US Pharm. 2013;38(5):1.

When it comes to servicing health-related maladies, as the famed New Orleans chef Emeril Lagasse is fond of saying, Walgreens is “kicking it up a notch.” Last month, Walgreens announced, to the chagrin of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), that it has expanded the scope of health care services offered in its more than 330 Take Care Clinics. In a press release, Walgreens said the health care professionals who service the clinics will now be assessing, treating, and managing chronic health care conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, and asthma “as well as [providing] other preventive health services.”

According to Jeffrey J. Cain, MD, president of the AAFP, “It is more difficult to comprehensively manage a patient’s care if [patients] are treated in multiple settings.” While some may take issue with Dr. Cain’s statement, I do not. Physicians are now feeling the pinch of patients using multiple physicians with little or no communication between them, which is analogous to patients filling their various prescriptions at multiple pharmacies—something pharmacists have been dealing with for years.

In an interview with Forbes magazine, Dr. Cain also commented that he was concerned that the expanded role of these clinics would “lower quality, increase costs, and pose a risk to patients’ long-term outcomes.” He continued to say, “Family physicians establish relationships and get to know their patients, which better enables them to help someone ... stick with their treatment plan.” Sound familiar?

I was very disappointed that when Walgreens announced the expansion of its clinics’ services, the company did not also announce expanding the professional role of its pharmacists. The announcement would have been a perfect time for Walgreens’ management to introduce a program that would professionally elevate the responsibilities of its pharmacists by adding personal medication-therapy management consultations into the mix of health care services it offers.

Just a few days following the Walgreens announcement, the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics released a report that revealed the strategies being used by adults between the ages of 18 and 64 years to reduce their prescription drug costs, with negative health outcomes. Some people are skipping doses or delaying the filling of prescriptions; others are not taking their medications as prescribed; and uninsured patients aren’t even filling their prescriptions at all.

Walgreens and other drug store chains must take the initiative to involve their pharmacists in today’s health care continuum by utilizing them as the health care professionals they are. Answering phone calls for refills and filling up plastic vials and glass bottles with medication is a waste of their education and valuable time. Most of those duties should be relegated to the currently available technology and assigned to certified pharmacy technicians. Retail-chain pharmacists need to be recognized for the highly educated health care professionals they are. Walgreens clearly admits in its press release that “access to health care services is an ongoing challenge.” Pharmacists are the most accessible health care professionals. Utilizing pharmacists for regular medication-therapy management keeps patients healthier and reduces overall health care costs. It’s time for chain drug stores to recognize their pharmacists as medication specialists and “kick it up a notch” when it comes to enhancing their professional responsibilities.

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