Recognizing the Value of the Practice Enterprise: Billing for Faculty Patient Care Services to Strengthen Education and Advance the Profession

Pharmacists' scope of practice is expanding rapidly nationwide, creating new opportunities to bill for patient care services. However, most students and practicing pharmacists are not adequately prepared to do so. As expectations for billing competency grow, a gap is emerging between pharmacy education and evolving practice needs. There is an increasing demand for practice-ready graduates to possess foundational knowledge and skills in medical billing. Although accreditation supports billing and financial-management content in PharmD curricula, schools or colleges of pharmacy (S/COPs) vary in how strongly they emphasize applying these concepts to create sustainable practice models. Although classroom exposure is important, long-term sustainability and professional growth require reinforcing billing knowledge in practice settings. Yet, practice has not traditionally been treated as a core pillar of the academic mission. Instead, it has supported experiential learning, professional outreach, or the demonstration of innovative services. S/COPs often place practice faculty with health care partners to meet curricular needs or advance practice models, typically providing their services pro bono or at discounted rates, with little or no expectation to bill. To fully prepare learners for contemporary practice, S/COPs must expose them to financially sustainable practice models. This requires S/COP leadership to leverage faculty practice not only for education and outreach, but also as a revenue-generating enterprise. By integrating billing into curricula, embedding it in faculty agreements, supporting sustainable practice models, reinvesting practice revenue in billing-focused professional development, and engaging in advocacy focused on this issue, academic leaders can strengthen their education and advance the profession.