Pharmacotherapy

Pharmacotherapy is that area of pharmacy practice that is responsible for ensuring the safe, appropriate, and economical use of drugs in patient care. The pharmacotherapy specialist has responsibility for direct patient care, often functions as a member of a multidisciplinary team and is frequently the primary source of drug information for other healthcare professionals. Those who are granted certification in this specialty may use the designation Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist and the initials BCPS, as long as certification is valid.

Eligibility Requirements

The minimum requirements for this specialty certification are:

• Graduation from a pharmacy program accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) or a program outside the U.S. that qualifies the individual to practice in the jurisdiction.
• Current, active license to practice pharmacy in the U.S. or another jurisdiction.
• Completion of three (3) years of practice experience with at least 50% of time spent in pharmacotherapy activities (as defined by the BPS Pharmacotherapy Content Outline)
  OR
  Completion of a PGY1 residency *.
  *Effective January 1, 2013, only residencies accredited by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists or other recognized bodies are creditable for this purpose.
• Achieving a passing score on the Pharmacotherapy Specialty Certification Examination

Examination Content

(Refer to the Pharmacotherapy Content Outline for details.)

• Domain 1: Patient-specific Pharmacotherapy (55% of the examination)
• Domain 2: Retrieval, generation, interpretation and dissemination of knowledge in pharmacotherapy (30% of the examination)
• Domain 3: Health System-related Pharmacotherapy (15% of the examination)

Recertification

Recertification for Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialists (BCPS) is an assessment of a practitioner's knowledge and skills through one of two methods:

• Achieving a passing score on the 100-item, multiple-choice objective recertification examination, based on the content outline of the certification examination;
  OR
• Earning 120 hours of continuing education credit provided by a professional development program approved by BPS.

A current, active license to practice pharmacy is required for recertification.