Addison Ragan, PharmD (Addison.holder@va.gov) is the pharmacy program manager for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) National Clinical Resource Hub (CRH). The CRH was established in 2020 as a novel solution to support Veteran access to care in underserved regions using an enterprise-wide telehealth hub and spoke model. Ragan champions the role of the clinical pharmacist practitioner (CPP) within the CRH by optimizing CPP involvement in virtual team-based care across ambulatory practices. She has led VA efforts to integrate interdisciplinary health professional trainees, including pharmacy residents and students, and clinical pharmacy technicians into this innovative telehealth model.
Ragan earned her PharmD from Auburn University Harrison School of Pharmacy and began her career with the VA as a primary care pharmacist where she pioneered medication management clinics. She later served as associate chief of clinical pharmacy for the Central Alabama Veterans Health Care System where she led clinical pharmacy practice advancements in mental health, cardiology, pain, infectious disease, and data analytics. Her proudest accomplishment was the initiation of a PGY-1 residency program which ensured clinical pharmacy services flourished in a difficult to recruit geographic region. Ragan went on to manage a regional virtual academic detailing team that demonstrated the positive impact one-on-one pharmacist to provider outreach visits can have on system wide evidence-based prescribing. Her diversity of experiences has allowed her to be an active contributor to ASHP educational sessions and publications. She currently serves as an inaugural member of the Section of Digital and Telehealth Practitioners.
Our profession is at a crossroads—we must integrate and leverage digital and telehealth technologies to enhance our value and patient care reach. Whether working in the community, hospital, or clinic the pharmacist’s superpower is their ability to strengthen connections with the patients they serve. We have all had an “aha moment” when a patient proclaims, “you’re the first person that truly listened to my problems and took time to explain my treatment options.” I want a future for our profession where our patients feel heard, and pharmacists are fulfilled. Leveraging digital technologies to improve efficiencies and expand patient access is key to this future. As the pharmacy leader of the largest integrated telehealth network in the nation, I have witnessed how telehealth expands the pharmacist’s reach to patients that otherwise have limited access to care. I have also seen how the pharmacist can foster relationships using patient generated health data and ambient AI dictation to engage patients and reduce documentation burden. We have an unprecedented opportunity to mitigate healthcare staffing shortages and bridge healthcare disparities by embracing innovative digital tools and delivery models.
ASHP has prioritized efforts to support members in leading the digital health transformation with the establishment of the new Section of Digital and Telehealth Practitioners. Laying the foundation and developing a forward-thinking strategic plan for this Section has strengthened my commitment to supporting these efforts! I am honored and excited to share my expertise alongside my amazing colleagues in the director-at-large position for this section.