Myth Busters: Pharmacists As Clinical Care Providers, Part 2

Last month, we tackled myths around pharmacists' education and training, and their qualifications to provide clinical care for patients. In the second part of the myth busters series, our pharmacists debunk notions around their role on patient care teams.  

Myth 3: Clinical care teams sound great, but as the pandemic has waned so has the need for collaborative care. Plus, the technology doesn’t exist for pharmacists and primary care physicians to communicate effectively. 

Fact: Over the last three years, pharmacists demonstrated they could safely and effectively work within the healthcare team to expand access to testing and vaccinations to millions of patients. Pharmacists were also entrusted to prescribe certain treatments following a positive COVID-19 test. But even before the COVID-19 pandemic, pharmacists across the country participated in collaborative practice agreements, which delegate responsibilities such as prescribing medications, stopping medications or ordering labs to monitor medications to pharmacists. 

Technology, like Surescripts Clinical Direct Messaging, connect pharmacists, prescribers and other healthcare professionals, empowering them to reliably send and receive information—such as immunization records—across multiple care collaboration scenarios within their existing workflows.  

In 2022, healthcare organizations and professionals used Surescripts to send 174.8 million clinical messages, an increase of 21.4% over 2021. 

Myth 4: Pharmacists are also experiencing burnout and so it doesn’t make sense to expand their responsibilities to deliver more clinical services – even as part of a patient care team.  

Fact: Burnout is a reality for nearly every clinical care provider across healthcare today, pushing 1 in 5 physicians and 2 in 5 nurses to leave their practice within two years and the American Medical Association reports 63% of physicians experiencing at least one symptom of burnout—an all-time high. More than three-quarters of community pharmacies say they are having trouble filling open positions and for 9 in 10 of them, the top challenge is filling pharmacy technician roles. 

A recent Surescripts survey revealed that burnout was a leading concern for both prescribers and pharmacists and 89% of prescribers and 97% of pharmacists agree it's important for the healthcare industry to move toward team-based care. In addition, 78% of prescribers and 92% of pharmacists say the top benefit of pharmacists providing more clinical care is improved patient outcomes. A majority also believe team-based care would decrease the total cost of care. 

While it varies state-to-state, collaborative practice agreements in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., are enabling pharmacists to support primary care providers and fill growing gaps in care across the country. These agreements allow pharmacists to manage patients with complex or chronic diseases, complementing the care plan established by their primary care physicians. The ability for pharmacists to order lab tests as part of medication management counselling or adjust medication regimens for diabetes mellitus, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, are just a couple examples of the benefits these agreements provide.