Today’s retail pharmacies are among the most trusted sites for nonemergency care, particularly among younger generations, with up to 81% of consumers surveyed by Wolters Kluwer Health saying that they trust a pharmacist to diagnose and treat minor illnesses and 58% reporting they’d first seek nonemergency care at their pharmacy. Analysis of claims data shows that patients interact with pharmacists almost twice as often as they do with a physician.
Despite this, modern retail pharmacies are struggling, facing significant hurdles, from declining store sales, online competition, and increased margin pressures. And pharmacists themselves are often challenged by staffing shortages and professional burnout, feeling swamped by the rote tasks and administrative burden of the dispensing business that prevents them from practicing patient care at the top of their license.
But as technology and tools continue to evolve, many experts believe that the combination of these solution innovations and consumer demand will open the door for pharmacists to embrace the full scope of their training and expand their role into more community-focused patient care.
Healthcare technology’s impact on retail pharmacy
Technology’s first benefit will be in freeing up pharmacists’ schedules by continuing to automate tasks that might otherwise take up a disproportionate amount of human time. When pill-counting, filling, and some non-clinical administrative tasks can be responsibly automated, pharmacists have more bandwidth to focus on counseling and patient care. Pharmacy automation is expected to more than double by 2030.
Artificial intelligence (AI) may also offer benefits for pharmacists looking to alleviate the burden of non-clinical tasks. For example, AI-generated lists have the potential to reduce the manual effort of combing through data to identify noncompliant patients for prescription refills and then send automated reminders.
Evidence-based technologies also support pharmacists by alleviating some administrative management. Equipping pharmacists with digital tools for educating and engaging their local patient population helps streamline the process of delivering education, reducing costs and manual tasks. Plus, it can enhance outcomes by offering patients more convenient and accessible content to help improve chronic care management, medication adherence, and health literacy.
Freeing up pharmacists to practice at the top of their license
With more time to focus on patient interactions, retail pharmacists can pursue avenues of consumer care that allow them to take advantage of their advanced skillset and open new potential lines of revenue for the pharmacy:
- Home health diagnostic tools available through smartphones and wearable devices can help support point-of-care testing and test-and-treat initiatives.
- Food as medicine programs support management of chronic conditions such as diabetes or can be offered to help improve overall wellness.
- Pharmacist-led medication management programs have been proven to help reduce adverse events, with studies showing 30% improvement in medication adherence and one study of a pharmacist-managed anticoagulation service showing notably fewer adverse events plus $3,700 in cost savings per patient.
- Medication education helps consumers better understand and adhere to their therapies. It can also help them find more affordable medications or newer treatments that might better suit their needs.
Technology innovations support these expanded service lines and opportunities for pharmacists by streamlining processes, delivering vital evidence and decision-support content within existing pharmacist workflows, supporting virtual care, and offering accessible patient- and consumer-facing engagement options.
Pharmacists as providers and collaborative practice agreements
As pharmacists evolve and expand their roles to take on more clinical services and direct patient care, it is also important that the industry and public policy evolve with them.
Collaborative practice agreements, which allow pharmacists to support primary care providers by taking on chronic disease and medication management tasks as well as ordering lab tests and in some cases adjusting medications, exist in various forms in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. While these often apply primarily to pharmacists working in clinic or hospital settings, retail pharmacists continue to advocate for their independent status as providers – the policies and requirements for which vary also from state to state. Achieving this status is important to allow pharmacists to be reimbursed for their services as clinical caregivers and patient counselors.
eBook: Pharmacists and pharmacies adapting to modern industry challenges
The importance of pharmacies to local communities cannot be denied – as a convenient and trusted care setting, and for some patients, the only accessible one. For pharmacists, expanding their scope of practice and embracing innovative technologies is essential to driving consumer loyalty, store revenue, and maintaining their own satisfaction. This requires planning and upfront investment in strategic tools to help promote administrative and workflow efficiency and support staff decision-making to save time and reduce burnout.
Learn more in our eBook, “Transforming crisis into progress: Building tomorrow’s community health hub today.”
