New ASHP Hospital and Health-System Pharmacy Certification Program Recognizes Centers of Excellence in Medication-Use Safety and Pharmacy Practice

ASHP is pleased to announce a new certification program that will recognize high-performing hospital and health-system pharmacy departments for excellence in medication-use safety and pharmacy practice. The certification will be based on a new ASHP standard developed from highly-regarded, contemporary best practices. Pharmacy departments that have achieved excellence under this standard and are interested in certification may apply for and undergo a formal process to be considered for designation as an ASHP Certified Center of Excellence™ .

This new certification program creates a standard of excellence demonstrating the highest levels of pharmacy practice, medication safety, and pharmacy patient care services. It has been established in response to member feedback encouraging ASHP to leverage its unique positioning and expertise to develop a center of excellence recognition program of this nature.
 
ASHP has accredited pharmacy residencies for over 60 years and has more than 2,600 ASHP-accredited PGY1, PGY2, and international pharmacy residency programs worldwide. ASHP also offers an international hospital pharmacy services accreditation program and accreditation programs for specialty pharmacies, community pharmacies, and telehealth pharmacy practices, making ASHP uniquely positioned to offer this exciting new hospital and health-system pharmacy center of excellence certification program.
 
In addition, ASHP has published Best Practices for Hospital and Health-System Pharmacy for more than 60 years. The new center of excellence recognition program uses these best practices, along with recommendations from ASHP’s Practice Advancement Initiative 2030 and the ASHP Foundation Pharmacy Forecast 2020, residency accreditation standards, and other profession-wide best practices and industry standards, resulting in a new center of excellence certification standard that represents state-of-the-art pharmacy and medication-use safety practices.
 
ASHP’s new center of excellence certification program will be launched formally this spring. More information will be shared about criteria for recognition and the application process in the coming weeks.