This product is an ASHP Learning Center https://elearning.ashp.org/ activity.
Accreditation

The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education as a provider of continuing pharmacy education with Commendation.
Target Audience
This self-paced, online professional certificate track is designed for pharmacists interested in expanding their knowledge and skills in specialty pharmacy management of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
Overview
The Specialty Pharmacy Certificate is self-guided, with online learning activities that have been created for pharmacists seeking to expand their skills in specialty pharmacy.
A learner begins with the Specialty Pharmacy Fundamentals, where the well-rounded curriculum gives the essential information on business models and operations of specialty pharmacies, patient management, specialty pharmacy accreditations, structuring outcomes to determine value within a specialty pharmacy, and common specialty pharmacy disease state overviews. To move to the next step, the learner will need to pass the comprehensive assessment for the Fundamentals section. Please note: Once a learner has completed and passed the Fundamentals section, they are not required to retake it if they wish to enroll in additional disease state tracks.
As part of their bundle, once a learner passes the Fundamentals section, they will take a deep dive into their selected specialty focus with the HIV Track. These topics include HIV treatments, HIV treatment management, drug interactions, opportunistic infections, HIV prevention, and HIV regimens in unique populations.
Specialty Pharmacy: HIV Professional Certificate Requirement
Once a learner has completed the Specialty Pharmacy Fundamentals and the HIV Track educational curriculum, they will have the opportunity to complete the track’s final exam. Once the learner successfully completes the track’s final exam (minimum 80% passing rate; unlimited attempts permitted), they will earn the Specialty Pharmacy: HIV Professional Certificate.
Educational Activities
Specialty Pharmacy Fundamentals
Specialty Pharmacy 101
ACPE: 0204-0000-25-847-H04-P
Application-based
1 contact hour
Learning Objectives:
- Explain key specialty pharmacy terms and abbreviations.
- Compare stakeholder priorities in specialty pharmacy.
- Summarize key elements in the landscape of specialty pharmacy.
Specialty Pharmacy Organizational Models and Program Designs
ACPE: 0204-0000-25-848-H04-P
Application-based
1.25 contact hours
Learning Objectives:
- Explain the three types of procurement models for sourcing medications administered in a health care setting (white/brown/clear bagging).
- Apply the appropriate billing method(s) for specialty medications.
- Identify differences among four different specialty pharmacy organizational structures.
- Develop a new specialty pharmacy business plan.
- Identify considerations for developing a specialty pharmacy program.
Specialty Pharmacy Patient Management
ACPE: 0204-0000-25-849-H04-P
Application-based
1.25 contact hours
Learning Objectives:
- Explain specialty pharmacy documentation requirements.
- Discuss the tenets of specialty medication monitoring.
- Describe multidisciplinary collaborative opportunities in specialty pharmacy.
- Apply specialty medication patient education and counseling principles.
- Assess specialty medication adherence.
- Describe medication error and adverse event reporting methods.
Introduction to Specialty Pharmacy Medications
ACPE: 0204-0000-25-850-H04-P
Application-based
1 contact hour
Learning Objectives:
- Contrast generic medications with biosimilar products.
- Explain the elements of safe medication handling and disposal.
- Evaluate strategies for drug access.
Operations: The Backbone of Specialty Pharmacy
ACPE: 0204-0000-25-851-H04-P
Application-based
1 contact hour
Learning Objectives:
- Differentiate the roles of specialty pharmacy staff from retail and hospital pharmacy staff.
- Explain the main steps of the specialty pharmacy supply chain.
- Predict potential challenges associated with specialty medication delivery.
From Prescription to Patient: A Specialty Medication's Journey
ACPE: 0204-0000-25-852-H04-P
Application-based
1 contact hour
Learning Objectives:
- Define the important elements of a specialty prescription.
- Analyze potential issues associated with ordering a specialty medication.
- Describe a specialty medication benefits investigation and prior authorization.
- Assess specialty prescription dispensing factors.
- Summarize the specialty prescription verification process.
- Differentiate specialty prescription delivery requirements and methods.
From Diagnosis to Treatment: The Journey for Patients with Specialty Conditions
ACPE: 0204-0000-25-853-H04-P
Application-based
0.75 contact hour
Learning Objectives:
- Summarize financial assistance options for patients with specialty conditions and serving the underserved.
- Differentiate between manufacturer-provided and pharmacy-provided patient education resources.
- Interpret patient satisfaction results.
Specialty Pharmacy Accreditation and Certifications
ACPE: 0204-0000-25-854-H04-P
Application-based
0.75 contact hour
Learning Objectives:
- Define specialty pharmacy accreditation.
- Assess the importance and benefits of specialty pharmacy accreditation.
- Categorize the different specialty pharmacy accreditations available.
- Differentiate between various pharmacist and pharmacy technician certifications.
Outcomes and Value of Specialty Pharmacy
ACPE: 0204-0000-25-855-H04-P
Application-based
2.5 contact hours
Learning Objectives:
- Describe the need and methods to collect, track, and report disease-specific outcomes in specialty pharmacy practice.
- Select clinical performance outcomes measures to collect, based on key institution, patient, disease state, and stakeholder requirement factors.
- Design quality improvement initiatives to advance outcomes monitoring and response.
- Measure the clinical and economic impact of specialty pharmacy staff actions.
- Assess how the hub-and-spoke information dissemination model promotes the value of specialty pharmacy.
- Apply operational and financial metrics to assess specialty pharmacy performance.
- Critique specialty pharmacy performance based on a scorecard.
Common Specialty Pharmacy Service Lines
ACPE: 0204-0000-25-856-H04-P
Application-based
2 contact hours
Learning Objectives:
- Summarize the basics of inflammatory diseases.
- Summarize the basics of oncology and hematology.
- Summarize the basics of neurology.
- Summarize the basics of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis.
- Summarize the basics of cystic fibrosis.
- Summarize the basics of hemophilia and PAH.
Specialty Pharmacy: HIV Track
Introduction to Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)
ACPE: 0204-0000-25-857-H02-P
Application-based
1.5 contact hours
Learning Objectives:
- Differentiate human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) from acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).
- Describe the pathophysiology of HIV.
- Identify risk factors for HIV transmission.
- Interpret the results of different generations of HIV diagnostic tests.
- Choose which laboratory assays should be utilized to monitor patients living with HIV.
- Summarize the effects of AIDS on the immune system.
HIV Treatment Introduction
ACPE: 0204-0000-25-858-H02-P
Application-based
1 contact hour
Learning Objectives:
- Describe the HIV life cycle.
- Compare the classes of antiretrovirals and their mechanisms of action.
- Identify the medications within each class of antiretrovirals.
- Use abbreviations for commonly used antiretrovirals.
- Differentiate tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) and tenofovir alafenamide (TAF).
HIV Treatment Management
ACPE: 0204-0000-25-859-H02-P
Application-based
1.5 contact hours
Learning Objectives:
- Identify first-line treatment options for treatment-naïve and treatment-experienced patients living with HIV.
- Summarize the literature supporting use of reduced pill burden regimens.
- Explain the literature supporting the utilization of currently available long-acting injectable antiretrovirals.
- Interpret the most common HIV resistance mutations for their clinical implications.
- Evaluate patient-specific factors that impact the choice of antiretroviral regimens.
- Create an appropriate treatment regimen for patients living with HIV, based on patient-specific characteristics and treatment history.
Drug Interactions
ACPE: 0204-0000-25-860-H02-P
Application-based
2.25 contact hours
Learning Objectives:
- Describe the synergistic, additive, and antagonistic types of drug interactions.
- Identify common drug interactions for each class of HIV antiretroviral medications.
- Recommend the action(s) needed for a drug interaction.
Opportunistic Infections
ACPE: 0204-0000-25-861-H02-P
Application-based
1 contact hour
Learning Objectives:
- Recommend when to initiate prophylaxis against opportunistic infections (OI).
- Choose which pharmacotherapy option(s) should be utilized dependent on the OI.
- Identify when OI prophylaxis can be stopped.
HIV Prevention
ACPE: 0204-0000-25-862-H02-P
Application-based
1.5 contact hours
Learning Objectives:
- Assess the HIV prevention needs within the United States.
- Differentiate HIV PEP from HIV PrEP.
- Identify appropriate candidates for HIV PEP.
- Identify appropriate monitoring parameters for patients who receive HIV PEP.
- Identify appropriate candidates for HIV PrEP.
HIV Regimens in Unique Populations
ACPE: 0204-0000-25-863-H02-P
Application-based
1.5 contact hours
Learning Objectives:
- Differentiate HIV infection rates for certain populations/groups of people in the United States.
- Identify ART regimens appropriate for each population.
- Recognize barriers to HIV care and ART adherence that certain populations may face.
- Recommend strategies for ART adherence and retention in care for each population.
Faculty Information
Amanda Binkley, PharmD, AAHIVP, BCIDP
Clinical Pharmacy Specialist Infectious Diseases
Penn Presbyterian Medical Center
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Paul Djuricich, PharmD, AAHIVP
Clinical Pharmacy Specialist
University of Chicago Medicine
Chicago, Illinois
Carly Cloud Floyd, PharmD, PhC, AAHIVP, CDCES, TTS
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Pharmacy Practice and Admin. Sciences
University of New Mexico, College of Pharmacy
Clinical Director
University of New Mexico AIDS Education & Training Center (UNM-AETC)
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Dana Harman, PharmD, MBA, CSP
Specialty Pharmacy Manager
University of Missouri Health Care
Columbia, Missouri
Ryan Kates, PharmD, BCACP, AAHIVP
Clinical Pharmacist
Northwestern Medicine
Chicago, Illinois
Daniel Madrid, PharmD, MBA
Site Director, Sinai Chicago
Clearway Health
Chicago, Illinois
Bernice Man, PharmD, MBA, BCSP, CPHQ, CSP, DPLA
Clinical Pharmacy Manager
University of Chicago Medicine
Chicago, Illinois
Ashley Nixon-Mongler, PharmD, BCACP
Clinical Pharmacist
University of Missouri Health Care
Columbia, Missouri
Autumn Zuckerman, PharmD, BCPS, AAHIVP, CSP
Director, Health Outcomes and Research
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Nashville, Tennessee
Relevant Financial Relationship Disclosure
In accordance with our accreditor’s Standards of Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education, ASHP requires that all individuals in control of content disclose all financial relationships with ineligible companies. An individual has a relevant financial relationship if they have had a financial relationship with an ineligible company in any dollar amount in the past 24 months and the educational content that the individual controls is related to the business lines or products of the ineligible company.
An ineligible company is any entity producing, marketing, re-selling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients. The presence or absence of relevant financial relationships will be disclosed to the activity audience.
- No one in control of the content of this activity has a relevant financial relationship (RFR) with an ineligible company.
As defined by the Standards of Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education definition of ineligible company.
Methods and CE Requirements
Each activity consists of audio, video, and/or PDFs and evaluations. Learners must review all content and complete the evaluations to receive continuing pharmacy education credit for each activity.
Follow the prompts to claim, view, or print the statement of credit within 60 days after completing the activity.
Important Note – ACPE 60 Day Deadline:
Per ACPE requirements, CPE credit must be claimed within 60 days of being earned. To verify that you have completed the required steps and to ensure your credits have been reported to CPE Monitor, check your NABP eProfile account to validate that your credits were transferred successfully before the ACPE 60-day deadline. After the 60-day deadline, ASHP will no longer be able to award credit for this activity.
The ASHP Professional CertificatesSM educational product line contains learning activities that are ACPE-accredited knowledge and application-based continuing education. This is not an ACPE Certificate Program. Upon successful completion of the activities, the learner will be able to download an ASHP Professional Certificate.
System Technical Requirements
ASHP learning content is delivered through your Web browser. For all learning content, you will need basic computer skills, the ability to navigate web pages and stable internet connection. View the system requirements for learning activities.