Provider Status Profile

Sonya Collins

On Friday, March 13, President Trump declared the coronavirus pandemic a national emergency. By Monday, March 16, Walgreens began training pharmacists to administer COVID-19 nasopharyngeal swab tests. Since then, Walgreens pharmacists have administered more than one million COVID-19 tests—joining physicians, nurses, physician assistants, and other clinicians on the front lines in the fight against COVID-19.

“Many pharmacists volunteered to administer tests,” said Jasmina Bjegovic, PharmD, manager of pharmacy operations at Walgreens. “They wanted to contribute and serve during this time.”

Like their clinician colleagues, pharmacists screen patients for eligibility for the COVID-19 test. They counsel them on self-administration of the test and what to do if they get a positive or negative result. They educate patients on handwashing, mask use, and social distancing. And like other providers, many pharmacists have stepped out of their daily routines and stepped up to play a crucial role during the pandemic.

But unlike other providers, CMS does not recognize pharmacists’ patient care services for payment in Medicare Part B. Pharmacists have fought for years to change this position. The pandemic may make the best argument so far.

“What pharmacists are doing as a part of providing COVID-19 tests isn’t any different from what other providers are doing. They are just stepping up as frontline providers and helping patients,” Bjegovic said.

Stepping up

At Walgreens pharmacies across the country, pharmacists have stepped up to support and coach patients on getting tested for COVID-19. Pharmacists at the Walgreens testing sites focus on patient care by listening to patients’ needs, supporting them through the testing process, and educating them on how to best care for themselves and their loved ones.

“They are there to help and counsel patients during this high-anxiety, uncertain time, when patients need extra support and have a lot of questions,” Bjegovic said. The one-million-plus patients who have been tested at Walgreens pharmacies are one million patients who have not lined up outside of over-burdened health care facilities to get tests.

With COVID-19 pushing the health system to its limits, pharmacists’ accessibility is more valuable than ever. They may be stepping in for overtaxed providers in ways those providers don’t even see. “Patients may go to the pharmacy for questions and concerns they’d usually call their doctor about, as the pandemic has left people either afraid to go into a doctor’s office or worried their concern isn’t serious enough to warrant the visit during this time,” Bjegovic said. “That’s a need that pharmacists are ready to meet.”

What’s more, as misinformation and often-changing recommendations add to public confusion and possible mistrust of public health authorities, community pharmacists are well positioned and trained to disseminate clear and accurate information to patients. “We are doing what we’ve been clinically trained to do, which is to listen, educate and provide valuable information to patients,” she said. “That’s our niche as the provider who is often the patient’s first and last contact with the health care system.”

Value beyond the pandemic

Pharmacists’ crucial role won’t end with COVID-19 testing. Communities will soon brace themselves for flu season, along with fears of how it will clash with the pandemic. Community pharmacists will be administering flu shots and educating patients on important clinical information. When a COVID-19 vaccine becomes available, they will do the same.

“A pandemic, or any other emergency, may make the case for a temporary expansion of pharmacists’ scope of practice,” said Bjegovic, “but we have demonstrated the value that we bring to health care far beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. We need sustainable payment models to support pharmacists’ contributions to fully leverage pharmacists’ expertise and create sustainability and scalability of pharmacists’ services.”

Provider status stories

Pharmacists are health care providers. In a series of profiles appearing in Pharmacy Today and on pharmacist.com, pharmacists explain how their patients would benefit from provider status. And as part of our campaign for provider status, APhA has asked pharmacists to share their story of how they provide care to their patients and how provider status will improve health care. These stories are collected on the APhA YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/aphapharmacists/playlists. If you would like to share your story, please visit PharmacistsProvideCare.com.