Technology Solutions Aid Community Pharmacists in Expanding Roles

For years, expanding a pharmacist’s scope of practice has been top of mind for those in the profession. By the time the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States in early 2020, community pharmacists were ready to mobilize and engage in direct patient care.

“The pandemic required a number of time-sensitive, health-driven initiatives to run nationally, but with a coordinated focus at the local level,” said Paige Clark, RPh, vice president of pharmacy programs and policy at Prescryptive Health in an interview with Drug Topics®. “Luckily, we as community pharmacists are built for such a challenge.”

Direct patient care by community pharmacists is particularly critical during a public health emergency like the COVID-19 pandemic, Clark added. Realizing this, the US government moved quickly to engage these health care providers to provide COVID-19 testing and administer vaccines—a move that has resulted in more than 152.7 million COVID-19 vaccine doses administered by retail pharmacies across the United States.¹

“Without the leveraging of community pharmacies as access points for care, many Americans would not have been vaccinated or had easy access to COVID-19 testing,” Clark said. Although the pandemic has certainly come with its share of challenges, Clark also sees the opportunities that have come from COVID-19—in particular, the importance of empowering pharmacists to practice at the top of their license.

“More people are now seeing how absolutely powerful and necessary a pharmacist practicing at the top of their license is to local and national health,” she said. “The more we as pharmacists test and treat, the more opportunities will come for additional scope expansion.”

As the opportunities come, though, pharmacists will need to abandon “patched together” scheduling and reporting systems, Clark noted. “The volume of services now being booked—as well as the requisite scheduling and reporting—are too much to do by hand,” she said. Technology can streamline these processes and

allow pharmacists to focus on patient care, but deciding which technology to use—and then implementing and using it—often creates another roadblock for community pharmacists to face.

Enter MyRx PRO, a secure, comprehensive pharmacy management platform built by pharmacists, for pharmacists. “After years of working as pharmacists, our team at Prescryptive has focused on one thing: making a comprehensive system that works for pharmacists practicing today,” Clark explained. “This platform helps pharmacists launch new clinical services, connect with new patients, and optimize the pharmacy workflow.” Pharmacists will also see time savings in patient information collection, scheduling, reporting, and billing.

MyRx PRO also features SmartPRICE, a cash solution that lets pharmacists serve more customers while improving their bottom line. SmartPRICE uses artificial intelligence to optimize pricing, connects new customers to pharmacies via Prescryptive’s health intelligence platform, and has low, transparent administrative fees. “Altogether, this means more profit to pharmacies and more competitive pricing for patients—as much as 80% savings on prescription drugs,” Clark said.

For patients, MyRx PRO includes MyRx.io, a patient-friendly mobile experience that connects pharmacists and patients. Patients are empowered to search for clinical services, find an available pharmacy near them, and schedule an appointment, as well as prefill questionnaires and make payments—all before walking through the pharmacy door.

“There’s an important bond between community pharmacists and their patients,” Clark said. “People in the United States rank pharmacists as one of their most trusted health care providers. For the majority of us, this trust and our relationship with patients are what make our jobs fulfilling.

“COVID-19 blew open the door to scope expansion, and nowwe all need to walk through it,” she added. “Prescryptive is a champion of the community pharmacist and is excited to work together to build a stronger future for pharmacy.”

Reference

1. Filippi M, Bar-Or A, Piehl F, et al. Multiple sclerosis. Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2018;4(1):43. doi: 10.1038/s41572-018-0041-4