Why I'm Starting Ambulatory Pharmacist Partners

After several years helping build MedServe and working closely with hundreds of surgery centers on controlled substance management, I'm starting a new chapter.

If you know me from MedServe, you probably know my personality and my strong desire to help, build, and improve things.

Deciding to step back from the day-to-day at MedServe was not simple. It is a company I helped build and bring to many ASCs around the country, and that will always mean a lot to me.

At the same time, we've built a wonderful team and a great product that I believe will continue to grow and be successful. MedServe is in good hands, and I'll continue to support the company as a board member and clinical advisor wherever needed.

That gives me the opportunity to focus on what I see as a larger and broader problem across the industry.

For my next chapter, I've decided to focus on pharmacy operations in ambulatory surgery centers as a whole.

There are two main things I've realized over the years of working with ASCs.

First, I care a lot about the ASC industry and the people I've had the opportunity to work with. A lot of those relationships mean a great deal to me. Many have turned into friendships. And I want to keep helping the people and centers I've been lucky to get to know.

Second, too many ASC teams are stuck working around an approach to pharmacy that was never really built for ASCs and does not have the structure of a real program.

That gap is not their fault.

It is exactly the kind of problem I know how to help fix. And this is why I'm starting Ambulatory Pharmacist Partners.

Why do so many centers need help?

The more time I've spent with ASCs, the more I've realized how much pharmacy touches inside a surgery center.

Medication storage. Controlled substances. Emergency meds. Waste. Dating and labeling. Staff training. Survey readiness. Recalls. Documentation. Pharmacist follow-up.

None of that is simple.

And most nurses and administrators were not handed a clear pharmacy program model to manage it all.

That is not a criticism of the team. It is the reality of how the industry operates.

ASC administrators and nurses already carry a lot. They are managing schedules, staffing, surgeons, patients, supplies, surveys, quality, infection prevention, emergencies, and the daily rhythm of the center.

Then pharmacy gets added on top.

Nurses are being asked to make sure medications are stored correctly. Make sure controlled substances are handled correctly. Make sure emergency medications are ready. Make sure expired medications are removed. Make sure staff are trained. Make sure the consultant pharmacist visit happens. Make sure the report gets addressed. Make sure everything is ready when surveyors walk in.

That is a lot to put on already-busy clinical and administrative teams.

Especially when pharmacy is often treated as a set of tasks instead of a real program.

The gap I kept seeing

I've seen a wide range in how pharmacy support shows up for surgery centers.

Some centers have great pharmacists. They educate. They support survey readiness. They follow through. They help the team understand what matters and why. They make the program stronger over time.

But not every center gets that.

Many are still working inside an old model: a pharmacist visits, writes a report, and leaves (some don't even have that). Then the center is on its own to figure out who owns the follow-up, who trains the staff, who checks whether the issue was actually fixed, who turns the finding into a better process, and who makes sure it does not show up again next quarter.

That old model is the real problem.

Not the pharmacist doing the visit.

Not the nurse holding things together in between.

Not the administrator trying to keep everything moving.

The model itself was never built to be a program.

It was built to be a visit. An audit.

A visit is not the same thing as a program.

A report is not the same thing as follow-through.

A policy binder is not the same thing as staff understanding.

Passing a survey is not the same thing as having a durable system.

Why I believe ASCs need a pharmacy program

I believe pharmacy in an ASC should be managed as a real part of the quality program.

Not as a side task.

Not as a once-in-a-while audit.

Not as something everyone assumes someone else is watching.

A real ASC pharmacy program should help the center answer practical questions:

• Who owns pharmacy tasks day to day?
• What does the team need to know?
• How are medication risks found?
• How are pharmacist findings tracked?
• How are new staff trained?
• How does pharmacy show up in QAPI?
• How does the center prepare all year round?
• How does the pharmacist support the team beyond the required visit?

Those are not abstract questions. They show up in real ASC work all the time.

They show up when a medication is expired.

They show up when emergency meds are not checked consistently.

They show up when controlled substance documentation does not match.

They show up when a nurse is asked to manage a process they were never really trained to own.

They show up when the pharmacist report identifies the same issue again and again.

They show up when leadership does not have a clear view of what was found, what was fixed, what remains open, and where the program is getting stronger.

That is the part I care about.

Pharmacy should be teachable.

Pharmacy should be manageable.

Pharmacy should be visible.

And it should not depend on knowledge passed from person to person, scattered handoffs, or whatever the team figured out over time.

What is APP?

APP is being built around a simple belief:

ASC pharmacy should be a structured program the team can learn, run, understand, and improve over time.

That means practical training. Clear standards. Readiness tools and follow-through. Pharmacy Lead Nurse development. Medication safety education. Pharmacist consulting where needed. And a better way for leadership to see what is happening all year round.

The goal is not to make pharmacy feel like more work.

The goal is to make pharmacy easier to manage.

A strong pharmacy program should give nurses more clarity, not more burden.

It should give administrators more visibility, not another pile of disconnected tasks.

It should give pharmacists a better structure to support the center, not imply that the current pharmacist is the problem.

And it should give the ASC a more dependable way to protect patients, support staff, reduce surprises, and stay ready.

The bigger picture

I've already had the opportunity to help ASCs with one important part of pharmacy through MedServe. Now I'm looking forward to helping with the bigger picture.

The questions I keep coming back to are simple:

Who owns pharmacy at your center? What training do they have? And how do you know it is safe, compliant, and effective?

These are the questions Ambulatory Pharmacist Partners is being built around.