Debates on Pharmacy Desert Definition Impact Access to Care

Pharmacy industry experts have debated on whether drive time or mileage is the best factor in defining a pharmacy desert. Because of varying locales and demographics across the country, neither factor has risen as the key identifier for pharmacy deserts, leading to a continuation of decreased pharmacy access.

“We need to have some more dynamic discussion about how we are actually defining pharmacy deserts to make sure that they're taking into consideration where people live, how they travel, and how they can actually transport themselves to the pharmacies to get access to medications and clinical care,” said Michael Murphy, PharmD, MBA, assistant professor of clinical pharmacy at the Ohio State University College of Pharmacy and advisor for state government affairs at the American Pharmacists Association.

In part 1 of our interview with Murphy, he discussed the challenges in defining pharmacy deserts and how each community across the country relies on a different set of resources for accessing their local pharmacy. While the issues that pharmacy deserts present are gradually being realized by the proper stakeholders, debates on their definition can ultimately revert the progress made on correcting pharmacy deserts.

At the end of the day, if pharmacy industry experts are unable to define and identify pharmacy deserts, they will never be able to increase access and improve patient care.

“I live out in the country, in rural Ohio,” continued Murphy. “Not all of our roads are paved, and not all members of my community have cars. We're very lucky that we have a local, independent community pharmacy here in town that people have access to, and they can probably walk to. But if that were to close, the next closest pharmacy is 20 minutes away.”

READ MORE: How Pharmacy Deserts are Being Defined, Identified

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