NASP Names Specialty Pharmacy of the Year

Kicking off the fourth annual National Association of Specialty Pharmacy (NASP) meeting today, NASP President Burt Zweigenhaft announced the industry’s two much-anticipated awards recognizing the best in the business of specialty pharmacy this year.

Of the 1200 corporate association members, Avella was selected as the Specialty Pharmacy of the Year for embodying the practice of Pharmacy in the field of Specialty, based on community involvement, patient satisfaction, cost management, quality/performance improvement initiatives, and innovation in the field, which includes patient care and outcomes, disease state and therapy management, and patient engagement.

Sheila Arquette was honored with the Distinguished Service to Specialty Pharmacy Award, recognizing her exceptional and sustained leadership within NASP and the specialty pharmacy industry.

"This year’s NASP award winners this year are exemplary representatives of the specialty pharmacy industry,” said NASP President Burt Zweigenhaft. “Specialty Pharmacy provides a crucial and unique service to the most vulnerable patients in the country, ensuring they have access to the life-changing medications they need, along with the necessary support to endure complex treatments. This year’s awards recipients showed inspiring commitment to making quality care accessible to their patients, and today we commend them for their efforts.”

VIDEO: Shiela Arquette discusses improving medication access in specialty pharmacy

After extensive review, the winners were selected from a group of peer nominated leaders within the industry.

“Every day, we’re searching for new medications and technologies to ease the burden of care for thousands of patients and families suffering from rare, chronic and debilitating diseases,” said Todd Speranzo on behalf of Avella. “The entire health care system will benefit from the advances we’ve made this year, but in specialty pharmacy, the patient comes first. I proudly accept this award on behalf of Avella, and we remain committed to facilitating the highest quality care available for specialty pharmacy patients nationwide.”

“Sheila is an extremely hard worker and has done so much for specialty pharmacy even answering emails at 4 am”, said Burt. “We can’t thank her enough for her commitment to this industry”.

“I am humbled and honored to accept NASP’s Distinguished Service Award,” said Sheila. “The patient-centric model that drives specialty pharmacy should serve as a model for the health industry as a whole, and I am dedicated to bolstering NASP’s efforts to make that happen.”

NASP kicked off its fourth annual meeting with the industry’s first-ever Legal Day, and the conference will continue through Sept. 28. The meeting features thoughtful discussions with senior healthcare executives, as well as Congressman Earl “Buddy” Carter (GA-1) on the rapidly growing industry (full agenda here).

Specialty pharmacy provides medications to treat patients with serious, chronic, rare, progressive, or debilitating or fatal if left untreated or undertreated. Examples of these illnesses include cancer, hepatitis C, infectious disease, infertility, Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, cystic fibrosis, organ transplantation, human growth hormone deficiencies, hemophilia, and other bleeding disorders. According to the Drug Channels Institute and other sources, specialty pharmacy drugs will represent 44% of the US drug spend by the year 2020.

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SOURCE: NASP

CONTACT: Danielle Moodie-Mills | nasp@skdknick.com