PQA taps three industry leaders to fill out board
ALEXANDRIA, Va. —One of the most influential groups promoting a broader and more clinical role for the nation’s community pharmacists has named three new members to its board of directors.
Drawing from the ranks of retail pharmacy, pharmaceutical manufacturing and managed care, the Pharmacy Quality Alliance elected three industry veterans to four-year terms on its board. Those named to the 16-member board were:
Thomas Menighan, EVP and CEO-designate of the American Pharmacists Association, is joining PQA’s activities for the first time. The APhA, along with the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, the National Community Pharmacists Association and other pharmacy and industry groups, is actively involved with the organization.
William Fleming is VP pharmacy and clinical integration for Humana, and a longtime supporter of PQA. Fleming has been involved with the group since its inception, and served as co-chair of its Data Aggregation and Reporting Work-group during the group’s initial two years. Additionally, he serves on a number of ad hoc committees for PQA, including strategic planning.
Eleanor Perfetto is senior director of reimbursement and regulatory affairs at Pfizer. Perfetto is co-chair of the PQA’s Research Coordinating Council, a post she has held since the council was established. She has led efforts in launching the five current PQA demonstration projects in Phase 1, and is assisting PQA in its research plans for broader demonstration projects to be launched later this year.
“Stepping into the role of board member during the discussions of healthcare reform gives all of us on the board a tremendous challenge,” noted PQA chairman Bruce Roberts, EVP and CEO of the NCPA. That challenge, he added, is “to assist in building a high-quality, affordable healthcare system, using the core building blocks of performance measurement, quality improvement and public reporting.
“In the medication-use space, the performance measurement enterprise shows tremendous growth potential, and PQA, as a consensus-based alliance with the broadest group of stakeholders, is taking the appropriate steps to make appropriate medication use an integral part of the healthcare infrastructure,” Roberts added.
In line with the election of Menighan, Perfetto and Fleming, two PQA board members are rotating out: John Gans, veteran head of the APhA and a founding member of the PQA, and Jack Fish, VP channel management and pharmacy solutions with GlaxoSmithKline and a two-year veteran of the board. Both Gans and Fish are retiring from their respective positions within the APhA and GSK this year.