Telepharmacy Empowers Pharmacists Practicing in a Changing Landscape

In recent years, pharmacists have been under growing pressure. An increase in demand for their services has clashed with stagnant reimbursement rates, creating a critical staffing bottleneck that has threatened to slow down patient care. As a result, pharmacists are experiencing burnout more than ever. However, there’s a silver lining to the current pharmacy landscape: According to Pacience Edwards, PharmD, compliance manager at Outcomes, strides in innovation and technology—such as the emergence of telepharmacy—offer pharmacists new tools to navigate this complex environment. Edwards presented at the Spring 2024 Total Pharmacy Solutions Summit held virtually on April 13.

Telepharmacy can empower pharmacists to practice at the top of their license. | image credit: create interior / stock.adobe.com

Read on for Some Key Takeaways from Edwards’ Presentation:

• Industry pressures in pharmacy, such as increased demand for pharmacy services, staff shortages, and reduced reimbursement fees, have highlighted the need for innovative deliveries of care.
• The surge in use of telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic increased the comfortability of patients to receive services in a virtual manner and has given way to telepharmacy.
• Defined by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, telepharmacy is the “provision of pharmaceutical care through the use of telecommunications and information technologies to patients at a distance.”
• One component of telepharmacy is remote dispensing, whereby pharmacists are connected electronically to a brick-and-mortar location to provide supervision, verify prescriptions, and counsel patients.
• Telepharmacy addresses the continual increase in the need for improved access, such as by removing geographic barriers to care for patients in rural areas or pharmacy deserts.
• A recent study found that the No. 1 contributor to pharmacist burnout is workload. Telehealth can relieve this workload by streamlining delegable tasks and increasing the amount of time pharmacists spend on clinical activities.
• By freeing up time for pharmacists to complete clinical tasks, telepharmacy has the potential to both increase patient interaction and boost revenue.
• The benefits of telepharmacy have been demonstrated in past research to promote safety in the pharmacy setting. Although the national medication dispensing error rate is about 1.7%, a study by North Dakota State University found that pharmacies that implemented telepharmacy workflows had a dispensing error rate of less than 1.3%.
• Safety and security should be of paramount concern to pharmacy staff when implementing new technologies like telepharmacy.
• Partnering with stakeholders or subject matter experts to help enhance policy and allow telepharmacy services to be provided in a broader range of pharmacy settings could further enhance the benefits of the virtual workflow.

Innovative tools such as telepharmacy address current challenges in pharmacy and empower pharmacists to practice at the top of their license, fostering a more efficient and accessible health care system that benefits both patients and providers. “It’s projected that there will be a shortage of up to 124,000 physicians by 2034,” said Edwards. “That’s a huge concern to the health care industry as a whole. As pharmacists—being the most easily accessible health care provider as well as having that strong clinical background—we can really step in and help fill that void.”

READ MORE: Pharmacy Technicians, Rural Areas Benefit From Expansion of Telepharmacy

Visit drugtopics.com/Spring24TPSS to watch all of the Total Pharmacy Solutions Summit sessions on demand.

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