No products in the cart.
Looking Ahead: Charting the Course for Pharmacy Standards in 2024
A Message from the CEO
As we stand at the threshold of a new year, it is a privilege to reflect on a period of remarkable achievement and to share our bold vision for the future. The year 2023 was a testament to the power of a clear and focused mission. It was a year of building on the incredible strength of our community, a year where we celebrated significant milestones and launched programs that pushed the boundaries of our profession.
Together, we celebrated our 5,000th certified professional, a milestone that speaks volumes about the growing recognition of validated expertise. We launched our comprehensive Compliance & Regulatory Affairs Portfolio, establishing a new national standard for some of the most critical roles in pharmacy. And with the introduction of official digital badges, we provided our 5,000+ certificants with a modern, powerful tool to showcase their hard-earned achievements to the world.
Each of these accomplishments has laid a stronger foundation for the work that lies ahead. We are not an organization that rests on its laurels. We are driven by a perpetual curiosity about what comes next and a deep sense of responsibility to support the pharmacy profession as it evolves.
It is in this spirit that we look ahead to 2024. The coming year will be defined by a relentless focus on pushing into new frontiers of practice, dramatically enhancing the value and experience of being a CPS certificant, and deepening the partnerships that amplify our collective impact. This is our strategic vision for the year to come.
Our Strategic Vision for 2024: The Three Pillars of Progress
Our work in 2024 will be guided by three core strategic pillars. Each pillar represents a deep commitment to serving a different aspect of our professional community, from the aspiring specialist to the established leader, and the institutions where they practice.
Deepening Specialization & Pushing New Frontiers
Enhancing the Certificant Experience & Value
Strengthening Community & Strategic Partnerships
Pillar 1: Deepening Specialization & Pushing New Frontiers
The core of our mission is to ensure that as pharmacy practice advances, the standards that define excellence advance with it. In 2024, our primary development focus will be on the most advanced and rapidly evolving areas of practice.
The Next Major Portfolio Launch: Advanced Clinical & Investigational Drug Services Following our targeted call for the nation’s foremost experts in late 2023, we are thrilled to announce that our teams are now in the advanced stages of developing the Advanced Clinical & Investigational Drug Services Portfolio. This suite of certifications represents our most ambitious push yet into the leading edge of medical science and patient care. The explosion in specialty drugs, biologics, and novel therapeutics, coupled with the increasing complexity of clinical trials, has created an urgent need for pharmacists with a highly specialized and validated skill set.
This portfolio, slated for a launch in the fourth quarter of 2024, is being meticulously crafted to recognize these experts. You can look forward to new credentials including:
Certified Advanced Specialty Pharmacist (CASP): Recognizing experts in the holistic management of patients on high-cost, high-touch specialty medications.
Certified Clinical Trials Pharmacist (CCTP) & Certified Investigational Drug Services Pharmacist (CIDSP): Two distinct credentials to validate the unique skills required to manage the safety, integrity, and operational complexity of investigational drugs in a research setting.
Certified Medical Affairs Pharmacist (CMAP) & Certified Regulatory Affairs Specialist (CRAS): New standards for the growing number of pharmacists lending their clinical and scientific expertise to the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.
A Continuous Cycle of Research Our innovation pipeline is always active. While our development teams focus on the 2024 launch, our research department will be initiating the next Job Task Analysis (JTA) cycle. This new research will explore emerging practice areas such as pharmacogenomics and digital therapeutics, ensuring that CPS is always looking 3-5 years ahead to anticipate the future needs of the profession.
Pillar 2: Enhancing the Certificant Experience & Value
Earning a CPS certification is a significant achievement. In 2024, we are making a major investment in ensuring that the experience of being a CPS certificant is just as exceptional. Our focus is on providing you with tools and resources that support your career long after exam day.
Introducing the “MyCPS” Professional Development Portal Building on the success of our streamlined application system, we will be launching a completely redesigned and integrated certificant portal in mid-2024. This new “MyCPS” portal will be your personalized hub for managing your professional development. Key features will include:
An Intuitive Recertification Dashboard: A clear, visual tracker for your recertification cycle, making it easier than ever to log your Continuing Education (CE) credits.
Automated CE Tracking: We are building partnerships with major CE providers to allow for the automatic syncing of your completed credits directly to your CPS profile, dramatically reducing manual data entry.
A Professional Development Planner: An integrated tool to help you plan your learning activities for your recertification cycle, aligned with the content domains of your specialty.
Launch of the “CPS Certificant Community” Beyond managing your credential, we want to help you connect with your peers. In Q3 of 2024, we will launch a new, private online platform exclusively for our 5,000+ active certificants. This vibrant community will be your space to:
Network with Experts: A searchable directory will allow you to connect with other certified professionals in your specialty and geographic area.
Engage in High-Level Discussion: Moderated forums will provide a space to discuss complex clinical cases, operational challenges, and practice innovations with your peers.
Access Exclusive Content: The community will host exclusive, free webinars with industry leaders, providing a new and valuable source of CE.
Explore Career Opportunities: A dedicated career center will feature job postings from our “Partners in Excellence” health systems that are specifically seeking CPS-certified candidates.
Pillar 3: Strengthening Community & Strategic Partnerships
Our impact is amplified when we work in collaboration with the broader healthcare community. In 2024, we will be significantly expanding our outreach and partnership efforts.
Growth of the “Partners in Excellence” Program The formal recognition of our credentials by employers is a key driver of value for our certificants. Our “Partners in Excellence” program, which forges strategic alliances with health systems, was a major success in its inaugural phase. In 2024, we have set an ambitious goal to double the number of partner health systems to over 25, further cementing the value of your CPS credential in the job market.
New Academic and Residency Program Initiatives We will be launching a new, formal outreach program to the nation’s colleges of pharmacy and PGY1/PGY2 residency programs. The goal is to better align academic curricula and residency training goals with the national standards defined by CPS certifications. This will create clearer, more streamlined pathways for new graduates and residents to pursue board certification early in their careers, fostering a culture of excellence from the very start of the professional journey.
This comprehensive vision for 2024 is our promise to you. Every new program, every technological enhancement, and every new partnership is designed with a single purpose: to support you, the pharmacy professional, on your journey from practitioner to recognized expert and leader.
We are immensely grateful for the trust you place in us and are incredibly excited to embark on this next chapter of growth and innovation with you.
The Leadership Team, Council on Pharmacy Standards (CPS)
