How to Make the Pharmacy a Community Health Hub

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a notable shift in the health care community’s opinion of pharmacists, who took on lifesaving roles and provided necessary services to millions in the US. Pharmacists’ role in health care has only increased as they face industry pressures on a daily basis.

At the Total Pharmacy Solutions Summit Spring 2025, Ashley Keller, CPhT, senior product manager at XiFin Pharmacy Solutions, hosted a session titled “Transform Your Pharmacy Into a Thriving Community Health Hub.” She began her presentation by framing pharmacists’ role in health care in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. She then pivoted to postpandemic trends.

Ashley Keller, CPhT, senior product manager at XiFin Pharmacy Solutions, hosted a session at the Total Pharmacy Solutions Summit Spring 2025. | image credit: myboys.me / stock.adobe.com

Keller said that there’s been a steady expansion of legislation giving pharmacists additional opportunities to bill medically for clinical services since the pandemic. “We’re seeing legislation expand to things like hormonal contraceptives, test and treatment, HIV PEP [postexposure prophylaxis] and PrEP [preexposure prophylaxis], and others. One of the key things about what we’re seeing in legislation across the country is that it’s not just allowing the pharmacist to perform these services, but it’s often mandating payment models, specifically at the Medicaid level, for these services.”

Keller provided industry insights, explored ways to futureproof pharmacy businesses, and offered some easily adopted strategies to help pharmacies move forward clinically and financially.

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Read on for some key takeaways from Keller’s presentation:

• Keller opened with happenings at the federal level, explaining how recent industry trends and changes are affecting the profession. “We knew that pharmacies were already doing some of these services, but the country and our legislators saw this in action as pharmacists were providing immunizations…and even being able to expand into COVID-19 tests and treatment,” she said. “What we’ve seen post pandemic is just this continued expansion of legislation that’s allowing for pharmacists to have more opportunities to medically bill for services.” Opportunities to improve the pharmacy’s bottom line seem more apparent now than ever before.
• Many pharmacists are reliant on state laws that inform their ability to conduct specific services. “You’ll see hormonal contraceptive prescription authority; we have 32 states that now allow pharmacists to perform that assessment, as well as bill for it. Test and treatment: not just performing the point-of-care test, but also the ability to write the prescription for that. HIV services now have 21 states that allow PEP and PrEP, and then tobacco-cessation services—we have 21 states that allow [a] pharmacy to bill for an assessment and also write the prescription for this,” Keller said.
• Whether these trends and notable industry happenings are state specific or nationwide, awareness of them is crucial for community pharmacies to stay ahead of the curve. But properly executing on opportunities within the pharmacy may be even more important. Keller explained that the best way to do this is to futureproof the pharmacy, including scheduling systems, digitized patient communications, telehealth services, and more. Essentially, Keller’s ideas of futureproofing are simple ways to make a more seamless patient journey and overall pharmacy experience.
• Similar to the services that pharmacists can bill for, documentation requirements vary by state and could present barriers for pharmacists looking to futureproof their businesses. “From a documentation standpoint, many of [states] have similarities and they’ll use maybe the first state that implemented this as kind of their keystone, and they’ll follow that,” Keller continued. “But generally, there’s at least one difference from state to state, and so you want to ensure that your clinical service documentation is up to date, that you’re following that protocol, and that you understand the new and updated requirements.”
• She discussed state-by-state variations for credentialing and contracting with payers and other pharmacy partners, emphasizing the importance of staying in good standing with the pharmacy’s respective state. Staying knowledgeable and up to date on specific requirements is just a start to futureproofing the business. “Technology and having the right tech stack [are] going to be so important to all of this,” she said. “As I mentioned, medical billing can be really complex, but there’s technology out there that makes it so easy for you that you don’t have to do any of the steps on the back end. You don’t have to deal with reconciliation or getting the right codes to the payer.”

Keller concluded by looking ahead to the growing opportunities to push the pharmacy profession forward.

“I leave you here today to encourage you that this is happening today in the pharmacy industry. We’re seeing this continued momentum that is pushing pharmacies to be able to perform more services and bill medically for them. We’re seeing more pharmacies than ever adopt these services, which is so great and wonderful for both the profession as well as our patients. If you’re not doing some of these services today, what are some of these steps that we just talked about that you can start to take so that you can implement them? If you are doing these services today, great. How can you maybe do more or medically bill for them?” Keller concluded.

Visit drugtopics.com/conference/total-pharmacy-solutions-summit to watch all of the Total Pharmacy Solutions Summit sessions on demand.

To read these stories and more, download the PDF of the Total Pharmacy June issue here.