Interview: 3 Key Components Crucial for Sustainable Health Care Models

There’s no debate that the health care landscape is a landscape in flux. What is being debated, though, are the roles of various stakeholders—including pharmacists—in a modern, sustainable health care model, as well as the key components required to make this model work.

“The key components, from my perspective, are 3 things,” said Rina Shah, “One is making sure that the model is financially sustainable; the second is around the technology front, [and] the third is always being at the forefront of what customers need from us.”

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Shah, senior vice president of pharmacy growth at Walgreen Co., sat down with Drug Topics at the 2024 National Association of Chain Drug Stores Total Store Expo, held August 17 to August 19, 2024, in Boston, Massachusetts.

Shah went on to expand on those components. A financially sustainable model has a reliable revenue stream, and ensures that pharmacists are consistently paid for their services. The technology piece requires stakeholders to be—and remain—on the forefront of where technology is and is going, ensuring efficiencies in how team members work with each other and how patients engage with their pharmacist. And being at the forefront of what customers need means developing partnerships across the health care industry.

“Partnerships are critical,” Shah said. “One example is data interoperability: In order for us to be flexible and nimble, we need to realize that we can’t do everything ourselves. We need to ensure that we have partners who understand our requirements and are able to partner with us to drive that future state forward.

Ready to catch up on the rest of our conference coverage? Click here for more of our coverage of the 2024 National Association of Chain Drug Stores Total Store Expo.