NCPA Moves 2020 Convention to Virtual Format

The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) has announced its annual convention is being converted to a virtual meeting due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The 2020 NCPA Annual Convention will be held exclusively online October 18-19, 2020.¹

According to NCPA, the virtual convention will offer a live and virtual format with programs that include those focused on answering hard-hitting questions about payment for the care pharmacists provide, as well as all of the innovative, business-focused programs that attendees have come to expect from the organization. NCPA will employ a state-of-the-art virtual exhibitor platform to help conference attendees find new business tools and opportunities for their pharmacy.

In a statement, NCPA officials said the organization would love to see attendees in person, but the recent increase in COVID-19 cases throughout the country has made travel difficult for members and conference attendees. Instead, NCPA plans to put on an annual convention that can be attended from the convenience of home, rather than in Nashville, Tennessee, where the 2020 convention had been originally scheduled to be held.

Registration for the virtual convention opens August 28. For those who had already registered for the live meeting, NCPA has options for obtaining a registration fee refund and will be sending information via email.

NCPA is the latest organization to announce a conversion of an annual meeting to a virtual format due to COVID-19. Many other pharmacy organizations have similarly pivoted away from holding large gatherings in person, including the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, the National Pharmacy Technician Association, and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, whose all-virtual Midyear Annual Meeting is scheduled for December 6-10, 2020.

REFERENCE

2020 NCPA Convention Going Online [news release]. Alexandria, VA; NCPA: August 13, 2020. [email] Accessed August 13, 2020.