Specialty clinics, managed care, clinical

The federal government has experimented with various models of pharmacist prescribing.The VA and the IHS appear to have the most liberal policies toward pharmacist prescribing.In the VA, clinical pharmacy specialists are required to have an advanced degree or have completed an accredited residency (e.g., an American Society of Health Systems Pharmacy, ASHP, accredited residency) or specialty board certification (e.g., a Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties, BPS, certification) before they may prescribe medications within their scope of practice. The scope of practice is established within the local VA facility. Once this criterion is satisfied, the clinical pharmacy specialist may function as an independent health care provider. In the IHS, pharmacists can be credentialed to provide primary care and use their prescriptive authority to evaluate and manage the care of certain patients. 

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