Association Perspective
Thomas E. Menighan, BSPharm, MBA, ScD (Hon), FAPhA, EVP and CEO
If you ask me what keeps me up at night, I’d say it’s the kinds of mistakes Ellen Gabler described in her January 31 New York Times article, “How Chaos at Chain Pharmacies Is Putting Patients at Risk.”
During my time as a community pharmacist, I cherished the relationships I established with patients and understood the great responsibility that came with the trust they placed in me. I can attest to the emphasis our profession places on patient safety. When it comes to medication-related errors, even one is too many.
Unfortunately, the current system sets pharmacists up to fail, and in turn, pharmacists are burning out at high rates. This is an issue that not only puts patients at risk but also deprives pharmacists of the opportunity to provide the kind of patient care we all got into pharmacy to provide. The weight of the potentially dire consequences of filling the wrong prescription or missing dangerous drug interactions is crushing too many pharmacists.
We need change now.
The solution to this problem will not be executed in the four walls of a pharmacy. The solution comes from taking a hard look at how pharmacies are reimbursed and who profits from inadequate patient care.
It’s perverse that we pharmacists are begging for the opportunity to practice the kind of pharmacy we were extensively educated and trained to practice. And who benefits from this warped system? Here’s a hint: It’s not pharmacies or patients.
We must regulate the PBMs who make obscene sums of money without doing a single thing to serve patients. They say they keep prices and premiums down but simultaneously fight attempts to force them to be transparent about how they supposedly achieve this. If it’s not greedy, let’s see how it works. If it really helps patients, tell us how. But they won’t. It’s indefensible.
APhA is committed to empowering pharmacists to improve medication use and advance patient care. We understand the challenges that come with practicing pharmacy in today’s health care system. A lack of access to complete patient information via electronic health records, a payment system focused on volume over quality time spent with patients, and performance metrics that pressure pharmacists to work quickly all contribute to profound stress that can result in unintended patient harm. America’s pharmacies offer convenient access to medications, but patient safety must always remain a priority.