About the Standard

Oversight of the Certificate

The ASHP Pharmacy Practice Accreditation Commission (PPAC) oversees the ASHP Standard for Hospital and Health-System Certificate of Excellence in Medication Use Safety and Pharmacy Practice [PDF]. The ASHP Board of Directors grants the designation as Certified Center of Excellence™ for those programs and are successfully certified.

Pharmacy departments which have achieved ASHP Certified Center of Excellence™ in Medication-Use Safety and Pharmacy Practice will receive the Certificate of Excellence, signed by the ASHP Chief Executive Officer and will be included on the ASHP website list of Certified Centers of Excellence.

About The Standard

Accurate assessment of an organization’s level of performance in relation to an established standard provides formal recognition of the high quality pharmacy services, including operations and patient care, and demonstrates commitment to excellence, continual quality improvement and practice advancement. The ASHP Standard for Certification as a Center of Excellence in Medication-Use Safety and Pharmacy Practice [PDF] reflects contemporary best practices for hospital and health-system pharmacy practice. 

ASHP has accredited pharmacy residencies for over 60 years and has more than 2,600 ASHP-accredited PGY1, PGY2, and international pharmacy residency programs worldwide. ASHP also offers an international hospital pharmacy services accreditation program and accreditation programs for specialty pharmacies, community pharmacies, and telehealth pharmacy practices, making ASHP uniquely positioned to offer this exciting new hospital and health-system pharmacy center of excellence certification program.

In addition, ASHP has published Best Practices for Hospital and Health-System Pharmacy for more than 60 years. The center of excellence recognition program uses these best practices, along with recommendations from ASHP’s Practice Advancement Initiative 2030 and the ASHP Foundation Pharmacy Forecast 2020, residency accreditation standards, and other profession-wide best practices and industry standards, resulting in a center of excellence certification standard that represents state-of-the-art pharmacy and medication-use safety practices.

ASHP Standard for Hospital and Health-System Certificate of Excellence in Medication Use Safety and Pharmacy Practice

Within each Standard are key areas of focus in which the health system and/or pharmacy department must demonstrate excellence. Evaluation of the practice is conducted through review of documents, data, and exhibits and an on-site or virtual survey.

The ASHP Standard for Hospital and Health-System Certificate of Excellence in Medication Use Safety and Pharmacy Practice, addresses the following primary areas:

Placement of Pharmacy Department within the Health System

1. Organizational Relationships
2. Team-Based Care

The Pharmacy Department and its Services

3. Leadership and Management
4. Patient Care Services
5. Operations
6. Quality and Performance Improvement
7. Financial Management
8. Education, Training, and Research
9. People

Health-System Processes Supporting Safe Medication Use and Pharmacy Practice

10. Medication Use and Safety
11. Information Management and Data Science
12. Automation and Technology

• Listen to the AJHP Voices podcast about the ASHP Standard for Certification as a Center of Excellence in Medication-Use Safety and Pharmacy Practice
• Read about the Center of Excellence Town Hall at ASHP's 2022 Midyear Clinical Meeting
• Download The ASHP Standard for Certification as a Center of Excellence in Medication-Use Safety and Pharmacy Practice

For individual questions about certification, please contact us at COE@ashp.org.