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PQA Receives the APhA Foundation Pinnacle Award:
Board, Staff and Active PQA Members Join the Recognition Award Ceremony

PQA received the 13th Annual Pinnacle Award in the nonprofit organization category on June 28th at an even hosted by the American Pharmacists Association Foundation and supported by Pfizer, Inc.

The Pinnacle Awards recognize contributions to healthcare quality through the medication use process, and was established in 1998. These awards recognize an individual, a group of individuals and a healthcare organization for significant contributions and/or exemplary leadership in the improvement of quality in the medication use process and the delivery of pharmaceutical care.

Performance in medication use is an issue that cuts across disciplines including physicians, nurses and pharmacists.....but the most important stakeholder in this dialogue is the patient. A systematic approach using modern quality improvement science can help us optimize our performance in medication use.

In a short video presentation prepared for the recognition ceremony, Dr. Mark McClellan, former administrator of CMS, who currently serves as Director, Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform and Leonard D. Schaeffer Chair in Health Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution, shared that "Forming the PQA was a very important initiative for CMS, coming at a time of unprecedented changes for pharmacy with the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit. This was a new organization, it had no independent funding and it was truly a ‘start from scratch initiative’......however, the leadership from within a broad group of stakeholders envisioned a better future for pharmacy, and a better future for the healthcare system, one based on quality, efficiency and value. PQA has embraced the mission and taken some very important steps through the development and implementation of standardized quality performance measures surrounding appropriate medication use."

Accepting the award was Laura Cranston, PQA’s Executive Director. On hand to celebrate the Pinnacle Award were PQA Board Members, Judith Cahill, Executive Director of AMCP and Chair of PQA, Thomas Menighan, Executive Vice President and CEO of APhA, and Vice Chair of PQA, Rebecca Snead, Executive Director of the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations, and Treasurer of PQA, and Eleanor Perfetto, Senior Director, Reimbursement and Regulatory Affairs, Federal Government Relations for Pfizer and PQA Board member along with several representatives from PQA’s membership.