The Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties (BPS) has announced the recognition of its sixth specialty, ambulatory care pharmacy practice. This action followed the Board’s receipt of a petition for the specialty in November 2008, jointly submitted by ACCP, the American Pharmacists Association, and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. The Board solicited input regarding the petition from the public and the pharmacy profession at three open hearings and by postal and e-mail. At its spring 2009 meeting, BPS evaluated the petition in accordance with the criteria specified in its Petitioner’s Guide for Recognition of a Pharmacy Practice Specialty, considered all testimony received, and unanimously approved the petitioners’ request for recognition. “This was the first new specialty to be recognized by BPS since 1996,” said Terry L. Schwinghammer, Pharm.D., BCPS, BPS Board Chair, “and we are very pleased that the pharmacy profession has once again trusted BPS to develop and implement a sound and defensible specialty-level certification process.”

BPS will now work with the petitioning organizations to establish a specialty council for the new specialty and begin the rigorous process of defining the details of the certification process for ambulatory care pharmacy practice, as well as specific examination content and process. This will be done with the assistance of the Professional Examination Service, an internationally recognized educational testing firm.