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Surescripts
With “pharmacy of the future” in her job title, Rina Shah holds the unofficial world record of coolest title ever. On our podcast, hear how Shah went from hanging out (and later working) in her dad’s Chicago pharmacy to leading Walgreens’ effort to create the pharmacy of the future.
Patients would come in and call him “doc.”
“I grew up watching the impact my dad had in communities that relied on him, day in and day out,” Shah recalls. “And I realized it was a calling for me.” Shah trained as a pharmacist and first went to work alongside her dad. Then she joined Walgreens, where she climbed to her current role as Group Vice President, Pharmacy of the Future & Healthcare Segment Strategy.
Melanie Marcus, our chief marketing officer, says that Shah is innovative, compassionate and future-focused. Hear how Shah applies these traits to the world of pharmacy on our podcast.
“I’m on a mission,” Shah says. “The mission is to have pharmacy deliver care in a much more impactful way than we ever have before.” This means enabling pharmacists to deliver care on a broader scope than we do today: Immunizations. Screening services. Test and treat.
Shah cites an example of asthma patients who were using their rescue—not their maintenance—inhalers. “They weren’t using their preventative medication,” Shah says. This led to more ER visits and a higher cost of care. “How can we repurpose our pharmacists to drive more targeted interventions?”
And Shah asks this question for a reason: It’s because, in the pharmacy of the future, pharmacists will have an expanded scope of practice, with a bigger role in patient care.
