States are moving to let pharmacists prescribe more treatments

Several states are expanding the practice of pharmacists to allow them to prescribe, amid a shortage of primary care physicians and other health care workers.

As state legislative sessions come to a close for the summer, several states are expanding their “scope of practice” to allow pharmacists to prescribe and provide more medical care, following pressure from independent pharmacists and major pharmacy operators, including Amazon, CVS Health, Walgreens and Walmart.

As one example, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed a health care bill into law earlier this month that included a amending the state pharmacy practice law which allows pharmacists to test, screen for influenza, Covid-19, Group A Streptococcus, also known as strep throat, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), adult-stage head lice, and “health conditions identified by a statewide public health emergency.” and then prescribe,” the legislation says.

“This is a positive step forward that increases access to timely care for common illnesses such as COVID-19, influenza and strep throat,” said Dr. Vin Gupta, Chief Medical Officer of Amazon Pharmacy.

“Empowering pharmacists to prescribe treatments for these conditions will help patients get the medicines they need quickly and easily,” Gupta added. “This new (Illinois) law recognizes the valuable role pharmacists play on the front lines of healthcare. Amazon Pharmacy applauds efforts to leverage the full clinical expertise of pharmacists to improve patient access and outcomes.”

The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) says pharmacists in 47 states can test and treat by writing a prescription, although it varies depending on which prescriptions they can fill. “In approximately 34 states, pharmacists can do this independently, without a partnership agreement or prescription,” an NCPA spokeswoman said.

The retail pharmacy lobby is winning over state lawmakers in part by noting that the U.S. “could see a shortage of more than 55,000 primary care physicians,” NCPA Director of State Government Affairs Joel Kurzman wrote to the Illinois House of Representatives Health Care Availability & Access Committee. “In Illinois, there are 268 areas identified as healthcare worker shortages. There are thousands of pharmacists in Illinois ready to provide valuable healthcare services to these communities that have limited access to care.”

Supporters of the legislation say it will increase access to health care for patients, especially those without a “medical home” in urban and rural areas, who face a shortage of primary care doctors, pharmacists and other health care workers amid a persistent labor shortage in the US. .

“It increases convenience and affordable access to basic care,” said Rob Karr, president and CEO of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, which lobbied for the legislation and counts independent pharmacists and major drugstores among its members. “Everyone in healthcare has a workforce shortage. The only way to receive basic care is to spread that care over as broad a basis as possible, so that legislation must give general practitioners room for more serious cases.”