Will pharmacist prescribing be good for physicians? Yes.

The practice of medicine has never been more complex or demanding. It’s a perfect storm, especially in primary care. The number of primary care providers is dwindling as older physicians retire, those not at retirement age leave the profession and younger people do not replace them. Even those who do choose primary care are less likely to work long hours. And why should they? They’ll not be paid commensurate with their value and the love of their work is not something they can use to negotiate a mortgage or pay the kids’ tuition.

Meanwhile the population is aging and requires more care. Far too many people – including the young – have multiple chronic conditions. Payment pressures increase paperwork burdens and limit visit times and the consequences of making mistakes are serious.

Pharmacist prescribing and medication management will allow physicians to focus on the arena that is uniquely theirs – creating the relationships that allow for making the best, most accurate diagnoses in the increasingly complex patient circumstances they see. It will give them the time to consider non-medication alternatives and discuss life-style changes to improve health.

When physicians determine medications are necessary, just as they did during their training when they practiced in teams with pharmacists, they can refer the patients to community pharmacists to address medication selection, counseling and follow-up.

As they make that referral, they can be reassured that though patients see other physicians, they tend to visit the same pharmacy. Even if they do not, medication records are much more likely to be linked than medical records and unsafe combinations of drugs will more likely be avoided.

Pharmacists are not prescribing medications, but they are demonstrating – today – that they can be trusted to assume the other aspects of care management. There’s no better example than the American Pharmacists Association Ten City Challenge.

Employers are convinced and they’re investing in pharmacist management of diabetes and the results are good.

• Savings of nearly $918 per employee in total health care costs for the initial year, with a even greater savings in subsequent years.
• Return on Investment (ROI) of at least 4:1 beginning in the second year.
• A 50% reduction in absenteeism and fewer workers’ compensation claims.
• High employee satisfaction – 95% approval for pharmacist care – and improved quality of life.

That’s good for patients, for payers and for all of us who support health care systems and what they cost. What physician wouldn’t call that good for them, too?

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 9th, 2008 at 9:00 am and is filed under Cost, Pharmacists. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.