BACKGROUNDER:
CONGRESS RESPONDS TO PHARMACIST AND
PHARMACY COLLEGE FACULTY SHORTAGE

Faced with predictions of a severe shortage of pharmacists in the United States, the U.S. Congress took important action by mandating a landmark study to explain and address the shortage. Issued in 2000 by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the study concluded that the supply of licensed pharmacists needed for the delivery of quality health care is being strained by the sharp increases in demand for pharmacist services.

This study, The Pharmacist Workforce: A Study of the Supply and Demand for Pharmacists, made clear that simply attracting more students to the profession will not solve the pharmacist shortage unless there are enough professors at the nation’s schools of pharmacy to teach them. Simply put, unless government and private industry take steps quickly to fill the hundreds of vacant teaching positions at U.S. schools of pharmacy, the educational system will not be able to expand sufficiently to meet the increasing demand for new pharmacists. This will mean too few pharmacists at a time when changes in Medicare coverage and the graying of Americans will require more pharmacists than ever before.

Because the conclusions of the HRSA report were so alarming, Congress decided to act to bolster enrollment in pharmacy schools. In both the 107th and 108th Congresses, leaders introduced bills designed to increase the number of pharmacists by improving the ability of colleges and schools of pharmacy to educate more pharmacists. This legislation has added significance now that Congress is considering providing a prescription drug benefit to Medicare beneficiaries and must consider how these changes will take place amid a pharmacist shortage.

On March 18, 2003, Senator John F. “Jack” Reed (D-R.I.) and 11 cosponsors introduced the Pharmacy Education Aid Act of 2003 (S.648), a landmark bill designed to increase the supply of pharmacists by encouraging more students to pursue an education in pharmacy and by increasing the educational capacity of our nation’s universities and colleges of pharmacy. Among its provisions, S.648 would allow for student loan repayment programs of up to $35,000 a year for pharmacists who are interested in enrolling in the advanced education necessary to enter pharmacy faculty teaching careers, or who are willing to work for at least two years in an area designated by the government to be in critical need of a pharmacist.

In explaining this proposed legislation, Sen. Reed said that “in addition to enhancing students’ opportunities to pursue an education in pharmacy, the bill also makes available much needed resources to Colleges of Pharmacy to upgrade and expand facilities and laboratory space as well as to recruit and retain talented faculty to educate future generations of pharmacists.”1

After infrastructure improvements were dropped from the bill, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee unanimously passed the Pharmacy Education Aid Act of 2003 in June with the educational funding elements intact. Now, as the bill awaits action by the full Senate, a broad coalition of stakeholders is advocating for swift passage. Included in this coalition are: the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy, the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, the American College of Apothecaries, the American College of Clinical Pharmacists, the American Pharmacists Association, the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, the Food Marketing Institute, the Health Distribution Management Association, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, and the National Rural Health Association.

As Congress considers passing the Pharmacy Education Aid Act of 2003 and other important healthcare legislation, a number of federal agencies, including HRSA, are working to address the pharmacist shortage by subsidizing a number of student loans, work-study programs, and grants. At the same time, private industry and trade associations are stepping up their efforts, both by funding financial aid programs and grants to pharmacy students and by operating the Career Information Clearinghouse (CIC), a collection of pharmacy-related organizations that collaborate on the development of materials designed to recruit and assist prospective and professional pharmacy students.

While these efforts are important to attract more pharmacy students, they will only be successful if there are enough qualified faculty at the nation’s universities and colleges of pharmacy. For this reason, the American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education (AFPE) has just launched a new campaign, “Investing in the Future of Pharmacy Education,” to establish a $12 million scholarship program that will support the education of outstanding students interested in becoming pharmacy faculty.

AFPE’s campaign represents a major private sector effort to address the threat to the public’s access to potentially life-saving comprehensive pharmacist services, but it is only part of the solution. Ultimately, what will be needed is the combined effort of all stakeholders - private companies, the federal government, the Congress and the pharmacy community - to elevate the pharmacy faculty shortage to a national priority that will lead to improved health outcomes for all Americans.

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1 U.S. Congressional Record – Senate (Washington, D.C.: March 18, 2003) p. S3896