A consistent professional brand for pharmacy—the need and a path forward

Objective The authors draw on their broad experiences in the profession to put forth their assessment of the critical need for all elements of the pharmacy profession to agree upon its core services, and to deliver those services in all pharmacies. And also the need to promote the value of those services to patients, payers, and other providers. Summary Since the advent of pharmaceutical care, the profession has changed its curricula and its regulations to reflect the value of direct patient care. For many reasons, the practice has not been unified in delivering these services–lack of definition of what constitutes the service, principally. This has led to the “tower of babel” that exists because of the many names given to these patient-care services by various professional organizations, colleges, payers, and government agencies. Lack of inclusion in benefit design with value-based compensation is also recognized as an important barrier for a pharmacist wishing to provide direct patient-care services. Conclusion The authors believe this issue to be critical for the profession, and appeal to JCPP and its member organizations to provide leadership to the various pharmacy associations and colleges to put immediate energy and resources into the definitions, labels, and branding of pharmacy practice. This leadership is essential if the profession's organizations and colleges are to promote the whole of practice and payment for the entirety of services pharmacists provide.