An Introduction From New Editor-in-Chief Curtis E. Haas, PharmD, FCCP

I am excited and honored to be offered this opportunity to serve as editor-in-chief for the Pharmacy Times Health-System Edition, which serves as a forum to address many issues of importance and relevance to those who practice pharmacy in the health-system environment.

We face many challenges in this very dynamic practice environment, with the prospects of declining revenue, increasing costs, major changes in reimbursement models, and ever-increasing demands on departments of pharmacy to positively affect drug-related outcomes and quality of care. I believe that the continuing shift to value-based care delivery and reimbursement creates unprecedented opportunities for advancements in practice and leadership for health-system pharmacies, and I look forward to working with the many contributors to this publication to address the important issues for pharmacy in the organized health-system environment.

By way of introduction, I am the director of pharmacy for the University of Rochester health care system, a 5-hospital system in central western New York. Our flagship hospital, Strong Memorial, is an 845-bed academic medical center. We have a broad ambulatory network of primary and specialty-care programs throughout the region and an accountable care network contracted with several payers to provide care in a population health model. Aside from the traditional inpatient pharmacy practices, the department of pharmacy operates more than 10 outpatient pharmacies, including a large patient-centered specialty pharmacy, discharge pharmacy programs in 2 hospitals, and a home infusion pharmacy. The department has specially trained pharmacists practicing in multiple inpatient and ambulatory specialties.

I spent the first 18 years of my professional career in the acute care environment, progressing through many clinical, administrative, and research responsibilities ranging from staff pharmacist to director of the clinical pharmacology trials unit. In 2000, I joined the faculty at the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University at Buffalo in New York, in a tenure track appointment with promotion to associate professor. In 2006, I accepted my current position at the University of Rochester Medical Center. For 17 years, I have specialized in critical-care pharmacy practice and maintained an active teaching, practice, and research program, with numerous published articles, and national presentations in critical-care therapeutics. My many professional service activities include serving two 3-year terms as a board member for the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, appointment to the Pharmacotherapy Specialty Council of the Board of Pharmacy Specialties for 6 years, and serving as president of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy. I have been involved in the training and education of pharmacy students, residents, and fellows for more than 25 years.

Upcoming issues of Pharmacy Times® Health-System Edition promise to deliver relevant therapeutic content on many topics for health-system pharmacists, including opiate abuse and addiction; antimicrobial formulary decision making; several oncology topics, including advances in bladder and renal cancers, lymphoma, and leukemia; and updates in the management of congestive heart failure. These therapeutic topics will share space with news items and editorial content relative to the practice of pharmacy in the health-system setting. I look forward to hearing your feedback.