Pharmacists play a critical role in optimizing health outcomes. They are uniquely positioned to help patients understand their medications, provide behavioral counseling and assist in other types of navigation interventions that have been shown to improve outcomes.
Adding care navigation to pharmacy benefits creates a one-stop-shop for members’ questions and concerns. This improves member experience by giving them immediate answers to their questions.
Patient Education and Counseling
Traditionally, the pharmacy has been responsible for distributing medications and counseling patients on proper use. Now, the role of the pharmacist is expanding to include more clinical services. These clinical services focus on medication management, disease prevention and overall improvement of public health. The pharmacy is becoming a vital member of multidisciplinary healthcare teams that provide adaptable care that prioritizes the patient’s needs.
This requires a broad range of skills and knowledge that can be provided by the pharmacist. This is especially true when it comes to the management of drug therapy. The pharmacy’s expertise can help ensure that the patient receives optimal drug therapy that promotes desired outcomes while minimizing the risks of adverse events and costs.
One such example is the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases that require complex treatment regimens. These regimens often involve multiple prescriptions and frequent interaction with the healthcare system. Patients who are not adequately oriented within the healthcare system and cannot effectively navigate it may have difficulty following their treatment plans, which can lead to poor health outcomes. The pharmacist can provide a much-needed resource for patients who are having trouble adhering to their medication regimens. expressrx
In addition to assisting with adherence and compliance, the pharmacist can provide patients with advice on how to avoid side effects of certain drugs, how to identify potential drug interactions, and what steps they can take to get the most benefit from their medications. They can also offer patients support for making behavioral changes to improve their health outcomes, such as promoting healthier eating habits and exercise.
As the number of elderly patients continues to increase, it has become important for pharmacies to have staff available to answer questions about medications. Patients who are having a difficult time understanding their bills, navigating insurance coverage or finding affordable options for medications often seek assistance from pharmacists. This can be an invaluable service for older patients who have more complicated medication requirements than younger patients.
In addition to these direct patient care services, pharmacists can play an important role in public health efforts by providing education and advocacy on a variety of topics. For instance, the pharmacist can help a patient understand their insurance coverage, how to read their medical bills and what steps they can take to minimize their costs.
Prescription Monitoring
Pharmacy staff has extensive knowledge about all the drugs they sell and can provide a wealth of information to patients. This includes information about the proper dosage, the best way to consume medication and any potential side effects. Pharmacists are also a valuable source of information about other medical issues that may impact a patient, like mental health or stress management. They are also able to refer patients to the right doctor or clinic to suit their specific needs.
As digital innovations continue to transform the pharmacy industry, it is increasingly important for pharmacists to focus on improving patient outcomes. By automating some processes, they can free up more time to spend with their customers. This helps build stronger relationships and improve outcomes while allowing them to better utilize their skills. Additionally, they are able to make the most of technology tools such as electronic prescriptions, pharmacy dispensing robots, and nationwide prescription monitoring programs.
Healthcare navigation is a relatively new role within the healthcare field, but it has been shown to be a powerful tool for reducing health care costs. This is because it ensures that patients are able to find the right treatments and fully understand their care plans. It also alleviates the physical, emotional and financial struggles that can often prevent patients from navigating healthcare systems.
While navigating a complex healthcare system can be challenging, it is imperative to seek the help of professional experts. The right pharmacy navigator can help you navigate the system and get the treatment you deserve.
A good healthcare navigator will have a strong understanding of the social determinants of health and how they affect people. They will be able to identify and connect their clients with the right resources in their community, such as food banks, free clinics, or even mental health services. This is crucial, as many of the factors that contribute to poor health outcomes stem from these socioeconomic circumstances. In addition, they will be able to help their clients access the correct healthcare providers, including doctors, nurses, and therapists. This will ensure that the client gets a diagnosis sooner and can receive the right treatment to manage their condition.
Preventative Care
Pharmacists can play a role in helping patients find and access preventative care services. This includes services such as vaccinations, screenings for cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure and other chronic diseases, and smoking cessation programs.
Getting preventive health care reduces the risk for disease, disability and death, but millions of Americans do not get recommended preventive services.1 Many of these barriers are related to cost, insurance issues and lack of knowledge. Fortunately, pharmacists are uniquely positioned to help. The National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations reports that “more than 80% of people surveyed reported having problems with prescription drug coverage, and 82% said they experienced delays in accessing their medications.”
As a patient, it’s important to choose the right pharmacy for you. You should pick one where you feel comfortable asking questions and develop a good relationship with the staff. This will ensure you’re able to communicate clearly, and make sure the pharmacy is able to meet your needs.
In addition, you should try to stick with the same pharmacy. Changing pharmacies can be confusing, and can also impact your ability to build a trusting relationship with your pharmacist. It can also impact the way your pharmacist is able to track and monitor your health.
The demand for pharmacists who specialize in certain areas of medicine is growing, and will continue to grow as therapies become increasingly complex. Specialty pharmacists can help patients manage their conditions, and improve outcomes by optimizing medication use and addressing safety issues related to specific drugs and devices.
Until recently, it’s been challenging for payers to value pharmacy services. Payers’ focus on core business, and the need to manage costs are key challenges for incorporating pharmacy-led services. Some innovators are developing solutions to address this challenge. These include tools that connect pharmacy systems to sources of patient data, and provide monthly performance feedback. These can be useful for demonstrating the value of pharmacy-led care in arrangements with payers such as three-way models, shared savings and bonuses tied to outcomes like hospital admissions or ER visits.
Community Outreach
Having more contact with patients than any other health care professionals, pharmacists have the unique opportunity to provide a wide range of outreach services. This includes community education, delivering USPSTF-recommended interventions and addressing the social determinants of health. While the number of articles on this topic is limited, there are many opportunities for pharmacy to partner with public health agencies and organizations in implementing strategies to improve patient outcomes (5-7).
This collection highlights a variety of collaborative efforts between pharmacies and community organizations that have been shown to have positive impacts on health outcomes. For example, the articles by Rodis et al and Ross et al describe the impact of pharmacists providing collaborative medication therapy management services in federally qualified health centers. These collaborative models have shown improvements in medication adherence and satisfaction with care.
Additionally, a number of these articles highlight innovative approaches to improving patient health literacy. One article describes a comprehensive program that uses a health literacy curriculum to teach high school students how to navigate the healthcare system and take control of their own health. This program is paired with a clinically integrated care model that connects the young adults with a primary care provider and community health worker.
Another innovative approach is the telepharmacy program that uses mobile phones and tablets to help low-income individuals manage their medications. This type of technology can be used to assist in monitoring drug adherence, helping the individual identify barriers to adherence and assisting the health care team in identifying the need for further intervention.
While the articles in this collection demonstrate a growing need for pharmacy to expand its scope of practice, there are still a number of challenges to overcome. For instance, current productivity metrics for pharmacy that prioritize dispensing speed may provide a strong incentive for pharmacists to avoid activities that could slow them down. The creation of an alternative economic model that rewards pharmacy for patient-focused behavior and health-related outcomes will be important to achieving this vision.
In addition, the inclusion of the pharmacy as an essential member of care teams requires new arrangements with payers to support these efforts. Specifically, these will need to involve shared savings or bonuses tied to patient outcomes such as hospital admissions and emergency room visits.
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