who are currently practicing or aspire to practice in telehealth and virtual care settings where current and emerging digital healthcare technologies and data are being utilized for the betterment of patient care. The section will also align with the ASHP Innovation Center and provide continuity among current ASHP membership component groups who are involved in clinical practice, leadership and management, pharmacy education and training, and implementation of virtual care practice models across the continuum of care.

“ASHP’s new Section of Digital and Telehealth Practitioners builds on our 80-year history of leadership and practice innovation and a bold vision that seeks to ensure that medication use is optimal, safe, and effective for all people all of the time,” said ASHP CEO Paul W. Abramowitz, PharmD, ScD (Hon), FASHP. “Pharmacy professionals and ASHP are taking a leading role as innovators in service delivery and the complete integration of care across all patient care settings. With the rapid introduction of new digital products and telehealth services utilized by clinicians and patients, health systems are implementing new models of virtual care. Doing so requires fundamental shifts in the ways pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and student pharmacists learn, train, and practice both now and in the future. ASHP’s strategic plan calls for pharmacists to manage patients’ medication therapy across the entire care continuum, and with healthcare evolving beyond traditional models, our patients expect care to be delivered to them where they are. This new section will focus on advancing data-driven patient care through digital health and virtual systems.”

The new section, along with the ASHP Innovation Center, allows for additional focus and new perspectives to be placed on education, training, resources, research, and advocacy in digital health, telehealth, virtual care, and enhanced utilization of data. ASHP will appoint an executive committee to lead the work of the section. ASHP members interested in serving on the section’s leadership can submit an application by Dec. 19, 2022.

For more information, visit ashp.org/sdtp.