Athens, Ga. – The 10th Annual Howard C. Ansel Symposium at the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy will address an “Introduction to Affordable Care” and “Patient Safety and Roles for Pharmacy” on Oct. 5 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The six-hour event will provide an overview of the Affordable Care Act and explore the opportunities and challenges the act may present to pharmacists and others in the healthcare field.
In addition to pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, other healthcare professionals, clinic managers, those in the insurance field, and city and county government may benefit from the symposium. The morning session will provide information on the impact of affordable care on small businesses, the upcoming health exchanges, government pricing programs for medication (340B) and the expanding role of pharmacy, including implications for patient and medication safety.
Patient safety—the topic of the afternoon session—is one of the nation’s most pressing health care challenges. A 1999 report by the Institute of Medicine estimates that as many as 44,000 to 98,000 people die in U.S. hospitals each year as the result of lapses in patient safety. The afternoon session will focus on patient and medication safety in community and health-system pharmacy, including medication reconciliation, through the lens of accreditation standards.
The college’s Office of Continuing Education and Outreach also will launch the Pharmacy Technician CE Initiative at the symposium. Pharmacists who register will be able to bring one technician free of charge. Information on registration, cost and continuing education credit is available at www.rxugace.com/programs/details/753 or by calling 706-542-6232 or 706-542-1296
The Ansel Symposium was established in 2003 as part of the college’s centennial celebration to honor Dean Emeritus Howard C. Ansel for his notable contributions to pharmacy education and his ongoing support of the pharmacy profession. Ansel was dean of the College of Pharmacy from 1977 to 1991 and the college’s first Panoz Professor of Pharmacy. He joined the college in 1962 after three years on the faculty at the University of Toledo, where he received his bachelor’s degree in pharmacy. He earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in pharmaceutics from the University of Florida.
