National Pharmacy Services Leader CPS Launches Pharmacist-Driven Analgesia Improvement Stewardship Certificate Program

CPS’ PAInS Program Designed to Help Reduce Opioid Use Through Pharmacist Continuing Education

FOR RELEASE: December 9, 2019

CONTACT: Rod Recor

Rod.Recor@cpspharm.com

901-748-0470

Memphis, TN – Comprehensive Pharmacy Services, LLC (CPS), one of the nation’s largest hospital pharmacy services providers, announced today the launch of one of the first national Pharmacist-Driven Analgesia Improvement Stewardship (PAInS) Certificate Programs. The PAInS Certificate Program is a qualified continuing pharmacy education (CPE) program that is designed to educate CPS health system pharmacists on reducing opioid use in their hospital and health system facilities.

According to the National Institutes of Health, as of January 2019, more than 130 people in the United States die every day after overdosing on opioids, including prescription pain relievers, heroin and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.i The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the total economic burden of prescription opioid misuse alone in the United States is $78.5 billion a year, which includes the costs of healthcare, lost productivity, addiction treatment and criminal justice involvement.ii

“Pain management has moved to center stage in the healthcare industry, driven by the national opioid crisis,” said Marvin Finnefrock, PharmD, Divisional President Clinical and Purchasing Services for CPS. “That is why we developed the PAInS program and built it with practical and real cases that guide the pharmacist through the process of reducing opioid use and achieving pain management stewardship.”

Upon completion of the PAInS Certificate Program, the pharmacist will be able to:

• Develop an advanced understanding of the evidence-based strategies of pain management stewardship
• Incorporate pain management stewardship principles into disease state management
• Demonstrate practical application of pain management stewardship

The program is divided into three modules:

• Module 1: Twelve hours of live and recorded lectures that focus on basic principles and the science of analgesics, covering topics related to professional competencies for pharmacists involved in pain management stewardship
• Module 2: Five hours of core-based disease state management discussions and real-world applications delivered in both live and recorded formats
• Module 3: Three hours practicum where the pharmacist applies learned skills and teaches others about the application of pain management stewardship

For more information about the PAInS Certificate Program, email: PAINS@CPSpharm.com. For those attending ASHP, visit CPS at Booth 1231.

About Comprehensive Pharmacy Services

Founded nearly 50 years ago and employing over 2,500 pharmacy professionals, Comprehensive Pharmacy Services is one of the nation’s largest provider of pharmacy services to more than 800 hospitals and healthcare facilities nationwide. CPS helps their clients tackle complex problems such as rising drug costs, specialty pharmacy, ambulatory/retail strategy, operational effectiveness and staffing efficiency. In addition, they address 340B programs, a variety of compliance concerns and much more. CPS helps pharmacy leaders drive cost, quality and safety improvements across the continuum of care. 

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i https://wonder.cdc.gov/, Accessed 10.17.19.

ii Florence CS, Zhou C, Luo F, Xu L. The Economic Burden of Prescription Opioid Overdose, Abuse, and Dependence in the United States, 2013. Med Care. 2016;54(10):901-906. doi:10.1097/MLR.0000000000000625.