The Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) and AMCP Foundation recognized Commonwealth Medicine, UMass Medical School pharmacy leader Kimberly Lenz, PharmD, for her significant and lasting contributions to the profession on March 27. She was honored at an Annual Awards Dinner part of the AMCP Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy Annual Meeting in San Diego, California.
“Recipients of these awards are the pillars of our profession,” says AMCP CEO Susan A. Cantrell, RPh, CAE. “The Awards Dinner gives us a chance to honor these individuals for the lasting contributions they have made in making AMCP such a vibrant and influential organization. Award winners serve as role models for their peers and the rising generation of managed care pharmacy professionals.”
AMCP presented Dr. Lenz, a clinical pharmacy manager, with the Spirit of Volunteerism Award. Lenz has been a driving force on the AMCP Professional Practice Committee and was one of the leaders in the development of AMCP’s Pain Tool Kit.
Established in 1994, the AMCP Spirit of Volunteerism Award recognizes members who have “demonstrated exemplary and outstanding service to AMCP over the past year” and have “provided volunteer activities that resulted in successful and/or high quality AMCP program, projects or services for its members.”
AMCP is the nation’s leading professional association dedicated to increasing patient access to affordable medicines, improving health outcomes and ensuring the wise use of healthcare dollars. Through evidence- and value-based strategies and practices, the Academy’s 8,000 pharmacists, physicians, nurses and other practitioners manage medication therapies for the 270 million Americans served by health plans, pharmacy benefit management firms, emerging care models and government.
As part of her role at Commonwealth Medicine, Lenz serves as a pharmacy leader for MassHealth, the Massachusetts Medicaid program. She is part of a team that manages opioid pain medications for MassHealth, putting her in a unique position to offer insight on what works when treating patients with substance use disorders.
Lenz won recognition in 2017 for her efforts to raise awareness about naloxone, a life-saving overdose treatment. The Massachusetts Pharmacists Association presented Lenz with its Cardinal Health Generation Rx Champions Award for creating naloxone information sheets in English and Spanish that were attached to prescription bags. Upwards of 260,000 information sheets were distributed.
A member of the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review’s New England Comparative Effectiveness Public Advisory Council, Lenz also is a lecturer at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Science.