GUEST COLUMN
BY CATHY KUHN, PHARMD, BCACP, FAPHA
Pharmacist and Clinic Collaboration Settings like retail pharmacies can be ideally suited to promote team-based, patient-centric, digitally enhanced health-care delivery The current burden on patients and providers in the United States is overwhelming. Each day brings more news of clinician burnout, provider shortages, and declining reimbursements. The health and wellness of patients also demands a close look. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, per capita health spending in 2020 rose dramatically above its already high levels while health utilization comparatively plummeted.1 These metrics tell a story of a primary-care system that cannot, under strain, meet the needs of its participants. While the pandemic surely exacerbated these weaknesses, realistically, they have been growing in scope and severity for years. Health innovators have long talked about the necessity of better continuity and connection in delivery systems. But technologies to date have fallen short of the mark, and strategies for more inclusive approaches have yet to bridge the gaps between health professionals and their clinical colleagues, and between health professionals and patients. Pharmacist and Clinic Collaboration With the influence of the pandemic and increasingly insistent calls for primary-care systems to evolve, there are distinct opportunities for pharmacists to connect with nurse practitioners and physician assistants who practice in convenient care clinics. The successes and lessons learned from the growth of the clinic industry and related support of its primary clinicians can offer best practices for how to continue to evolve and optimize primary-care accessibility.
With the influence of the pandemic and increasingly insistent calls for primary-care systems to evolve, there are distinct opportunities for pharmacists to connect with nurse practitioners and physician assistants who practice in convenient care clinics.
CONVENIENT CARE CLINICIAN
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