Alabama's Professional Society for Pharmacy

How the APA can benefit You

You Can Take Ownership in APA's Purpose and Earn a Piece of History
You Can Influence Legislation and Regulations
You Can Make Informed Decisions With the Most Current Information
You Can Access Quality Continuing Education
You Can Network With Your Peers
You Can Share the Spirit of Pharmacy
You Can Join Forces With Your Peers and Shape Pharmacy's Future
You Can Become Involved
You Can Choose A Membership Category That Fits

What About Academies?

APA's - Academy Of Pharmacy Practice
Purpose and Goals of the APP (and its Sections) are to...
Description of the APP and How to Get Involved
The APP Executive Committee is comprised of the APP Chair, Chair-elect and all three Section officers.
Description of Academy Sections
How to Become an APP Member
How to Become Actively Involved in APP
Meetings of the Academy and its Sections
APA Awards and the APP Practitioner Merit Award

How the APA Can Benefit You

You Can Take Ownership in APA's Purpose and Earn a Piece of History

Since 1881, the Alabama Pharmacy Association (APA) has sought to unite all persons interested in the profession of pharmacy in the State. The purpose of the APA is, in part, to encourage and support better standards of pharmacy practice and to ensure the safe and effective delivery of pharmaceutical care and related services to the public, from all professional areas of interest within pharmacy today.

Registered pharmacists in the State are already making a difference by being "Active" members of the APA. It's a prestigious group, comprised of pharmacists from all aspects of pharmacy practice, who share a common goal of improving the profession and the economic environment in which they practice. The APA offers them the opportunity to share information with their peers and colleagues, and to pursue agendas that will help them become better practitioners, and strengthen pharmacy's future. Your membership and support of APA is what has made the difference over the years...Your membership and voice matters!

You Can Influence Legislation and Regulations

APA provides representation at both the State and national levels. APA's Director of Government Affairs and Lobbyist, with over 20 years of experience, is one of the most successful on the Alabama political scene! APA arranges for special Legislative Days every year enabling you to interact on a personal level with key political decision-makers in Alabama and in Washington, DC. APA maintains an active PAC (Political Action Committee), a legislative contact system, and much more, all of which combine to give APA a highly visible posture in the Alabama legislature, and a history of activity laced with numerous successes for the profession!

Your voice and support, joining that of countless colleagues, through APA's lobbying efforts, has been able to:

Keep numerous pharmacy practice settings safe from further intrusion by other health care practitioners. For example, prescriptions written by nurse practitioners and physicians assistants will be allowed to be dispensed only from a pharmacy by a pharmacy practitioner. And dispensing physicians are subject to the same requirements as pharmacists.
Increase your profit margin. Because of efforts by the APA, programs for pharmacy emanating from the Alabama Medicaid Agency have avoided cutbacks and remained open and strong over the years.
Modernize the practice act. Without our efforts, facsimile transmissions would not be allowed and emergency prescription refills would be prohibited. Drug compounding would be under serious attack as it is in other states, but there is much on the horizon that is being considered that will truly bring the state pharmacy practice act into the next millennium and keep it proactive and sound for many years to come.

You Can Make Informed Decisions With the Most Current Information

Alabama Pharmacy - Receive the finest pharmacy journal from any organized pharmacy organization in the State! Here is a monthly periodical that offers you insights as to the latest technical information, sources for emerging opportunities in pharmacy and health care, and provides you with insight as to important happenings throughout Alabama and around the nation. Members also have an opportunity to become a contributing writer to the journal.

APA Pharmacy Newsletter - This monthly newsletter provides you with a window on the latest news breaking events in pharmacy both at the state and national level. This straightforward, easy to read newsletter is one of the finest tip sheets you'll see come across your desk.

APA Home Page - Will give you instant access to the widest possible happenings in pharmacy throughout Alabama and the nation. With the touch of a button, you will have access to every APA publication, information on all membership benefit services, as well as news covering Medicaid, the Alabama legislature and the Washington political scenes, and much more!

You Can Access Quality Continuing Education

APA offers over 50 hours of live and correspondence continuing education programs for both initial and consultant recertification, as well as general continuing education credits. APA's journal Alabama Pharmacy offers twelve home study correspondence courses and APA's Home Page on the Internet will be another source for additional continuing education programs. Course content is designed to bring to you the latest information to meet your educational and professional needs.

You Can Network With Your Peers

APA's Academy of Pharmacy Practice offers pharmacists, from any practice area, a forum for uniting and establishing their own agendas and goals under the auspices of a formal interest section, while utilizing the vast resources of the APA. Through the APA you can learn what leaders in the profession are doing and hear firsthand about opportunities for career advancement. Participating in APA major events, such as the Annual APA Convention & Trade Show and Annual APA Midwinter Clinical Conference, you can obtain information about the latest products, equipment, and services from a wide range of companies in the health care industry and from other business areas alike.

You Can Share the Spirit of Pharmacy

The APA Research & Education Foundation serves as a means for not only supporting pharmacy's future through donation to its ongoing pharmacy student scholarship programs, but also programs aimed at supporting pharmacists who desire to push the boundaries of the profession and developing new areas of professional interest and skills intended to enhance the delivery of pharmaceutical care to the public. Your tax deductible contribution can make the difference in the professional and personal lives of you and your colleagues.

You Can Join Forces With Your Peers and Shape Pharmacy's Future

APA Academy of Pharmacy Practice - Whether your interests are in independent community, community chain, long term care, hospital, radiologic pharmacy, clinical/teaching, or home health care, to name but a few, APA's Academy provides a level-playing field so that any special interest group can network with its peers, and pursue its own agendas utilizing the resources of the APA. The APA Academy issues its annual APP Practitioner Merit Award, and Academy members receive the newsletter Pratique Extraordinaire, along with periodic special section communiqués.

APA House of Delegates - Establishes policy, goals, and objectives for the Association and the practice of pharmacy in Alabama. Change begins with the grassroots, and this is your opportunity to take an active role in changing the direction and pace of change that the APA and pharmacy in Alabama takes year after year.

You Can Become Involved

APA Councils and Committees - APA offers numerous opportunities for you to share your insights and expertise on a wide range of issues and special projects by serving on any of APA's many standing committees, such as Public Affairs, Professional Affairs, Educational Affairs, Legislative, Insurance, New Practitioner, Organizational Affairs, Membership, Museum, or Long-range Strategic Planning to name a few. Special Task Force groups can be formed to address specific initiatives.

APA House of Delegates, you can serve as a delegate representing a specific region of Alabama, or serve as Speaker or Vice-Speaker of the APA House of Delegates. When it comes to setting a course for policy-making, this is where the action is!

APA Academy of Pharmacy Practice - Has established Sections with officer positions as Academy Chair and Chair-elect, plus Section Chair, Chair-elect and Member-at-Large. Each Section has the option to establish committees in the areas of education, regulatory affairs and communications, offering ample opportunity for member input.

APA Officers - The principle officer positions in the APA are the President, President-elect, Vice-President, and Treasurer.

APA Board of Trustees - Along with the principle officers of the APA, there are twelve District Trustees, two Member-at-Large positions, two pharmacy student representatives (one each from Samford and Auburn pharmacy schools), the Deans from Alabama's two pharmacy schools, and the Chair of the APA Academy of Pharmacy Practice.

APA Research & Education Foundation - Has its own Board of Directors with opportunity for leaders both in pharmacy and the business world to help guide its many activities in ways that accentuate its mission and purpose.

You Can Choose A Membership Category That Fits

Active Member - Those persons who are licensed pharmacists, entitled to practice pharmacy in the State of Alabama.

Associate Member - Those persons who are not licensed pharmacists who are interested in pharmacy or are associated with the business or professions related to the pharmaceutical profession. Especially for Associate Members, there are opportunities for exhibiting and/or supporting speakers at any APA program event, obtain mailing lists and labels of pharmacists throughout the State, market your companies products, equipment and/or services to APA members through journal advertising, advertising on the APA Home Page, and much more.

1st Year Pharmacist - Those persons who are within one year of having matriculated from a pharmacy school program.

Retired Pharmacist - Those persons who otherwise qualify as an Active member but have decided to "enjoy the good life".

Spouse Member Non-Pharmacists

Pharm Tech or

Student

What About Academies?

APA's Academy Of Pharmacy Practice

The Alabama Pharmacy Association (APA) established the Academy of Pharmacy Practice (APP) in order to allow pharmacists (and friends of pharmacy), who share common practice setting and/or professional interests, the opportunity to influence the scope and direction of their professional careers. The APP serves as a forum which, in part, enables these individuals to exchange ideas, identify and seek resolution to issues of concern, and serve as a source of expert opinion to help guide the APA, and its various Committees, on any pharmacy related issue!

Purpose and Goals of the APP (and its Sections) are to...

Unite pharmacists (and friends of pharmacy) who share mutual professional interests and desires within the State of Alabama;
Establish a forum which permits identification of issues of professional concern by Section members; a forum which empowers them to seek resolution of these issues utilizing the resources available to them within (or outside) of the APA;
Offer Section members the means for networking among themselves in order to improve existing and/or develop new avenues of professional service to the many publics served.
Serve as a source of expert opinion on professional/practice matters of interest to Section members for any entity, in or outside of pharmacy, at the state and/or national level.
Provide a voice for designing and implementing educational programs and new academic initiatives; fostering policy development within the APA (or other pharmacy organizations); and developing new regulatory language with the Alabama legislature, Alabama State Board of Pharmacy, or other Alabama governmental agency that can impact on the practice of pharmacy.
Support and encourage the highest standards of individual professional practice among Section members, members of the APA, and pharmacists within the State of Alabama.

Description of the APP and How to Get Involved

The APP is headed by a Chair and Chair-elect, both determined by ballot from among the APP members. The APP Chair serves for one year, is seated on the APA Board of Trustees, and can serve on other committees as appointed by the APA President. The APP Chair-elect serves as a back up to the Chair for one year, then automatically ascends to the office of APP Chair at the end of that year. The Section Chair, Chair-elect, and Member-at-Large are determined by ballot from among the Section members. Each serves for one year with the Chair-elect automatically ascending to the office of Chair at the end of one year.

The APP Executive Committee is comprised of the APP Chair, Chair-elect and all three Section officers.

Both the APP and Section officers are installed during ceremonies held each summer at the APA Annual Convention & Trade Show. The APP and each APP Section exist by virtue of their respective Bylaws, which are established (and amended) by either APP and/or section members. Each APP Section has an Educational Affairs, Regulatory Affairs and Communications Committee. Other committees can be established as directed by the APP and/or Section Chair. Each of these committees allow for coordination of Section Goals/objectives with their standing counterparts within the APA itself, or are free to pursue any assigned issue/initiative in their own right. Section members can serve on any APA standing committee (or special task forces) and are expected to support their Section's goals and objectives by serving on a Section committee.

Description of Academy Sections

COMPOUNDING PHARMACY SECTION exists for the purpose of uniting all Alabama Pharmacists who compound medication for use in patients and animals, and want to assure that this basic tenet of pharmacy is performed at the highest possible standards, free of regulatory intrusion by any state/national agency.
LONG TERM CARE PHARMACY SECTION focuses its attention on areas such as pharmacist prescribing, patient self testing, hospice centers, adult assisted living facilities, as well as long term care and other types of institutional pharmacy practice settings.
NUCLEAR/RADIOLOGIC PHARMACY SECTION serves as a bridge for elements of traditional pharmacy which desires to learn about the role that diagnostic imaging drugs and pharmacists can play in assuring optimal patient care outcomes; offering its members the opportunity to assure their professional viability by pursuing initiatives relative to academic/ education program development, regulatory/ legislative initiatives with agencies both in/outside of Alabama.
PHARM TECH SECTION
COMMUNITY PHARMACIST ACADEMY SECTION
PHARMACY TECHNICIAN ACADEMY SECTION
PHARMACY STUDENT ACADEMY SECTION
HOME THERAPY ACADEMY SECTION
HEALTH SYSTEM ACADEMY SECTION

Any practice interest group in pharmacy, not mentioned here, can seek to establish themselves as a formal Section in the APP, via petition to the APP Executive Committee by the individuals who would constitute the members of that Section. For specific information on how to create a new APA APP Section, contact the APA office (1-800-529-7533).

How to Become an APP Member

Current APA Members simply need to complete this form and return it to the APA.
Renewing APA Members only need to indicate the APP Section(s) of their choice on their dues invoice or complete this form and return it to the APA (and send payment of their APA dues).
Non-APA Members must submit a completed APA membership application form (along with dues payment) and indicate the APP Section(s) they wish to join using that application form or the form

How to Become Actively Involved in APP

Any APP member can call or write the officers of the APP, or any of its Sections, and present his/her need or concern for action, as well as suggestion for legislative and/or other pharmacy policy-making initiative.

Each Section within the APP has various committees which offer members the opportunity to serve and provide their time/expertise in terms of effecting positive outcomes on any identified APP/Section goal and objective. From their involvement at the APP Section committee level, APP members may go on to become Section or APP officers, and members of any APA committee or become an APA officer.

The overall effectiveness of any Section, or the APP as a whole, depends on having input from its members! APP and Section goals and objectives can only be met through the diligence and support of you...our valued APP and APA member!

How to Become Actively Involved in APP

Meetings of the Academy and its Sections

The APP conducts a Mid-year Clinical Conference in February each year which serves as an intensive educational forum for the Alabama pharmacy community. Additional APP programming is made available at the APA Annual Convention & Trade Show. APP Sections are encouraged to develop their own educational programs at any time of year, programs that could be cross-marketed to other health care provider groups who might benefit as well.

The APP and Section officers conduct business meetings, which are open to any APP member at selected times throughout the year. APP and Section business meetings can be conducted via any communication means available (i.e., live meetings, communiqué mailings, teleconferencing, electronic mail). All recognized Sections of the APP are permitted to submit resolutions to be considered by, and send two representatives as delegates to the APA House of Delegates when it meets each year at the APA Annual Convention & Trade Show.

APA Awards and the APP Practitioner Merit Award

The APP can nominate its members for any number of prestigious awards offered each year by the APA (i.e., Bowl of Hygeia, Young Pharmacist Award, Innovative Pharmacy Practice Award, etc.) at its Annual Convention & Trade Show.

The APP itself offers the APP Practitioner Merit Award, in order to recognize any APP member for his/her efforts in either furthering the cause of the Academy, or exemplifying the high ideals and standards of the Academy in terms of their own professional practice and accomplishments.