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Pharmacy Quality Alliance’s (PQA) Postdoctoral Executive Fellowship is year-long program that
offers doctoral-degree graduates exposure to invaluable experiences engaging with PQA
stakeholders across the healthcare field, including community pharmacies, health plans, health
systems, associations, life science organizations, and more. PQA Executive Fellows conduct
healthcare quality research and gain experience in project management, quality metric design
and implementation, and non-profit administration and association management.
PQA’s Executive Fellowship has developed a Director of Quality Measurement with National
Quality Forum, a Medicare Part D Star Ratings Advisor with CVS Health, a Program Manager
with Humana, and an Associate Director of Research and Academic Affairs with PQA, as well as
other experts serving in exemplary positions.
Chris Kotschevar is the current PQA Executive Fellow. He is a PharmD graduate from South
Dakota State University College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions. Kotschevar has
excelled during his time at PQA and looks forward to continuing adding value to projects such
as PQA’s Medication Use Quality Certificate and the Healthcare Quality Innovation Challenge
among others.
Is there a specific initiative you’re tackling or an area where you’re looking to make a
particular mark?
“I know I alluded to it earlier, but education is a big focus and a big passion of mine. I’m working
with the Medication Use Quality Certificate Program. We’re looking at potential development
of new content and electives within that. I’m also working with the Healthcare Quality
Innovation Challenge (HQIC). The goal is to grow all of these areas and programs throughout
the year and to continue to adapt them. We’re hoping to garnish some better participation
within HQIC especially this year. Overall, I hope to leave a mark and continue to improve the
ways we engage with our members on a regular basis.”
As a recent PharmD program graduate, what do today’s students need to know about
quality?
“It’s hard to narrow down the “need-to-know”. I would emphasize that quality impacts
anything and everything that pharmacists do whether it’s directly or indirectly. Pharmacists can
have such a huge impact on the quality of care that’s provided. We can improve patient
outcomes and provide better quality care when the patient is the core focus of what we’re
doing. As a student, often times the term quality seemed very nebulous and hard to hold on to.
But when it’s broken down to its core level, it’s simply providing the best care possible to a
patient in order to help them achieve their optimal health outcomes. Pharmacists should be a
part of providing that great patient care on a daily basis. I encourage students, as you move into
your professional career, to look for ways to improve the processes you use in order to improve
the care you provide patients.”
As you look at the pharmacy profession and the field of quality improvement, who are the
leaders you hope to follow or emulate in your own career?
“There’s too many to name that have had an impact on me previously. Lisa Buss Preszler and
Garrett Schramm are two leaders. They both work within pharmacy education at Mayo Clinic. I
look to them for how they’ve applied pharmacy education in the healthcare setting and
branching it out beyond what we have traditionally thought of to where we can have leaders in
that area.
Ann Byre, with Allina Health, is another one. She was a preceptor of mine. She has shown
exemplary leadership and transformation throughout her career and continues to do so in the
way that she currently leads within Allina Health. The lasting impact that she had on me was
demonstrating the way that you can take one part of your career that you’ve had previously
and apply it to other opportunities on the horizon. She’s a shining example of that.
Dan Hansen is the current Interim Dean at South Dakota State University. I admire the impact
and care that he has for students. He is a large reason that I look forward to leading in the
future, potentially teaching students. The care that you have for students and shaping the
future of pharmacy through shaping students is really impactful.
Duane Wallace works in a rural setting in Minnesota and has for his whole career. He has shown
me what it looks like to truly apply your career to the community that you’re serving, and more
specifically serving in a community through a pharmacist role.
And then Laura Cranston as well. Her leadership in the profession as a whole, her continued
drive to innovate and push us towards something bigger and better than we’ve ever known
within pharmacy and impact patient care is huge. She’s somebody that I certainly look up to
and hope to at least in part emulate in the future.”