Improving Healthcare Professionals' Access to Addiction Medicine Education Through VHA Addiction Scholars Program.

Introduction: The seemingly inexorable rise of opioid-related overdose deaths despite the reduced number of COVID-19 pandemic deaths demands novel responses and partnerships in our public health system's response. Addiction medicine is practiced in a broad range of siloed clinical environments that need to be included in addiction medicine training beyond the traditional fellowship programs. Our objective in this project was to implement a knowledge-based, live virtual training program that would provide clinicians and other healthcare professionals with an overview of addiction, substance use disorders (SUD), and clinical diagnosis and management of opioid use disorder (OUD).

DEA-registered clinical pharmacist practitioners: Progressing practice to increase patient care access.

Purpose: This descriptive review aims to describe the impact of controlled substance prescriptive authority (CSPA) among Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)-registered clinical pharmacist practitioners (pharmacists) within the Veterans Health Administration (VA). The practice perspectives of pharmacists with CSPA are also reviewed. A 3-part methodology included identification and query of DEA-registered pharmacists, practice impact data analysis, and time and motion prescribing analysis.

Increasing rural patient access using clinical pharmacy specialist providers: Successful practice integration within the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Purpose: Access to care is a critical issue facing healthcare and affects patients living in rural and underserved areas more significantly. This led the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to launch a project that leveraged the expertise of the clinical pharmacy specialist (CPS) provider, embedding 180 CPS providers into primary care, mental health, and pain management across the nation.

Methods: This multidimensional project resulted in hiring 111 CPS providers in primary care, 40 CPS providers in mental health, and 35 CPS providers in pain management to serve rural veterans' needs.

Increasing access for veterans with hepatitis C by enhancing use of clinical pharmacy specialists.

Objectives: To increase access to hepatitis C virus (HCV) care and cure by deploying clinical pharmacy specialist (CPS) providers across the largest integrated health care system in the United States.

Setting: National integrated health care system.

Practice Description: In late 2016, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Pharmacy Benefits Management Clinical Pharmacy Practice Office (CPPO) partnered with the VA HIV, Hepatitis, and Related Conditions Program with the central priority of expanding veteran access to novel HCV treatments and timely cure to ultimately prevent morbidity and mortality associated with HCV disease progression.