Video: How Can Health Plans & Pharmacies Team Up to Increase Access to Care?

“Community pharmacy is a really good catcher’s mitt,” says Troy Trygstad.

As Executive Director of the CPESN pharmacy provider network, Trygstad has seen—and measured—the power of community pharmacies to fill gaps in care for patients that health plans and primary care providers struggle to reach.

American Pharmacists Association Vice President Brigid Groves has statistics to back that up, too: About half of Americans live within one mile of a pharmacy. Low-income communities have 15.1% more pharmacy locations than physician practices. And programs where health plans reimburse pharmacists for providing clinical care are averaging a 4:1 return on investment.

In June, Groves and Trygstad joined Surescripts Pharmacy and Regulatory Affairs Manager Meg Murphy for a webinar presented by AHIP, “Increasing Access to Care Through Care Team Evolution.” Watch the full recording below to find research and practical insights on topics including:

• Research on how primary care teams are changing and how pharmacists could support better access to primary care
• Trends in payment and scope-of-practice policy for pharmacist services across the states
• Takeaways from collaborative discussions between health plans and pharmacies
• Results that pharmacist/health plan collaborations are delivering today
• Barriers to scaling these initiatives—and next steps health plans can take to overcome them