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Ferris State Pharmacy Practice professor Michael Klepser honored by American Pharmacists Association Foundation for career achievements

Ferris State College of Pharmacy professor Michael Klepser wins national award
Pharmacy Practice Professor Michael Klepser is Ferris State University’s first recipient of the American Pharmacists Association Foundation’s Pinnacle Award.
BIG RAPIDS, Mich. — 

Ferris State University Pharmacy Practice professor Michael Klepser is being honored by a national organization for his contributions to improving the quality of healthcare.

Michael Klepser

Michael Klepser

Klepser, who joined the faculty of Ferris State’s College of Pharmacy in 2001, received one of two Pinnacle Awards presented by the American Public Health Association Foundation.

He is the first Ferris State faculty member to earn a Pinnacle Award and was recognized in the career achievement category for being “an individual making significant contributions to healthcare quality improvement.”

“It was an unexpected honor but very nice to receive,” Klepser said. “We have been working at what was an uphill battle for pharmacists to become recognized contributors in healthcare delivery. Bills passed last year by Michigan’s Legislature and signed into law allow us to order and administer vaccines and testing for COVID-19, strep throat and Influenza, which means greater support and care, especially in rural communities.”

He said partnerships are a facet of any accomplishment he has been involved with, which includes the Ferris State-initiated CHARM (Collaboration to Harmonize Antimicrobial Registry Measures) program.

“By tracking outpatient antibiotic use, we can strive for best practices and promote greater awareness across all of healthcare,” Klepser said. “What we have been able to establish at Ferris has been picked up in seven states, across nearly 20 provider systems, and we are able to monitor nearly two-thirds of the prescriptions for antibiotics being given in Michigan.”

CHARM was developed with professor of Pharmaceutical Science Minji Sohn, with Klepser as senior director and Sohn as initiative director.

Klepser also offers expert testimony in states seeking to pass legislation to allow pharmacists to serve as independent prescribers, a significant response to support rural communities where physicians are few and not easily accessible for specific patient groups.

“A reintroduction of the ECAPS, or ‘Equitable Community Access to Pharmacist Services Act,’ has been made in the U.S. House of Representatives, and it has been presented for the first time in the Senate,” Klepser said. “The APhA said the point of care opportunity this legislation seeks is important and significant as patients would have greater access to services through their pharmacist, which would have particular benefit for Medicare and Medicaid recipients.”

Klepser also serves as an adjunct faculty member for the University of Nebraska College of Pharmacy. He is the founder and director of The Collaboration of Advance Pharmacy Enterprises. Under CAPE, Klepser works with numerous enterprises to improve the quality of and patient access to care.

Ferris State’s College of Pharmacy is one of just three in Michigan and is recognized nationally.

Established in 1998, the Pinnacle Awards celebrate significant contributions to the medication use process, leading to enhancements such as increasing patient adherence, reducing adverse drug events, promoting the use of national treatment guidelines, improving patient outcomes, and enhancing communication among the health care team members.