Pharmacy Residency Program

The purpose of the Priority Health Postgraduate Year One (PGY1) Managed Care Pharmacy Residency Program is to build upon the Doctor of Pharmacy education and experiences to develop exceptional managed care pharmacist clinicians and future leaders. The program will provide comprehensive training to develop a diverse patient care experience, evidence-based clinical decision making, project management, and leadership skills. Residents who successfully complete the program will be prepared for clinical, business, operations, and leadership roles within managed care pharmacy practice.

Strengths of the Priority Health PGY1 Managed Care Pharmacy Residency Program Include:

Virtual-based work environment consistent with the Hybrid, On-Site and Remote work policy. The resident is provided with a company-owned laptop
and appropriate equipment.
Practice in a large health plan with over 1 million members across Commercial, Medicare, and Medicaid plans.
Involvement in formulary management for each market segment through the Priority Health Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee.
Focus on developing leadership skills in collaboration with health plan leaders.

Our Health Plan

With over 30 years in healthcare, Priority Health is the second largest health plan in Michigan, offering an extensive portfolio of health benefits options for Medicare, Medicaid, employer groups and individuals with fully funded and self-funded options. Many pharmacy operations are done in-house to include prior authorization review as well as development and maintenance of a custom formulary designed to best serve our population. Serving over one million members each year and offering a broad network of primary care physicians and specialists in Michigan, Priority Health continues to be recognized as a leader for quality, customer service, transparency, and product innovation.

Our Team

The pharmacy department within Priority Health includes more than 30 full-time pharmacists and more than 35 non-pharmacist staff in support of the development and management of both pharmacy and medical benefits. Teams are focused by plan type across three primary market types: Commercial (individual and employer-based), Medicaid, and Medicare. The Business Operations team encompasses all market types and focuses on utilization management and formulary development through the Pharmacy & Therapeutics (P&T) Committee processes.

Our System

Corewell Health is a not-for-profit health system that provides care and coverage with an exceptional team of 65,000+ dedicated people- including more than 12,000 physicians and advanced practice providers and more than 15,000 nurses offering services in 21 hospitals, 300+ outpatient locations and several post-acute facilities—and Priority Health, a provider-sponsored health plan serving over 1 million members and 9000+ employers. Pharmacy services across the system are comprehensive and include inpatient acute care for adult and pediatric populations, ambulatory care services, and health plan services. There are over 200 pharmacists employed within the system.

The Priority Health Managed Care Resident will have the opportunity to work in collaboration with the Corewell Health system pharmacists and residents.

Required Rotational Experiences

Orientation to Managed Care
Utilization Management
Formulary Management
Pharmacy Operations
Government Programs & Medicare Quality
Pharmacy Partnerships
Executive & Organizational Leadership
Ambulatory Care – Corewell Health
Medication Care Coordination – Corewell Health
Continuing Education Presentation I
Continuing Education Presentation II

Longitudinal Experiences

Service Commitment
Clinical Pharmacy Outreach Services
Research Project

Additional Learning Experiences

Leadership seminars
Research Seminar Series

Staffing Responsibility

The resident’s service commitment consists of staffing coverage determinations for 4 hours per week and being responsible for weekend staffing every fourth weekend. One project day will replace the scheduled rotation day surrounding the worked weekend. Additionally, the resident is expected to staff one holiday weekend in the first quarter of the calendar year and up to one additional holiday weekend.

NOTE:

In early 2024, this residency program was surveyed by the residency accreditation team from the American Society of Health System Pharmacists. We remain in candidate status and are currently awaiting a decision on full accreditation (expected fall 2024). Once fully accredited, the graduating residents will be retroactively granted a certificate of completion from the accredited residency.