Becker’s asked pharmacy executives from hospitals and health systems across the U.S. to share their top priorities for the rest of 2025.
The 12 executives featured in this article are all speaking at the Becker’s Healthcare Fall Chief Pharmacy Officer Summit, from Nov. 5-6, 2025 at the Hilton Chicago.
To learn more about this event, click here.
If you would like to join as a reviewer, contact Mariah Muhammad at mmuhammad@beckershealthcare.com or agendateam@beckershealthcare.com.
As part of an ongoing series, Becker’s is talking to healthcare leaders who will speak at our conference. The following are answers from our speakers at the event.
Question: What are your top 1-2 priorities for the 2nd half of 2025 and why?
Boniface S. Fogwe, PharmD, MBA. Director of Pharmacy at Prime Healthcare (Ontario, Calif.): Staffing:
There are increased pressures for staffing in pharmacies given the steep decline or number of students that enroll in pharmacy schools and less pharmacy technicians looking for opportunities in pharmacy given the burnout especially in some of the retail settings. Pharmacies need the right people in the right places to take care of patients.
There are increased pressures for pharmacy leadership to be creative and think out of the box on how to bring high octane team members that provide care to patients at levels that we have yet to see in the industry. Team members that can wear many hats and bring nothing but their best to the job every day. Creating a lean , yet efficient team can strategically place a health system in an upward trajectory for growth.
Compliance:
Personally, I am in the window for a joint commission survey; Staying ready and preparing for these surveys is always on the mind for all pharmacy leaders. When it is time to be ready it is too late to prepare and vice versa. Given the depth and complexity of these surveys, the work really comes to having those on the front lines speak to the work you have planned and the plan that you have in the works. Having everyone on the same page, speak the same language and current expectations is essential.
Eric Huckins, PharmD, MBA. Vice President of Pharmacy at Lumicera Health Services, SSM Health (St. Louis): Our top two priorities for my areas of focus for the second half of 2025 are:
- Expanding Infusion Services
We are focused on broadening our infusion services to meet the growing demand for complex therapies administered in outpatient and home settings. This expansion is critical to improving patient access, enhancing care coordination, and supporting value-based care initiatives. By increasing our infusion footprint, we can better serve patients with chronic and rare conditions while optimizing site-of-care strategies.
- Pharmacy Readiness for MFP and IRA
Preparing our pharmacy operations for the implementation of the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program (MFP) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is essential. These policy changes will significantly impact drug pricing, reimbursement, and formulary management. Ensuring our teams are operationally and clinically ready will allow us to navigate these changes effectively, maintain compliance, and continue delivering high-quality, cost-effective care to our patients.
John Armitstead, MS, RPh, CPEL, FASHP. Vice President of Pharmacy Services at Lee Health (Fort Myers, Fla.): In the second half of 2025, Lee Health Pharmacy Services will focus on two key priorities to support the evolving needs of our health system. First, we will align pharmacy services with Lee Health’s developing strategic planning process to ensure full integration and responsiveness within our dynamic care environment. Pharmacy must be an active and integrated component of these plans. Second, we will proactively plan for and adapt to the changing landscape of healthcare regulations and financing, ensuring pharmacy practice remains positioned to support optimal medications to enhance patient outcomes in our community.
Kelley A. Curtis, BS, PharmD, MBA. Vice President and Chief Pharmacy Officer of St. Luke’s Health System (Boise, Idaho): One of our top priorities for the second half of 2025 is advancing our population health pharmacy strategy by aligning efforts across the St. Luke’s Health System, St. Luke’s own Health Plan and our ACO, St. Luke’s Health Partners. This includes scaling pharmacist-led chronic disease programs like PharmaFit, enhancing medication adherence, and strengthening our role as the pharmacy provider of choice. Our goal is to better support transitions of care and deliver comprehensive pharmacy services that meet the full spectrum of patient needs. By aligning pharmacy with population health priorities, we aim to reduce total cost of care and improve outcomes across the system. Our second priority is optimizing our new Consolidated Service Center (CSC) to help the organization prepare for headwinds like 340B program changes and global tariff impacts. Centralizing compounding, repackaging, and inventory management allows us to improve supply chain resiliency, reduce costs, and support long-term sustainability.
Casey Orton, PharmD, MBA, FACHE. Director of Pharmacy, Regulatory and Infusion Operations at HonorHealth (Scottsdale, Ariz):
- Empowering teams to lead through uncertainty
- With rapid changes in the healthcare landscape locally and nationally, ranging from supply chain volatility to evolving payer dynamics, it’s critical to equip our teams with the tools, authority, and confidence to make proactive decisions. This includes strengthening our leadership development opportunities, ensuring cross-functional collaboration, and fostering a culture where adaptability and transparency are core to all we do.
- Sharpening focus on cost containment and cost avoidance
- As financial pressures intensify, we must move beyond our traditional cost-cutting measures toward smarter cost avoidance strategies. Empowering our pharmacy teams to identify and act on these opportunities will be essential to driving sustainable impact.
Jordan Spillane, PharmD. Director of Ambulatory Pharmacy Services at Froedtert ThedaCare Health (Milwaukee): Wisconsin continues to struggle with high rates of obesity of diabetes among adults. The Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin health network’s ambulatory pharmacy team implemented an evidence-based GLP weight loss management program in primary care with pharmacists and nurses in June 2024. Now that we have 12 months of data, we are focusing on reviewing the initial outcomes for patients and sharing our findings internally and externally. In addition to percent body weight loss, we are interested in understanding the impact this program had on health care utilization and the total cost of health care. As we work to provide evidence-based care and reduce the total cost of health care, pharmacy leaders are also creating a proposal for a pharmacist-led centralized model for all GLP medication management across primary care and specialty clinics.
Mike Wascovich, PharmD, MBA. Vice President and Chief Pharmacy Officer of Ascension (St. Louis): Access to affordable medication remains one of the most pressing healthcare challenges in the U.S., especially for low-income individuals, seniors, and people with disabilities. That is why Ascension and The Dispensary of Hope are working to ensure that patients receive the medications they need at an affordable price. We are also investing in solutions like the Ascension RX Discount Card and other access-focused programs to close care gaps and improve health outcomes in the communities we serve.
Melanie Joe, PharmD, MPA, FCSHP. Chief Pharmacy Officer, of UCI Health; Associate Director and Founding Associate Dean of Pharmacy Professional Affairs at University of California, Irvine, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (Orange, Calif.): As we prepare to open a state-of-the-art, 144-bed acute care hospital in Irvine in December 2025, the UCI Health Pharmacy Team is focused on licensure, recruitment, workflow design, and expansion of services. We continue to develop strategies to grow ambulatory services, including Home Infusion Pharmacy, a central pharmacy services center, and expansion of Medication Management pharmacist-led clinics, incorporating AI into patient outreach and prescription authorizations and denials, to improve patient access and outcomes. UCI Health is in an incredible growth phase – creating a new system with four recently acquired community hospitals, standardizing drug formularies, and preparing for a new electronic health record!
Michael Eagon, PharmD, DPLA, 340B ACE. Senior Pharmacy Manager of Ambulatory Pharmacy at University of Texas Medical Branch (Galveston): My top two priorities for the second half of 2025 are driving operational excellence across pharmacy services and advancing workforce standardization, development, and retention. These focus areas are critical to ensuring consistent, high-quality care delivery while supporting team engagement and sustainability. By optimizing operations and investing in our people, we can better meet the evolving needs of our patients and health system.
Tanya Bolte, PharmD, MBA. Market Director of Pharmacy at ScionHealth (Louisville, Ky.) Main priorities through the end of the year:
Aside from the continued emphasis on operational excellence, my specific focus through the end of 2025 and into 2026 is Right-Skilling and developing our people. With the dynamics in the market, health-system pharmacy continues to grow in terms of human needs while other sectors that employ pharmacists and pharmacy technicians may have displaced individuals. My focus is to find ways to bridge any gaps and develop the existing team as pharmacy is increasingly called in to be physician extenders throughout the system.
What does this look like?
- Retaining top talent
- Developing leaders at all levels
- Investing in technician advancement
Madeline Camejo, PharmD. Vice President of Pharmacy Services and Chief Pharmacy Officer at Baptist Health South Florida (Miami): The top priorities for the 2nd half of 2025 at Baptist Health South Florida Pharmacy services include several key areas.
One of the main focuses is on optimizing patient access for infusion services, managing costs, and leveraging AI for efficiency and care improvements.
2. We will be focusing on ambulatory care delivery, healthcare software, data analytics, and specialty pharmacy segments.
3. Addressing workforce shortages and adopting innovative strategies to drive growth, efficiency, and patient-centric care are also critical areas of focus
These priorities reflect a Baptist Health South Florida Baptist comprehensive approach to improving healthcare delivery, enhancing patient and staff experiences, and ensuring financial and operational stability.
Michael C. Dejos, PharmD, MBA, BCPS, CHOP, CPPS, LSSBB, DPLA. System Medication Safety Officer of Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare (Memphis, Tenn.): For the second half of 2025, my top two priorities are to:
- Advance quality and safety initiatives for outpatient pharmacy services, including specialty pharmacy, mail order pharmacy, and provider-based clinics
- Lead proactive risk assessments through FMEA for Pedi-Flite, our pediatric transportation services program
Outpatient pharmacy services is a growing touchpoint for patient care, and strengthening safety processes directly improves medication adherence, patient outcomes, and reduces preventable harm in ambulatory and home-based settings. At the same time, the FMEA work with Pedi-Flite is critical for identifying and mitigating high-risk failure points in pediatric transport services, ensuring we protect our most vulnerable patients in high-acuity, high-risk environments. Both efforts are essential to driving a culture of high reliability across the care continuum from a pharmaceutical care perspective.
