May 2009

Pharmacists in the Indian Health Service (IHS) Receive Nationally Recognized HIV-Specialty Certification

Background

The American Academy of HIV Medicine (AAHIVM) is the only U.S. medical organization credentialing physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and (as of 2008) pharmacists as HIV Specialists™ (AAHIVS) or HIV Experts™ (AAHIVE).  Across the history of AAHIVM, pharmacists were not eligible to participate in the AAHIVM credentialing program.  Pharmacists with day-to-day HIV treatment involvement, patient assessment and therapeutic expertise sought this widely recognized and reputable credential as validation for their expertise in this sub-specialty.  However, commencing only last year, a program was launched by the AAHIVM to allow pharmacists the opportunity to obtain the credential. This recent response may have been due to the large number of inquiries and requests from pharmacists nationwide - including IHS pharmacists and the IHS National HIV/AIDS Program that corresponded directly to the AAHIVM Executive Director about the need for such a program.

During the inaugural year of this pilot initiative, 126 pharmacists passed the examination nationwide – including the first four within the Indian Health Service. The training and examination were supported by the IHS HIV/AIDS National Program as one part of a Minority AIDS Initiative Proposal to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to improve HIV capacity, treatment, and care within IHS.

The IHS pharmacists enumerated below received the "AAHIVE" designation by meeting experience and education requirements, and successfully completing a rigorous and didactically sound exam on HIV-specialized medical care.  This exam is the same exam taken by the other medical providers. To qualify for the exam, individual pharmacists need to be licensed, have direct involvement with at least 20 HIV/AIDS patients, and complete a minimum of 30 hours of HIV-related CEU/CE over the preceding 24 months.  Our collective congratulation goes out to those that participated and those that completed the exam and certification.

Future Developments In Pharmacist Examining

That said, there still exists the potential that this pilot program may not continue. Upon completion of the 2008-2009 pilot, the AAHIVM Board of Directors will review key outcomes and will determine a course of action that best serves the organization's mission of advancing HIV care excellence, and appropriately recognizes the key role of the HIV-specializing pharmacist.  Those options include:

• Create a new and permanent pharmacist credentialing program, separate from the existing HIV Specialist™ [AAHIVS] program. (Pharmacists would be awarded the unique, two year HIV Pharmacy Specialist ("AAHIVPS") designation)
• Continue the pilot program
• Discontinue the program

Development steps for the permanent "AAHIVPS" credentialing program would be conducted in 2009 and would include: 

• Creating a new pharmacist-specific, HIV-focused Role Delineation (“RD”, or “job analysis”) and exam classification system, which would specifically define the actual role and expertise of the expert HIV pharmacist
• Developing a new pharmacist-specific exam item bank, which could borrow material from the Academy’s existing exam item bank when the task and behavior classifications allow.  (Some areas of content in the new RD would require the authoring of entirely new exam items.)

It is important that IHS (and other PHS pharmacists) continue to be actively involved with this organization to develop a permanent credentialing for pharmacists.  Support will continue as appropriate from the IHS National HIV Program.

Additional Information On AAHIVM

Applications are being accepted for the 2009 examination until June 30th, 2009.  The exam will be available online from August 14th through September 30th, 2009.  The examination costs $190 and the coursework materials are $200.   For more information, please visit www.aahivm.org.

+ Top of Page