National Pharmacist Day: Advocating for Provider Status Through Collaboration

According to many experts, establishing pharmacist provider status requires a strategic shift from passive cooperation to active advocacy. While national medical organizations have resisted the expansion of pharmacy practice due to concerns over scope creep, local clinical partnerships demonstrate that pharmacists actually enhance physician productivity and patient outcomes.

To overcome professional gatekeeping, pharmacists must articulate their clinical impact, specifically how they manage complex medication adjustments, patient education, and so much more. By leveraging physician champions who have experienced the billing and efficiency benefits of collaborative practice agreements, the pharmacy profession can push for state-level reforms that recognize pharmacists as essential, reimbursable clinical providers.

“I think getting our physician champions or our provider champions on board to also really advocate in our direction matters,” Meagan Brown, PharmD, BCACP, clinical associate professor and director of the IMPACT Center for Pharmacy Transformation at the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy, told Drug Topics. “And then really working on a state level as well, because I think on a national level...there are things at play that maybe force [other professionals’] hand to go in a certain way, but I certainly believe that on a local level, that's not at all the sentiment that I've felt.”

In part 3 of our interview series with Brown, she delved into the controversial world of pharmacists’ scope creep and how other health care providers may be struggling to recognize pharmacists as clinical practitioners. She discussed the importance of advocacy as well as everyday pharmacists telling and owning their professional stories.

Listen along as she touches on advocacy and the possible yet challenging road ahead regarding the pharmacist’s scope of clinical practice.

READ MORE: National Pharmacist Day: Recognizing Pharmacists’ Dynamic Clinical Expertise

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