Test And Treat
Elizabeth Briand
Pharmacists could comfortably and accurately perform high-quality rapid testing for respiratory illness and, at the same time, provide quick and effective treatment options for patients, according to a study conducted by the APhA Foundation and published August 2025 in Innovations in Pharmacy.
Conducted in 15 community pharmacies across nine states, the research looked at the potential impact of pharmacist-provided test-and-treat services on patients seeking care for COVID-19, influenza, and strep infections.
Researchers sought to examine the effectiveness of services, which included rapid molecular diagnostic tests, and also considered the economic benefits behind a potential expansion of this type of care.
“These services present an opportunity for unparalleled patient care that prevents disease progression, morbidity, and potentially mortality in our health care system,” said Benjamin Bluml, RPh, executive director and senior vice president of research and innovation at the APhA Foundation. “These are high-quality services that are highly accessible.”
The APhA Foundation researchers hypothesized that scalable rapid molecular test-and-treat services for COVID-19, flu, and strep would help patients get the care needed faster and at a lower cost.
Out of the 253 individuals enrolled in the study, there were 71 positive and 259 negative test results. Of those 71 individuals who tested positive, 26 were prescribed medications, and 23 were dispensed medications within 1 day of the positive test. Nearly all of the patients surveyed (98%) were satisfied with their care. The same number indicated that they had a very high opinion of the testing itself, saying that it gave them comfort to be tested in the pharmacy.
Benefits across the board
The study authors noted that the average wait time for a physician appointment may be nearly 4 weeks in some U.S. communities. In addition, nearly one in three Americans do not even have a primary care physician. For people with fevers, coughs, and aches that mark a respiratory illness, too often they are forced to visit their local emergency department or urgent care center. Others may just skip care altogether and hope for the best, while unintentionally exposing others to a virus.
Even though services were provided free of charge as part of the study, more than 80% of survey respondents said they would pay for this type of care and the convenience it provided.
Participants also indicated that if not for the availability of the test-and-treat services at their pharmacy, they would have sought higher acuity care elsewhere, including more than 75% at their primary care provider’s office, urgent care center, or emergency department. The survey results underscored test-to-treat services as viable—and valuable—alternatives to the use of overburdened acute care sites.
Beyond the care experience itself, the study also sought to determine the economic factors associated with test-and-treat services. For patients, benefits included not having to take time off from work for testing and medication pickup and not having to pay for more expensive care elsewhere, which, for an uninsured person with COVID-19, could run into the thousands of dollars for an emergency department visit.
Expanding test-and-treat services
“Pharmacists are among our most accessible medical professionals,” said Bluml. By providing test-and-treat services at pharmacies, “there are no delays, patients don’t have to go elsewhere to receive care, and there’s no friction with pharmacists there to help sort out their care.”
He added, “Imagine the benefit if this was scaled across the country, not only in cost savings, but for patients. [It is] high-quality service with high accessibility.”
The regulatory changes necessary to bring these services to pharmacies across the country will not happen overnight, however.
“Innovations are more likely to occur at the state level, and we think that’s where the movement will be,” said Bluml. ■