Philadelphia’s Jefferson College of Pharmacy has created a new master’s degree in pharmacy with a specific focus on population health. The Master’s in Population Health Pharmacy will focus on the impact of health determinants on outcomes associated with medication use.
The College of Pharmacy said the program was made possible in collaboration with the Jefferson College of Population Health to prepare pharmacists to develop and implement population-based care programs across all practice settings. Jefferson said pharmacists in this program will be able to share experiences and best practices to expand pharmacy services, implement population health management techniques and assess the impact of programs on their specific populations.
“Feeling the pressures of national efforts to reduce drug costs, more pharmaceutical companies are getting involved in population health efforts to optimize patient outcomes,” said David B. Nash, M.D., M.B.A., dean of the Jefferson College of Population Health, in a prepared statement. “This degree program carves out a roadmap for pharmacists to lead these efforts in the United States and around the world.”
Beginning in Fall 2019, the M.S. program in Population Health Pharmacy will be offered as an entirely online, asynchronous program designed to give practicing pharmacists the expertise to further their ability to work broadly across the healthcare continuum. To earn the master’s degree, students will complete 10 courses in subjects such as: population health, health policy, pharmacoepidemiology, applied pharmacoeconomics, and pharmacy informatics. Students will also participate in a capstone project designed to demonstrate the application of knowledge and skills in real-world pharmacy settings.
