Clinical Pharmacy Specialist (PACT)

Summary

This position serves as a PACT Clinical Pharmacist Practitioner (CPP) at Edward Hines, Jr. Hospital, located at 5000 S 5th Ave, Hines, IL, and the Oak Lawn Community Based Outpatient Clinic, located at 10201 S Cicero Ave, Oak Lawn, IL 60453, within the Pharmacy Service. The CPP provides patient-centered comprehensive medication management in outpatient primary care, collaborating with patients and healthcare providers to optimize medication use and health outcomes.

Duties

• The Clinical Pharmacist Practitioner (CPP) functions as a mid-level practitioner to design, implement, and monitor therapeutic drug plans to achieve definite outcomes through direct interactions with patients and providers in assigned areas. Duties may include, but are not limited to the following: Direct and Indirect Patient Care: Develops, implements, monitors, and adjusts individualized medication-therapy plans in collaboration with patients, prescribers, and the interdisciplinary care team. Orders, reviews, and interprets clinical measurements, laboratory results, diagnostic studies, medication histories, and prescription-monitoring data to support safe and effective treatment decisions. Initiates, modifies, continues, or discontinues medications, vaccines, devices, and supplies within the approved scope of practice, including urgent and high-risk situations. Provides comprehensive medication management through in-person and virtual encounters, completes timely follow-up, and coordinates medication reconciliation and transitions of care. Evaluates therapeutic effectiveness, safety, adherence, interactions, contraindications, adverse reactions, and medication errors; reports concerns and communicates recommendations or alternatives to the care team. Educates patients using individualized counseling and motivational interviewing, confirms understanding, and refers complex or unstable patients for higher-level care when appropriate. Documents care plans, interventions, findings, and outcomes in the electronic health record and other required systems in accordance with applicable policies and productivity expectations. Evaluates formulary, non-formulary, restricted, and high-cost medication requests and supports drug-use criteria that promote clinically appropriate, safe, effective, and cost-conscious care. Develops and communicates medication-use criteria, clinical findings, and recommendations to healthcare providers and practitioner groups as needed. Medication Dispensing and Distribution: Processes electronic medication orders and verifies patient information, medication, dose, route, frequency, allergies, interactions, incompatibilities, duplication, and priority. Identifies and resolves prescribing, dispensing, pharmacotherapy, and formulary issues and documents interventions within required timeframes. Assists with coordinating pharmacy technicians and volunteers involved in preparing, labeling, dispensing, manufacturing, and delivering medications and supplies. Dispenses controlled substances accurately and in accordance with current policies and procedures. Does not verify, check, or release any prescription or medication order that the practitioner personally prescribed. Education and Training: Precepts students and PGY-1/PGY-2 residents while maintaining ASHP-aligned qualifications. Promotes pharmacy practice and educates teams on PACT and CPP processes. Develops and delivers training for healthcare professionals. Supports policy compliance and improvements to clinical pharmacy services. Presents or publishes project and research results when possible. Provides advanced pharmacotherapy education, drug information, and literature reviews. Completes mandatory training and maintains required documentation. Follows infection-control, safety, environmental, recycling, and hazardous-medication procedures. Complies with environmental laws and supports waste reduction, conservation, and continuous improvement. Administrative and Technical Support: Collaborates on drug-use improvement programs and medication-use evaluations. Tracks cost reductions and cost avoidance. Manages the formulary and promotes appropriate medication use. Supports quality improvement through criteria development, data collection, and evaluation. Completes assigned duties and required systems training on time. Supervises clinical technical support, including automated dispensing and BCMA systems. Provides age-appropriate care based on patient needs an…

Qualifications

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met. Basic Requirements: United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy. English Language Proficiency: Pharmacists must be proficient in spoken and written English as required by 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), and 7407(d). Education: Graduate of an Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) accredited College or School of Pharmacy with a baccalaureate degree in pharmacy (BS Pharmacy) and/or a Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree. Verification of approved degree programs may be obtained from the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education, 20 North Clark Street, Suite 2500, Chicago, Illinois 60602-5109; phone: (312) 664-3575, or through their Web site at: http://www.acpe-accredit.org/.(NOTE: Prior to 2005 ACPE accredited both baccalaureate and Doctor of Pharmacy terminal degree program. Today the sole degree is Doctor of Pharmacy.) (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED) -OR- Graduates of foreign pharmacy degree programs meet the educational requirement if the graduate is able to provide proof of achieving the Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Examination Commission (FPGEC) Certification, which includes passing the Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Equivalency Examination(FPGEE) and the Test of English as a Foreign Language Internet-Based Test (TOEFL iBT). (DOCUMENTATION REQUIRED) Licensure: Full, current and unrestricted license to practice pharmacy in a State, Territory, Commonwealth of the United States (i.e., Puerto Rico), or the District of Columbia. The pharmacist must maintain current registration if this is a requirement for maintaining full, current, and unrestricted licensure. Grade Determinations: GS-13 Clinical Pharmacy Specialist Experience: In addition to the GS-12 requirements, must have 1 year of experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-12) VA or Non VA Experience Examples of GS-12 experience includes, but is not limited to: handling routine medication-related activities in accordance with local, Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN), and national policies and regulations; designing, implementing, assessing, monitoring, and documenting therapeutic plans utilizing best evidence, most effective, least toxic, and most economical medication treatments; helping achieve positive patient centric outcomes through direct and indirect interactions with patients, providers, and interdisciplinary teams in assigned areas; performing physical assessments; evaluating a provider's orders as to appropriateness based on patient medication profiles; inputting information into the Electronic Health Record; verifying orders entered by healthcare providers as needed; and ordering laboratory and other tests to help determine efficacy and toxicity of medication therapy. The individual must understand current practice standards from ASHP, Joint Commission, VA PBM Guidance, VHA Directives, VHA Handbooks, Hospital Policy and Procedures, EPRP, Quality Measures, and/or other professional standards and advise the organization and the department of their impact on patient care. AND In addition, must demonstrate the following knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs): Ability to communicate orally and in writing to persuade and influence clinical and management decisions. Expert understanding of regulatory and quality standards for their program area. Ability to solve problems, coordinate and organize responsibilities to maximize outcomes in their program area or area of clinical expertise. Expert knowledge of a specialized area of clinical pharmacy practice or specialty area of pharmacy. Advanced skill in monitoring and assessing the outcome of drug therapies, including physical assessment and interpretation of laboratory and other diagnostic parameters. Preferred Experience: PGY1 or PGY…

Education

IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.