Pharmacists have long been valued for their ability to engage with patients in the community in a unique way. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they played a critical role in the mass vaccination effort. However, pharmacists are still facing challenges in making their practice sustainable and fully utilizing their skills. In this blog post, we will explore how pharmacists can expand their role in the primary care ecosystem.

The Underutilization of Pharmacists as a Clinical Resource

Despite being trained in many foundational aspects of primary care, pharmacists face state-specific restrictions on their scope of practice that keeps them separate from the rest of the care team. Chris Schaffner, PharmD, owner of Schaffner Pharmacy in Northwest Washington State, explains that “The dollars aren’t there in the traditional pharmacy and prescription drug model. The staff aren’t available, either. The old manual workflows just won’t cut it anymore if we want to keep community pharmacy around in the current environment.”

Reimagining the Role of Pharmacists in the Primary Care Ecosystem

Pharmacists do much more than just fill up pill bottles. Medication therapy management (MTM) is among the most important services they provide. Tara Pfund, PharmD, a pharmacy policy expert and Product Manager for AssureCare, explains that “Many primary care providers simply do not have the time or the same type of insight into their patients to perform these services in a timely manner, so mistakes get missed.” She goes on to say that “We need pharmacists to have the bandwidth and the technology tools to close those gaps for patients.”

“Integrating technology and automation in community pharmacy can help maximize pharmacists’ skills and reimbursement opportunities for medical claims, enabling them to provide advanced clinical services to their patients. intend’s suite of tools can help pharmacies efficiently automate processes and enhance their role in the primary care ecosystem.”

Taking a Data-Driven Approach to Community Care

Schaffner Pharmacy has adopted a comprehensive technical solution for maximizing the skills of pharmacists while taking advantage of reimbursement opportunities for medical claims. “Having tasks and cues to be able to identify patients in the workflow, follow up, and integrate their reimbursement opportunities is rare for pharmacists,” says Schaffner. “With more automation and structure in our information flow, we can move away from being reactive, as many pharmacies are.”

Integrating Pharmacists into the Coordinated Care Team of the Future

If pharmacists are to take on more primary care tasks, they need to be deeply integrated into the rest of the care team. That requires both robust, interoperable technical connections and strong, trusted relationships with other providers, healthcare payers, and with the community at large. “Patients love having us as part of their community care team,” says Schaffner. “We’re here to help, and we are so eager to collaborate and work as a unified team to move the needle on outcomes for our shared patients.

If you’re a community pharmacist looking to maximize your value and improve patient outcomes, booking a demo with intend . It can help you automate your processes, improve your efficiency, and integrate you more deeply into the coordinated care team of the future.

To read more about how technology is driving positive change in Pharmacies all over the country, you can read more on DHInsights.com. The quotes here are from the linked article.