If the title of this article makes you uncomfortable, it should. This is the exact question my business partner, Randy McDonough posed to our pharmacists at a recent clinical meeting. The profession of pharmacy is literally at a precipice. The future of pharmacy depends on how every pharmacist answer this question.
The issue facing the profession is one of initiative, or the lack thereof. For years, thought leaders in pharmacy have been pushing pharmacists to perform at the top of their licenses. We have been asking our staff to do more than simply count, pour, and label drug product. We need our pharmacists to leverage their relationship with the patient to help them active their drug therapy goals. We need pharmacists to monitor outcomes. We must have pharmacists that take the initiative to act as health care providers, not simply drug dispensers.
Yes, there are pharmacists that are doing some or even all of this. The problem for the profession is that these outstanding individuals are in the minority. Today, many pharmacies are struggling to keep their doors open. I am not just talking about independent pharmacies. Even the larger players are having difficulty maintaining enough profitability to continue to provider pharmacy services.
The key to the next generation of pharmacy is getting paid for clinical services that pharmacists can, and in some places, are already providing. The problem is one of timing. Pharmacy owners and pharmacists desperately went to be paid for their services. But many, even most, are not providing the services, nor are they even ready to start. This is a classic chicken / egg problem. Pharmacies have to prove themselves in order to be paid for the services, but many pharmacy owners won’t make changes until they are already getting paid.
Additionally, even if a pharmacy owner is committed to making these changes in order to be ready for future of clinical revenue, finding pharmacists that are willing to put forth the effort required is unbelievably difficult. Far too many pharmacists have become complacent. They are being paid very well to do very little outside of dispensing functions and they are far too comfortable with their limited responsibility. The thought of putting their clinical skills to work is both scary and daunting.
The answer to the question posed at the beginning is actually easy. Yes! Hell yes! Pharmacists are definitely needed. But the pharmacists that are needed are not those that are simply dispensing. Dispensing will eventually become extinct. Healthcare is evolving, and these skills don’t require highly paid professionals. Where we are headed, like it or not, is going to make a lot of pharmacists and pharmacy owners uncomfortable. Change is hard. Change is inevitable.
So if you are a pharmacist, ask yourself this tough question: Am I ready to take on the new challenges of healthcare? Am I going to evolve to become a clinical interventionist? If the answer is yes, and I hope that it is, then you need to start now. Be ready to prove your importance in healthcare. Learn new skills. Advance your practice site. And above all else, Make Every Encounter Count.
