Do you know of a highly qualified PharmD, new PhD, or PhD candidate who’s looking to spend a year implementing policy with the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)?

I’m spreading the word about a health policy fellowship that supports HHS’s Partnership for Patients: Better Care, Lower Costs. The selected fellow will receive a monthly stipend depending on educational level and experience (likely equivalent to the GS-12 pay grade). The fellowship announcement was rewritten to specifically include PharmDs, although it may take time to update the Web posting of the announcement, which has the details.

This is a great opportunity to give and gain new perspectives and experiences for a pharmacist with a taste for policy. Historically, pharmacists who participate in these types of fellowships not only learn but contribute in important ways to our profession. We desperately need pharmacists in positions where we can make a difference in policy, and represent the profession when policy decisions are made. This particular position may lead and support activities to reduce adverse drug events (ADEs) and other health care–associated conditions (HACs), help to develop a coordinated federal plan to reduce ADEs, work on communication materials related to ADEs and other HACs, and more.

Partnership for Patients is a public–private initiative with up to $1 billion in funding through the CMS Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation and two goals for the end of 2013: decreasing preventable hospital “all-cause harm” incidents, including ADEs, by 40% and decreasing preventable complications during transitions of care so that all hospital readmissions are reduced by 20%, compared with 2010 rates. APhA joined the partnership when it was announced in April.

Applications for the health policy fellowship are accepted all year long, but only one award is made each year. The next award should be made in early October 2012. So if you’re interested, apply ASAP by sending a current résumé, professional references, and a writing sample to: Tasha Powell at Tasha.Powell@orau.org. Please reference Project # DHHS-ODPHP-2012-0007 in all communications.