Retail Pharmacies Offer Accessible Means of Obtaining Medications: Mark Riggle, PharmD

Mark Riggle, PharmD, assistant chief pharmacist at UC Davis, discussed the importance of retail pharmacies being accessible to patients across the country, especially when it comes to providing accessible means of obtaining treatment in areas that are otherwise pharmacy deserts.

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity; captions are auto-generated.

Transcript

How has the retail space evolved at health systems over the years?

Over the years, the retail pharmacy operations at health systems has really evolved to become more clinical. We used to be focused on just filling prescriptions for patients, but now we're offering a lot of other clinical services, such as immunizations. Immunizations are offered at most pharmacies across the country, and the same is true for health system pharmacies. We've also [evolved] to offer additional clinical services. Depending on the state you're in, pharmacists may be able to initiate therapies such as COVID treatments, PrEP [pre-exposure prophylaxis] and PEP [post-exposure prophylaxis] treatment for HIV prevention, and those types of things. Health systems have become really involved in offering those clinical activities, in addition to expanding medication therapy management–type programs and just overall medication management.

Then a lot of hospital retail pharmacies have also implemented Meds to Bed programs where medications are delivered to patients at bedside when they're being [discharged]. It's really, really evolved to be more actually collaborative across the different care teams. Pharmacists really work together with the other care providers to make sure that that patient is well taken care of, and all of their needs have been met. In addition, a lot of technological advances have taken place with health system pharmacies. For instance, a lot of pharmacy systems are incorporated; the systems they use to process prescriptions are incorporated into the electronic medical records, so pharmacists have direct access to all the information that they need to process those prescriptions. It really makes problem-solving a lot easier. They have access to all that information in the chart if they have questions about something on that order that came from the provider.

Why is a retail pharmacy needed within a health system?

I think one of the big reasons is just access and making sure that your patients have access to pharmacy services. It kind of creates a 1-stop shop for your patients to ensure that all of their needs are being met by the health system. But it also provides the opportunity for pharmacy to be more involved and active in the patient's journey and ensuring that all of their medication needs are met and their medications are managed properly. It provides a source of revenue for the health system as well and just an overall convenience for the patient. It also is well received by other stakeholders, providers, and nurses, because they know that the pharmacists on site will ensure that their patients are well taken care of. They have all the information they need to make right decisions.