Thom Platt, PharmD, PhD, MBA, BCPS (Thomas.platt@uky.edu), is the Director of Specialty Pharmacy Services at UK HealthCare in Lexington, Kentucky. In this role, he oversees a team of over one hundred individuals, managing both centralized specialty pharmacy services and decentralized operations across UK HealthCare’s clinics. Thom also serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Kentucky (UK) College of Pharmacy, where he is the course director for a specialty pharmacy elective and teaches in various other courses.
Thom earned a PhD in Biochemistry from the UK College of Medicine, followed by a PharmD from the UK College of Pharmacy. He completed a two-year PGY1/2 Specialty Pharmacy Administration and Leadership residency at UK HealthCare, combined with his MBA. His initial years of experience focused on building a specialty pharmacy dedicated data and outcomes research program.
Thom’s ASHP involvement includes serving as a member of the Specialty Pharmacy Section Advisory Group on Outcomes and Value for several years, and he is currently serving as chair. Additionally, Thom served a three-year term in the ASHP House of Delegates as a delegate from Kentucky. At the local level in Kentucky, Thom has been actively involved with the state ASHP affiliate, KSHP, serving as Chair of the KSHP House of Delegates and currently as Treasurer for the organization.
I am honored to be slated as a candidate for Chair-Elect of ASHP’s Section of Specialty Pharmacy Practitioners. Health-system specialty pharmacies (HSSPs) are uniquely positioned to serve as the critical link between patients, providers, payers, and manufacturers – ensuring high-quality, coordinated care that improves outcomes and enhances the patient experience.
However, significant barriers threaten this model. These include exclusion from limited distribution networks, payer restrictions that lock out HSSPs, and increased attacks on programs like 340B that help health systems stretch already scarce resources to serve vulnerable populations. These challenges compromise patient choice and undermine the value HSSPs provide.
ASHP is uniquely positioned to lead advocacy efforts at both state and federal levels. Through policy engagement, education, and stakeholder collaboration, we can drive progress toward fair access to medications, transparent payer practices, and sustainable care models.
In addition to strong advocacy, I believe our section must foster innovation and collaboration. As Chair, I will work with members to explore new care delivery models in the face of workforce shortages, share strategies to manage drug costs such as WAC reduction, and discuss how we can develop external partnerships that address health inequities in our communities.
Together, we can advance the HSSP model and ensure patients continue receiving care from trusted providers where outcomes are the priority.