NACDS Foundation dedicates $1.5 million in grants for pharmacy residencies

The National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) Foundation said it would contribute $1.5 million to increase the availability of pharmacy residency programs for pharmacy graduates-the single largest grant ever awarded for this purpose.

Although the Foundation is a charitable affiliate of NACDS, the grant is awarded to nonprofit universities partnering with pharmacies, Alex Adams, PharmD, and NACDS Foundation director of Pharmacy Programs, told Drug Topics.

“All of our programs are based on merit,” Adams said. “We’re working with APhA and other organizations to put together a diverse committee of partners from independents as well as chain pharmacies,” who will decide who gets the grant money. Individual grants will be awarded to nonprofit universities partnering with pharmacies.

Adams noted that the Foundation’s “ultimate goal is to enhance the health and well-being of patients pharmacy serves regardless of site.

“It’s also a reflection of the current landscape of community pharmacy residencies and where the opportunities for growth are,” he said.

“Of the more than 100 current residencies, roughly half exist in chain and half exist in independent settings,” Adams said. “As the future of healthcare delivery shifts more toward team-based care, pharmacists will take on increased responsibility in caring for the 30 million new beneficiaries entering an already overburdened system.”

NACDS Foundation President Edith A. Rosato, RPh, IOM, added that the Foundation seeks to jumpstart 30 new community pharmacy residencies nationwide - a 25% increase in total residency positions.

“Reports have indicated that the current totals of existing residencies have been unable to keep up with graduate demand by a wide margin,” Rosato said. “Funding has been identified as a major barrier to the development of new residency programs.”

Rosato said the grant would expand patient access to innovative clinical services including medication adherence and medication therapy management through required residency research projects.

Information on the grant application process will be made available in February 2011. The first residencies are expected to be filled in 2012.