A Tale of Two Cities

Floor Speech

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Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, as the gentleman has stated, this is a serious problem. This is a problem that I have dealt with as a professional pharmacist for many years. I have dealt with it in my retail setting in my pharmacies, as well as a consultant pharmacist in a long-term care facility in skilled nursing homes. I have seen the advances that we have made in medicine over the years. I have seen us go from only having the original antipsychotics, Haldol, which was always accompanied by a prescription for Cogentin to mask the side effects that the Haldol was going to have. I have seen the evolution of the atypical antipsychotics, which, while they do have some side effects themselves, are nowhere near the side effects that the original antipsychotics had.

I do thank the gentleman for bringing this important issue to light, and I do have a few comments that I would like to make.

First of all, medication plays a major role in the treatment for many mental illnesses. With the growing burden of mental disorders worldwide, pharmacists are ideally positioned to play a greater role in supporting people with a mental illness. There is a growing amount of evidence to show that pharmacist-delivered services in mental health care help address the barriers that are hurdles for the broader mental healthcare team.

Pharmacists have three roles they can play in helping our country address the mental health crisis.

First, pharmacists can play a major role in the multi-disciplinary teams addressing health care and can support early detection of mental illness. With more pharmacists coming out of school with greater clinical experience, pharmacists can work in new roles, such as in case conferencing or collaborative drug therapy management.

These new roles would also benefit from increased pharmacist involvement, such as the early detection of mental health conditions, development of healthcare plans, and follow-up of people with mental health problems.

Secondly, pharmacists can play a role in supporting quality use of medicines and medication review, strategies to improve medication adherence and antipsychotic polypharmacy, and shared decision making.

Pharmacists would have a large impact regarding medication review services and other pharmacist-led interventions designed to reduce inappropriate use of psychotropic medicines and improve medication adherence.

Finally, pharmacists can help address barriers surrounding the implementation of mental health pharmacy services with a focus on organizational culture and mental health stigma.

Over the years, the relation between the pharmacist and the physician has become more collaborative and cooperative. With this new relationship, pharmacists can work with physicians to develop strategies to change the attitudes and stigma surrounding mental health.

As my colleague from Pennsylvania, Representative Murphy, continues to fight for this cause, I hope he will consider me and the profession of pharmacy as a friend and collaborator so we can fight to end the mental health crisis in this country.

Again, I want to thank the gentleman for yielding me this time and for bringing this most important subject to light.

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