Last weekend, the APhA Board of Trustees made a major commitment to give patients access to pharmacists’ clinical services. The Board’s action followed months of preparatory work and direction from our House of Delegates and led to allocation of $1.5 million towards a multiyear, multifaceted, multimillion-dollar effort to help the profession gain recognition of pharmacists’ roles as health care providers. APhA is committed to working with pharmacy, patient, and other health care organizations on this initiative and to that end has several initiatives under way right now. However, we know our financial commitment will not be nearly enough without broad support from within and outside the profession.

If you were one of the more than 35,000 persons who signed the recent White House We the People and Change.org petitions asking for provider recognition for pharmacists, then now is time for you to take the next step and show your support. You can support the APhA Foundation, whose work will provide fuel to the initiative, and you can make our presence more powerful and join our membership ranks. If you are already a member, stay tuned for more information on how you can get involved.

Be ready to show your political support in the coming months with visits, letters, and calls to Capitol Hill and home offices of our Members of Congress.

If you attend our Annual Meeting in Los Angeles on March 1–4, you’ll see how all the planning and hard work is coming together. And you can learn more about what you can do to help. While we’re 62,000 members strong, there are still thousands of pharmacists who will gain from this effort as opportunities for pharmacists as health care team members would be broadly expanded to meet patient and other health system needs.

First, I’d like to thank the Board for their leadership. Next, to my colleagues inside and outside of pharmacy, I look forward to working with you so that all patients have access to pharmacists’ clinical services. Then, I’d like to challenge each of you. If you believe in the underutilized patient care contributions pharmacists can make, then show it by supporting this effort. Are you in?