Why is Becoming a Certified Specialty Pharmacist Important?

Jonathan Ogurchak, PharmD, CSP, vice president of Business Operations at PANTHERx Specialty Pharmacy, discusses the importance of specialty pharmacists becoming certified and how it improves the industry as a whole.

Ogurchak: The ability or the need for pharmacists to gain some sort of certification has been crucial, especially over the last few years with the growth of the industry. As more pharmacists are becoming involved, there’s more of us out there and we need to differentiate ourselves somehow.

The [Certified Specialty Pharmacist] exam that’s been available over the last few years has been one of those elements that gives the ability to further differentiate yourself, not as a disease expert but an expert within the industry because you know the ins and outs of what it takes to be a specialty pharmacist.

There are other programs out there, similar to what PANTHERx helps to sponsor through the University of Pittsburg. It’s a Masters of Science in Pharmacy Business Administration—a 1 year program that has a focus in specialty pharmacy, but gives us the ability that you can learn about the industry in an agnostic kind of way and grow the industry as a whole.